UNITED STATES.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1918, Page 5

UNITED STATES.

SHIPPING RELEASED Received April -23, 12.30 p.m. New York, April 22. , Th« new list of tasned exports will release 150,000 tons of shipping for war purposes. WAR EFFORTS. ,■ MANY MORE THAN 212,000 U.S. TROOPS IN THE WAR ZONE. ' HINT AS TO SIZE OP AMERICAN FORGE. ~ , ARTILLERY ENOUGH FOR 20 DIVISIONS ASSURED. New York, Feb. 8. Announcement that France will be able before July 1 to manufacture enough artillery to supply twenty American, divi- j ' sions, or approximately 500,000 fighting troops, if the United States .meanwhile | adheres to an understanding by "which France would receive the necessary Taw material from America, was made hero to-night by Andre Tardieu, French' High Commissioner in this country. M. Tardieu made, the statement alt. that there are in France to-day more American troops than comprised the American army at the time the United States entered the war; at that time, he said, the America® army contained about 212,000 officers and men. t The French official spoke at & dinner which was part of the New York <sele. bration of the Jour de l'Aliance Franeaise, which was observed throughout the United States and Canada to-day, the anniversary of the treaty between France and, the American colonies in 1778. Jules J. Jusserand, the French Ambassador, was also a guest of honor. Asserting that "secrecy ought to be a thing of the past, because, our democracies want to know in order to. will." M. Tarditeu said that "just appreciation of the results achieved" by America ih its war preparations "is a stiihulant. for effort and nobody had the right to refuse to the American people this stimulant." HOW FRANCE HAS AIDED AT.LTF.R The commissioner reviewed the nation's accomplishments, and outlined what Frpce hafl done in the way o£ manufacturing ordnance, both for the United States and for France's other AlJies. ' "We have in the line," he said, "about 18,000 guns. of every calibre, and every day more than 300,000 shells are turned out by the factories. To get those guns, to produce those shellß, we created an industry which did not exist before the war, and which haa enabled us not only to arm ourselves, but also to arm our Allies. "Without speaking of what we manufacture for you, and that is several hundred guns a month, we have during the past three years given to our Allies in Europe 1,350,000 rifles, 15,000 automatic' rifles, 10,000 machine guns 800,000,000 cartridges 2500 gimp and 4750 aeroplanes. "The adoption without any modification of our various types of guns would certainly have saved some time to the benefit of American production, and some delays may be thy consequence o! the improvements you are looking for, always, and Tightly at that, aiming at better results." M. Tardieu described America's military effort as "wonderful and splendid," and asserting it had been "a surprise to the enemy." ' "I have co-operated for nearly ten months, hour by hour, with every part of j your war organisation," he said. ■ 'What you have done is - magnificent, worthy of your Allies, and worthy of yourselves." Alluding to the raising of the national army, M. Tardieu declared that "No event of wider import has ever taken place since the beginning of the war." He contjnued:— " "Thus your Government, with a clear and courageous view, has given you the strength of numbers, the first condition of military power. In April, 1917, ,you had 9524 officers aftd 202,510 men. You have now 110,000 officers and 1,500,000 men, and the number of your men in France at the present moment is notably in excess of the establishment of your army nine months ago." "Wherever, on special points," he added, alluding to his association with officials at Washington, "I believe that mistakes have been made, I say it frankly; the heads of the Cabinet or the headß of your departments know it from their own experience." , The speaker recalled that America, in : order to equip its army with guns and airplanes called upon the Allies for its immediate needs, at the same time inaugurating a progamme pf American manufacturing. TIME VITAL FACTOR. "Some people,. in Europe as well as here," he said, "have been.wondering why you should not, in that respect, have done everything by yourselves. This ■ criticism shows that those people ignore, firstly, tfhat time' means in war, and, i secondly, how infinitely complicated is the industrial war organisation, which from the very start is required by the extensive production of ordnance ana : aviation. "I have drawn roughly the results of the military effort of the United States for a period of less than ten months. I i (lo not believe that any impartial man should say that this effort is now com- i pleted, but I declare that any impartial ■ man must admit its wonderful extension ! and splendid achievements." Money was the first aid needed by the Allies, M. Tardieu went on, saying: . "But it was not sufficient. Indeed, for lack of a general organisation of production the United States and the Allies ' would have completed with each other in 1 every factory, and sterility would have resulted from this anarchy. But in this respect I may state—and no one can be ' I better informed than the representative of one of the Allied countries—that the ' 'centralised organisation realised for the < Allies by the War Industries Board and the War Purchasing Commission is ei)cellent in every way. 1 ( "During the month of December last ] the High Commissioner called the at- i tention of the Shipping Board to a crisis , affecting very seriously our supply in < gasolene and oil for the first two months of 191S, To-day the measures taken , by the board allow me to state that thi3 , immiment peril is absolutely conjured j for those two months. 'last January 17, when arriving in ; New York, I found thirty-seven ships i unable to sail for France on account of : coal; on January 18 the-restriction orders for coal were issued by the Fuel Administration and when I left New YpTk on 4h« 22nd #ll.<rar'aMpt-liad Jj