We note that German secret service agents in the United
States are trying to make the flesh of the Americans creep by talk about our shortage of rifles. We would ask our American friends when they hear such talk to possess their souls in patience. As it happens, we have no shortage, or anything approaching it, as regards the men in action, ready for action, or likely to be ready for action for some considerable time. As regards the second half-million men now to be recruited, the rifles which are being turned ont by the factories will be ready quite as soon as the men. The rifle problem is, however, we admit, a serious one for all nations which rely upon voluntary enlistment. It is specially serious for America. We would, therefore, once more urge our kinsmen in the United States to look to their military stores, and to remember that you may rely upon improvising men, but it is madness to rely, as we fear they are doing, upon improvising rifles, artillery, ammunition, and general equipment. We implore them to be warned in time.
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