The Munitions Trade

Of all the problems facing the American war effort, the most immediate is the desperate shortage of arms and ammunition. "Our want of powder is inconceivable," General Washington complained last winter. "A daily waste and no supply administers a gloomy prospect."

Britain banned the export of all arms to America two years ago, and the powder in Continental muskets now comes mostly from France, which has closed its eyes to the activities of both European and American gunrunners. So far, however, supply has not even begun to keep up with demand, and American soldiers are severely rationed, with a daily allowance at times of only nine musket rounds per man, v. 60 for each redcoat. This shortage has given rise to a sizable and complex business.

To organize the procurement of foreign arms, Congress set up the Secret Committee last September and authorized it to trade American produce for needed armaments. Current chairman of the committee is English-born Philadelphia Merchant Robert Morris, 42, and the committee's contract has been assigned to his own trading house of Willing & Morris. The committee offers American tobacco, lumber, rice, flour and other products in exchange for European gunpowder and other war supplies. The northern colonies usually ship their goods directly to European ports, principally Amsterdam, Nantes and Bilbao; the southern colonies make their exchanges through Dutch, Spanish and French ports in the West Indies.

Willing & Morris takes a commission of 2 1/2 percent to 5 percent on each of the firm's transactions for the government, which is considered a fair return for the risk involved. Morris himself makes no secret of his own financial interest. "There never has been so fair an opportunity for making a large fortune since I have been conversant in the world," he recently exulted to a colleague. Others in Congress feel that Morris is the best man for the job and that his commission is a small price to pay for foreign arms.

Morris has also arranged with other merchants--notably the Providence firm of Brown, Hopkins, Jenckes & Bowen--to seek out arms in the West Indies and Europe for 2 1/2 percent commission. John Brown arranged to buy a cargo of gunpowder in Surinam last November and charged a price of 6 shillings a pound, which General Washington called "most exorbitant" (in December Brown made a profit of -L-20,000 for such work). But the price is still rising. On Brown, Hopkins' latest shipment from the West Indies a month ago, the firm had to pay 14 shillings a pound and made the somewhat reduced profit of -L-1,403. All in all, about 1 million pounds of gunpowder have by now been imported, most of it unloaded in Philadelphia and stored by Congress.

The shortage of infantry weapons is not so critical, because every able-bodied man 16 years of age and over is required to have a gun for his militia duty; but some of these arms get lost or damaged. Washington announced not long ago: "For every [musket] with a bayonet that have not been abused, I will give 12 dollars." Not too many have answered that request, though, for a new gun now costs 15 to 18 Spanish dollars or other coin.

While the merchants pursue their business, the Colonists have been driven to supplement the munitions trade with various ingenious stratagems:

> Saltpeter, an essential ingredient of gunpowder (12 parts saltpeter to 2 1/2 parts charcoal and 1 1/2% parts sulfur) is being sought in the refuse of stables, cellars, and even outhouses. "The mold under stables, etc., may be boiled down to extract the 'nitrous salt,' " advises one broadside that has been widely posted.

> Pennsylvania Astronomer David Rittenhouse has found a ready source of lead for musket shots: he has taken the lead weights from Philadelphia's clocks and substituted iron weights.

>Benjamin Franklin has proposed that Washington's Army be equipped with bows and arrows. Although that suggestion was politely rejected, the rear ranks have been issued 12-foot iron shafts to use as spears.

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