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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1918)
0 THE 3I0RXIXG OREGOXIAX, TtTESDAT, JAXITAHY 29, 19t8. 1,500,000 READY TO FIGHT FOR 0. S Gigantic War Preparations o Nation Are Disclosed by Secretary Baker. ARMY SECRETS REVEALED A amber of American Soldier In France Soon to Be Half Million Doable) That Number Await Only Shipa to Carry Them. Co??ried TrDm First PasO ,thl tremendous effort, this wholly unprecedented sacrifice mad by men, were In fact to turn Vut to deserve the comment that It had fallen down." Mr. Baker took person ml responsible Ity for getting men under training: be fore their equipment waa ready "to the Ht show button." Such officers aa Major-General . Leonard Wood, ha said, had orared thla policy. Ha described conferences that evolved the ordnane programme and j Its fulfillment, submitted documents to prove that Franc and Great Britain were supplying- artillery and machine runs for the first forcea at their own urgent request In order that ships might be nsed for other purposes. - - Peraklaa; Eyeo ef Araay. In all that waa done prior to the de partura of the first troops. General Pennine shared In the deliberations and approved the decisions reached. Mr. Baker declared, and now. sur rounded with a staff of trained reg alar officers. Pershing Is In France aa the "erea of the Army." Every step taken baa been founded en bla lonr dally cabled reporta of what la going on. at toe fighting fronts. Tablea were cited to show that over crowding In the campa and canton- meats had not been geoeral. and that the alekaese bad come mostly In the eampe where medical opinion had aerated It waa least to be expected. The history of the development and building of the cantonments waa given in detail to show that every precaution possible had been taken. Analyzing the efforts of the ordnance bureau, the Secretary said that General Crosier had urged for yeara a great artillery preparation: that he at least had realised the time gun-making re quired. But even France herself, "with the enemy at her throat." ha added. Dia not Hfa mum iu one . tiai . i gun programmes the war would lead Into. During bla general statement of the war plan and bow It waa developed. Mr. Baker waa rarely Interrupted, lie said: laaaecdlaia Plan DlfrV-alt. "Vow. gentlemen, about the plan of SECRETARY OF WAR, WHO IS CENTER OF STORM THAT SENATOR CHAMBERLAIN STARTED. ' v i . '-'.- ;,. e ' v - Jt -' '"" . - I i - s' c-r; :k ''. f- ' . . . I . . t ... . . . . . ' ' ' v-; ' . , 1 i . i r "- ' ' ; ' ' "'x.- - i s" J - ' ",' " .. V'."' v ,i ff'tf ' I L " ' MJWTOJI D. BAKER. the other Implement or supply: how certain plans which one might natur ally have evolved out of the past ex perience of the world had been tried there and found not to work at alL War TVIselosa Braaah Frees Fraaee. They were exchanging Information giving ns all that they thought was helpful. And then came Joffre. with hla wonderful reputation and his great ana cnarming personality, and he made a great figure here and we welcomed him. It Was rHremeorloui Inspiration to see the hero of the Marne: but with him came tills unobserved staff of If or or IS young men. the most bril liant men In the French army strat eglsta. mechanical experts, experts in1 arms, experts in supplies, experts In Industry and manufacture, and they toia ua not merely the formal and mil tary problems, but they brought over with them men who were in from the beginning In their reorganisations of their Industries. In their mobilization of their Industrial plants. We aat down with thelm in little groups until finally we collated and collected and extracted all the Informa tion which they could give us from their respective countries. 600.000 men to send over, or any part v- or 600.000 men which we could ship.' I "Now, Instead of having 60.000 or ' 100.000 men in France In 1917. we have many more men than that in France, and instead of having half a million men whom we could ship to France. If we could find any way to do It In 1918, we will have more than one-half million in France early in 1918. r "And we have available. If the trans portation facilities are available to us. end the prospect is not unpromising, one and one-half million who in 1918 can be shipped to France," Senator Weeks asked whether the Secretary knew who wrote the edi torial, and Mr. Baker said he thought it was attributed to Mr. Wiggin, the editor in chief. - "Why," asked Chairman Chamber lain, "have you not felt it proper to let the public into your confidence with reference to these things that you are telling now?" Secrecy ' Reply te Hlndenbnrg. "Senator. I confess I have hesitated. . and I still hesitate," replied the Sec retary. "I have here a statement from Field Marshal ron Hindenburg. in which he is quoted as saying in a Ger man newspaer, in contemptuous fash Ion of us, that we have advertised our preparations for this war in an un worthy manner." "Do you think, for a moment. Sec retary Baker," said the chairman, "that there has been any time within the last year that the German secret serv ice has not been : fully advised .as to everything we have done?" "Yes. I knew. If I may rely upon the confidential information which we get from