THE GUN SCANDAL

With the situation on the European war fronts as critical as at present, it appears to be, any delay in arming our troops is suicidal. It is only natural that the gun shortage as exposed in the investigation now going on in Washington has caused no little excitement.

The facts of the case are very simple. General Crozier, Chief of Ordinance, has admitted that although the Browning gun was adopted last May as the official light machine gun for our armies, not a single one of these weapons has as yet been turned out; moreover, it will be spring before the Ordnance Department will have them ready. So it is with all other necessary armaments. The French and English, anxiously awaiting our artillery, have to give up their own in order to equip our expeditionary force, and will have to continue to do so for many months in the future. We are sending our troops over and letting the Allies fit them out with materials that would otherwise be used for their own men.

Whether Crozier or Baker is to blame is immaterial. The fact remains there is marked inefficiency in the War Department. The sooner we can weed out this element the sooner we can begin real fighting. The Allies are counting on our guns, our shells and our men to win this war; we have the men, but without arms they are useless. The Lewis gun scandal was apparently not sufficient to stir our Ordnance heads; if the present trouble does not wake them from their coma there ought to be a general house-cleaning in the War Department.