From hints which had filtered through from the army in France and Flanders it was known that the German Spitzer bullet was much more effective than the British new Mark Seven, and while the armor-plating contracted to be supplied by the Americans for these cars was guaranteed to withstand Mark Seven British Ammunition at 300 yards, the rumors in regard to the penetrating powers of the German Spitzer ammunition were most disquieting, and could not be ignored. At that time the United States were neutral, but were making ammunition for the Allies and others. By methods, which it is not necessary here to refer to, or explain, the General Manager of the Scotia Company was able to obtain a German Mauser Service Rifle, and by an expenditure out of all proportion to the real value, 1,000 rounds of German Mauser Spitzer service ammunition was also secured. An improvised range was set up on the ice on the East River, Nova Scotia, at a point where, protected by steep banks, firing tests could be carried out, when it was demonstrated that .311 Spitzer German ammunition, which, carefully chronographed, gave a muzzle velocity of 2,915 feet per second, easily penetrated the armor plate which resisted Mark Seven British Ammunition fired from either the Lee-Enfield or Ross Rifle. The effect, of course, was to call a halt to the manufacture of these plates, and at the same time to push forward experiments then under way in the production by the Scotia Company of bullet-resisting alloy armor plates. Within a short time New Glasgow was able to offer the Department of Militia alloy steel, heat-treated plates, not exceeding 3–16th of an inch thick, which successfully withstood point-blank impact at one yard from Mark 7 ammunition fired from the latest model Ross rifle. In one case two shots had struck the plate within less than one-half inch of each other, and they neither penetrated nor cracked the plate. Plates somewhat thicker were later supplied which withstood German Mauser ammunition at point blank range, and the result given by these plates when tested at the Proving Station in Toronto were so satisfactory that the Artillery Proving Officers, after the tests, placed them on exhibition outside the Camp, and later reported that the men felt the utmost confidence with the protection afforded them by this plating, which later was supplied and fitted to a proportion of the machine-gun trucks then being equipped. Later the British Government asked the Scotia Company to tender for similar protective plating for armored trucks. CHAPTER XLVIII. _DEMOBILIZATION._ Demobilization, following a war of such length and intensity as that of the Four Years’ War from August, 1914, to November, 1918, is not a mere problem of repatriation, it is a problem of reconstruction—a gigantic one at that—desiderating the undivided efforts of every organization in the nation and the assistance of every citizen.