confidential sources, the Ger man government is still mystified as to the number of men we have in France. or have had there at any time." The chairman said he doubted this. After some discussion as to the policy of governments In announcing mili tary secrets, Mr. Baker said it was not governments to do so. and added? "I am saying this now, because you have asked me why I have held back these facts until now. I am saying to you that you could not get from Great Britain at this moment I don t know whether I could get the number of soldiers Great Britain has in France or at home. I could get an approxima tion: I could get whatever information might be deemed helpful to the imme diate military object to be accom pliahed. but I could not get from Great Britain or France, either one, the actual number of troops they have at the OUTSTANDING FEATURES OF STATEMENT MADE BY SECRE TARY OF WAR BEFORE SENATE MILITARY COMMITTEE. And every country which has been the war. It will be remembered that Drought In the war has brought u thia we Throka out In AuitiiL 1914. mat sort, or sent us that sort of W. went Into It In AorlL 1917. so that staff of experts, and it has been neces for two and one-half years, or more Ty lo compare notea and wlth tnls than two and one-half years, the war had been going on. "It waa not aa though war had broken out between the I'nlted States and some country, each of there prior to that time having been at peace with one another and with everybody else: so that an Immediate plan should be made In the United States for con ducting war against Its adversary, "But we were coming into a war which bad been going on for two and one-half years. In which the greatest military experts, all the Inventive genius, all of the industrial capacity of those greatest countries In the world had for two and one-half years been solving the problem of what kind of war it was to be and where It was to be waged. "It was not thing for ns to de ride where our theater of war should be. The theater of war was France. "It waa not for ns to deride our line of communications. Our line of com munications was across three thousand miles of ocean, one end of It infested with submarines. "It was not for us to decide whether w would have the maneuvering of large bodies of troops In the open. There lay the antagonists on opposite I there now ' .v juaii Laq in ini irrnrnf at a death grapple with one another. "Our antagonist was on the other side of that line and our problem was and Is to get over there and get him. Prokleaa Itksat Prereeleat. "It was not the problem of doing It our way and lettlnr everybody else a basis, to form such an idea- aa might be formed of what was the tiling for us to do over there. Eveata Oatrace Reasons. 'But that waa not enough. Thev ad mitted that It waa Impossible) to draw that picture. They could describe to na anri hrlnr tha ,n.r.ifl,..4nn. nrf drawings for a piece of artillery. buttl,at "8 nad to they could not teli us why the British ousiy wun tnis tr those who remained at home, you will realise, I am sure, that those who re-(ront malned here had the double duty. In- -i. nlay be that that precaution is sufficient for either aspect of It, in I unnecessary, and yet that ia the pre- numoers ana tney nave mis aouoie iCaution which military men have ot duty they had to go forward with served. I have no further point to manufactures, work out Industry and I malt0 ln tno matter of the number of Industrial relations. They had to see troops there than to show, as I was about supplies of raw materials and showing, when I read that extract, that manufacture finished products, and our original intention was to make our make from day to day alterations and military effort ln 1917; and in August cnanges mat naa to De made, ana tney l0f 1917 a zealous advocate of lmmedl had to be Ingenious with suggestions, ate military activity laid, down as the to see whether they could devise on this maximum obtainable programme, a side something which had not been (thing which. has since been multifold thought of over there. "They had to be hospitable to sug gestions which came from the other side: they had to confer with the for eign officers who were here and were constantly being changed, so that men fresh from the front could be here to advise with us. "In addition to that every one of them had to be a university professor, going out into the life of the commu nity and selecting men who had me- cnamcai experience ana Knowledge ana reCently before that an ll l M lug. UUt UUI IIIIIIIIT 111 CUll&IUUtW experience and knowledge and training, and adding to his original equipment their scientific training, that finishing touch which made him available for use as a. military scientist. Great Depattaaeats Dalit Tp. Aa a consequence, this little group exceeded. C. S. Troops Sent te Cheer French. "Why did we decide to. send some troops to France ln 1917? It la no secret. When Marshal Joffre came to this country from France, when the British mission came from France, they told us of a situation which we had not up to that time fully appreciated. There had been conducted In France unsuccessful major offensive. The French people had suffered in a way that not only our language ia not adapted to de