Krag surplus rifles. Seems a hundred years ago today the surplus rifles were directed to the NRA to give out to rifle clubs. But a day or two before they were being sought by a society lady to the tune of $6,000,000 profit to the Government to take them out of the European war supply, so she said, and paid for by a German American group. The idea being to dump them all in the Ocean.
Meanwhile, back in the USA on this date a hundred years ago, the Secretary of War is whistling in the dark. On the front page of one newspaper he suggests that we could do with some more troops, although we aren't angry with anybody and nobody is angry with us and ...etc.
In another paper , as just another by the way, German casualties in one part of the war for the last couple of months are close to what the US standing Army is in numbers.
How about this for a believe it or not story? The newspaper printed this on April 12 so the last prediction was yet to prove to be untrue but probably did send a shiver down the spine of the reader if they were so inclined as to believe such a story wasn't totally suspect.
While the US remains on the sidelines of the war it has to do the neutral two step. A Canadian in military uniform was not to come into the US because that would be like taking sides, but DuPont could make lots of ammo for the allies and Remington and New England Westinghouse could make Rifles and... well business is business I guess.