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GUM<br />
~ÑÑÑ<br />
By JOSEPH B. STEPHENS<br />
T H E NEAT BRICK BUILDING<br />
1 carrying the mark "Whitney<br />
Firearms Company" seems at first<br />
glance to be far removed from the<br />
ancient, many-storied works that<br />
was the old Eli Whitney factory.<br />
Inside, arranged on a clean, solid<br />
concrete floor, are crisp new machines<br />
and the quiet whirr of electric<br />
motors-all vastly different, you<br />
think, from the old days when<br />
flickering gas jets gave light to<br />
workmen on 14-hour daily shifts.<br />
From each machine, then, black<br />
belts of oxhide rose slapping to the<br />
ceiling from the machines, to take<br />
power from a swiftly turning drum<br />
driven by the big overshot water<br />
wheel in the mill race outside.<br />
Different? Yes, but not as differ-<br />
-- ent as you think. Here, and in all<br />
the gun factories in Connecticut, is<br />
much that is similar, too. Take off<br />
the belts; gear in electric motors;<br />
spray the machine frames, the lathe<br />
beds, with glossy gray enamel; and,<br />
over all, now that the overhead<br />
shafting is out, put a gleaming array<br />
of fluorescent lights. Those are the<br />
basic differences. For in external<br />
details only does today's arms industry<br />
differ much from that begun
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