scribe, but. our imagination cannot conceive. "The war is In their country. Thi wolf has not only been at their door, but he has been gnawing for two years Half million American troops will be available, for service in France at an early date. . Million more are in eight for reinforcements and restoring of wastage along battle front. All artillery necessary for operations of American troops will be supplied by British and French, who are well equipped to do so. Regiments of American railroad men are keeping war transporta tion facilities of allies right up to armies of allies as they advance. Battalions of Red Cross nurses and ambulance drivers are doing heroic service. ' Entire harbors, including wharves, terminals, warehouses and docks, have been constructed by Americans at points of disembarka tion of troops in Europe. , - History has no precedent for the expedition and thoroughness that have characterized the war preparations of the United States. Failures and shortcomings have been present in the war prepara tions, but they are dwarfed by the magnitude of what has been accom plished. General Pershing reported unfavorably on Lewis machine guns, except for aviation purposes. , . The report of a woman magazine writer is quoted to the effect that 99 out of every 100 soldiers in the camps are receiving better care than they could afford at home. Reports of health neglect in the camps are not of a formidable nature; conditions are promptly investigated and improvement is reported by Dr. Hornby, a hospital expert. The sites for the cantonments were selected by General Leonard Wood, who is regarded as an expert in the matter of sanitation. Thirty-two National Guard and National Army divisions ready to start for trenches in Europe today if needed. Responsible officers, among them General Wood, had urged mob ilization of troops for training before complete equipment was ready. which stayed here have built the great and a half at their vitals. When this special departments of the Army. The unsuccessful offensive in France had ordnance department, starting. I think. tth'98 or 98 officers, has now. as I recall the figures, something like 8000 officers. They have bad to be trained; they have had to be specialized, and on contemporane- tremendous response rsno on three weeks a spirit not of sur render, but of fate seized the French nnnliL "This mighty military engine which they had seen . preparea to overcome them for 40 years was at them, and their attitude, was that no matter ni ineurr 01 ma use 01 arunery was oy . ;r. ' ,K- willintr to do. or siae. , l a.. ... . ... , . , , ..r .v - , j not. it was an irreslsuDie imng, ami Into thi. mr.r i hinv i - Ani so they said to us. 'Frankly, the British preferred to that of the r rench. "They could not picture to us barrage of heavy howitzers as com pared to a barrage of 76-M guns. Tney could not picture to us the association - or aircraft, balloons and mobile aircraft with artillery uses. They could tell us about It. but even while they told us the story grew old. 1 ne one ming they, told us from the very beginning to the end waa that this war. of all others, was not a static thing; that our adversary was a ver satile and agile adversary: that every day ha revamped and changed his weapons of attack and his methods of defense; that the stories they were tell ing us were true when they left Eng land and France, but an entirely dif ferent thins waa probably taking place "Tbey told . us of large supplies of weapons of one kind and another which they had developed in France and England, and which, even before they -got them ln sufficient quantity manufactured to take them from the Industrial plants to the front, were su perseded by new Ideas and had to be take care of himself. In the first place, "rown Into the scrap heap. we were going tt fight ln France, not on our own solL and not on our ad versary'a soil. Therefore, at the very beginning. It was obvious tbst the thing we had to do was not to map out an Ideal plan of campaign, not to nave the war college with Its spec ulative studies or Kapoleon and every' body else map out the theoretically nest way to get at some other country, but it waa the problem of studying x War Net a Statle Thlag. hey said to us. this Is a moving picture; it la something that nobody can paint and give you an idea of. It Is not a static thing. "Therefore. It became necessary for na to have eyes there In an Instant and immediate communication with us. and sent over to France General Pershing, and we sent with him not merely a division of troops to that I the then existing situation and bring- hall refer ln a moment but we sent ing the financial, the Industrial and the wlIn Dlm- Prnaps I can say safely, the military strength of the United States major part of toe trained, expert per Into co-oneratlon with that at nrmt I sonnel of the Army. Britain and France In the most Imme- "Vou know the size of the official dtat and effective way. I corps of the regular Army in this coun try wnen the war broke out. It waa a pitiful handful of trained men, and yet It was necessary to divide them up and send over to France officers of the highest quality so that they would Da at the front and see In the workshops and in the factories and