Those of us who have been in immediate touch with some of the vital requirements of the War and Navy Departments in these strenuous days realize the shocking absence of the complete preparedness, which we must rapidly accomplish if we are to come anywhere near supplying our own soldiers on the fighting front with the fighting machinery and supplies of which they are in such urgent need. We realize that after all these months of increased industrial preparedness, we are, therefore, still unprepared in the full meaning of the word. The very foundation of our structure shows a startling amount of unpreparedness. We like to gaze upon the exterior towers and battlements of a castle of preparedness, and these are wonderful and encouraging to look upon but down below all these are certain neglected and unfinished pillars in the unseen cellar of that foundation, which threaten the stability of the entire mass. It is, therefore, some of these fundamental details which have been neglected as we have beheld the vision of the super-structure above. Pershing needs, 1,500,000 boys in khaki and over the shoulder of each is his protection against the Hun. Everyone of these rifles is a splendid monument of the accomplishment of tool steel and special alloy steel. Every day of our present existence it happens that over a million shells scream over the miles of battle line in France. This curtain of high explosive and shrapnel is another direct expression of the wonders which the modern high speed and special alloy steel have accomplished. We are told that a 3“ shrapnel shell contains seventy drilled holes or a drilling of 19-1/4” in depth. That means that 1,600,000 feet or over three hundred miles of drilled holes are shot away every twenty-four hours on the battle fronts of Europe. In a publication “Fighting Industry” published by one of our largest twist drill companies in this country, we note that the drilled holes in various implements of our militant harness are as follows: 8“ shrapnel shell 70 Springfield rifle 94 Torpedo 3466 Machine gun 350 Aeroplane 4089 3-ton auto truck 5946 Light ambulance 1500 3” field gun 1280 Gun caisson 594 Anti-air craft gun 1200 Self-binder 500 Thresher 420 Motorcycle 1160