In cannot be pat down In reports: It Is I IT., " l.". . o that ga with their own eyes, and send us back the de- "That problem could not be decided here. I fancy that In thla audience there are men who have been In the tranches. The altogether unprecedent ed character of that problem la the thing which every returning visitor I tells us cannot be described in words. . j,n . , ' .V, , I where consultations would tat M , " . J, 7",J.lm 05r'h,n immediately back of tha front- ,n U,.wor: they could see the things w In It desolation, so extraordinary In its uniqueness that It must be seen and studied en the ground in order to be comprehended at all. Mistake rewalble, tails by cable every day of the cbang ing cnaracter or this war. "General Pershing's staff of experts land officers over there runs into the "It Is eastly Imagined that we might thousand and they are busy every liva n. r f a t ! m n m rm w nva, hip, m rA I uiinuiv. "Every day that the sun rises I get cablegrama from General Pershing from 10 to 1 and ZD pages long, filled 1th measurements and formulas and changes of a millimeter In sise. great long specifications of changes In de tails or tnings which were agreed upon last week and changed this week, and S that from .. very beginning It t"h h wTVriVo.ng at thliVnd 7. carried It across the ocean and found it wholly unadapted to Its task, and It might well have been that the army that w sent over was Just ne thing that they did not need, and that aome other thing which we might have sup plied would have been the thing essen tial to their success. it it will will cheer our people If thought throughout the country that cnwr :,r ' . our contribution at the outset might vou seno over aomo well be financial and industrial. The industries of this country were largely devoted at that time to the appropriate Industries, and many converted Indus tries were largely devoted to the man ufacture of war materials for our allies. "As I suggested this morning, when we went Into that market we found It largely occupied, so that our problem was not going to a shoe factory and saying, "Make shoes for us,' but it was going to a factory which never made , aoc0unt of itself as the British army Wa did send some troops. "At that time we had a choice. We could have sent over, as did Great Britain, our regular Army troops and in a very short preparation have put them into action and suiierea exactly what Great Britain suffered with her vontemntible little army.' as it waa called by their adversaries. XucleixB Would Have Been Lost. "The Army would have given as good shoes, because all the shoe factories were busy making shoes for people from whom we could not take them. and saying. "Learn how to make shoes In order that you may make them for ua Now, of course, that Is not true of shoes, but It is true of machine guns; It Is true of other arms; It is true of did. but It would have been destroyed like the British army, and there would have been no nucleus on which to build this hew army that waa to come over a little later, and it was deemed wiser to send over a regular division, but not to send over our whole regular Army at that time. "Then what happened waa tnat ammunition; it Is true of forging ca- regular division went over and the peo pacity. which waa the greatest defect in pi8 of France kissed the hems of their in v.vum j , .mi u mio nine we nsu garments as tney marcnea up toe not merely to disturb the programme ,rt of Paris. The veterans, wound- 01 auiea manufacture in this country, l d in this war, legless or armless, but we had not to cut off the supplies stumning along on crutches as they of raw material to our alljos. We had went up the streets of Paris with their noi w uioiuro mo muusiry 01 mis coun- arms around the necks ot American eoi- iry. to sucn an extent mat products dlers. upon which they depended for the sue- "Not a slnerle man ln that division cesa of their military operations would waa unaccompanied by a veteran, be Interfered with, both agricultural America had srone to France and. the and commercial and industrial products. I French people rose with a- sense of Maaraalae Arfk-lo Ouiii. gratitude and hopefulness that had At tha outset tha M w. th.t w. never been ln them before. would be a financial and Industrial as. slstance to our allies during the year 1911. and I think I probably can read from the Metropolitan Magazine for August a suggestion which will' show what the current expectation of this country waa. The editor of the Metro politan Magazine was protesting against what ha believed to be the In tention of the Government at that time." Here Senator Weeks interrupted to ask If that. was the magazine of which Theodore Roosevelt Is associate edi tor. Secretary Bakerreplkcd that Mr. Roosevelt was a contributing editor. d continued: "Thla magazine came out In Ausrust. 1917, and this editorial says: Since It Is our war. we want to put everything Into it. so as to finish nr.n.r.tnn , v k.-i. hum anmn It In the shortest possible time, so that part of our trained force in order that "Of course they welcomed the British, but their need was not so great when the British went. Of course they wel corned the British, but there were ties between them and us which there had not been between them and the British and so. when our troops went there was an instant and spontaneous rise ln the morale of the French. . Hare Troops Dlaeutcbed. . "But there was an equally instant and spontaneous insistence that these soldiers who came from America should continue to come ln an unbroken stream. "And so we made the election. We decided not to send the regular Army as a whole, but to send regular divi sions and National Guard divisions, se lected according to the state of their not a question of abstract specu lation here, but a Question of study there to r.nd out where our shoulder to the wheel could be put. "They realised that. And so Great Britain sent over to us Mr. Balfour and General Bridges and a staff of experts. They came over here and you saw Mr. Balfour In the House of Congress and at the White House and In public meetings, at one place and another. "But the group of experts whom they brought over with them yon did not see much of. and yet they distributed themselves through the War Depart ment, and their ordnance experta aat down with General Crosier, their sup ply experts with General Sharpe and bis assistants, their strategists, sat down with the Army war college, and all over thla city there were these con. ftdential groups exchanging Informa tion, telling how the thing waa over there, what we could do, what they attempting by using the eyes of the Army there to keep up to what they want ua to do. Era One ot Ualek Cbanareav 'Already yon will find ln your fur ther examination Into some ot the bu reau work of the department, some of the divisions when they come down, you will find that schedules which were agreed upon, weapons which were se lected and which we had started to manufacture, have been so far discard ed that people have forgotten the names of them, almost, and new things substituted in their place, and those forgotten and new things in their places. "So that If one gets the Idea that this la the sort of war we used to have, or If he gets the Idea that this Is a static thing. It is an entirely erroneous Idea. "When you remember that we had to divide thi little handful of officers me woria may ne restored. To our mind the whole plan of the War De partment has been flavored with a de- tire to hold off until the allies finish the war for us." "Ton see. the editor was dealing with what he supposed to be the Intention of the War Department at that time. He was assuming that we were hold ing off so far as actual military oper- lt might Inoculate with Its spirit and Its training these raw levies which we were training. . "One after another these divisions have gone over until ln France there is a fighting Army, an Army trained in the essentials and In the beginnings of military discipline and practice, and trained, seasoned fighters in this kind of a war on the actual battlefields atlons were concerned and letting the (where It la rnkina- nlaea. allies do the fighting. "Early ln this war. when Joffre was "What he says we should have done, here and when Balfour was here, they and I ask your particular attention to said to us: ,tnl8 . "Tt may take you some time to get We should have strained every over to us a fighting army, but you are energy to have gotten from 60.000 to a great Industrial country; our man- 100.000 men to France this year.' . power is fully engaged in our indus- advtsed as to do. what experience they I that we had and send so large a part of had sad, In developing, taia, that and I them to France, and than think, of That la the year 1917. Editorial Estimates Beaten. "I tell no secret, but. It is perfectly wen known to everybody in this grou that we have far exceeded what ln August. 1917, was regarded as a pro gramme so Ideal that the editor of this magazine refers to it aa a thing which we ought to have strained every nerve in a vain but boneless effort to ac complish." In response to a question by Chair man Chamberlain, the Secretary said the United States did 'not have more than a minimum number of men in tries and in our military enterprises send over artisans, special engineering regiments and - troops of a technical character.' 'Although It was not contemplated at the outset and was only a phrase In the emergency military legislation, this shows that the thing was thought of as a possibility. Fighting Railroad Men Sent. "Yet In a very short time we had or ganized engineering regiments of rail road men and sent them over there and were rebuilding behind the lines of the roads, back of both the French and British lines. "Those regiments were of such qual Ity that at the Cambral assault carried on by General Byng. when the Ger mans made their counter attack our en gineer regiments threw down the! picks and spades and carried their rifles into the battle and distinguished themselves by gallant action in the war Itself. Very early ln this war Great Britain, through Balfour and his as sistants, and France, through Joffre, said to us, 'Send us nurses and doc tors.' Before we were seriously In the war American units organized in ad vance and ln anticipation .by the Red Cross, which was taken over Into th service of the United States through the Surgeon-General's office, were on the battlefield. There are tens of thousands of men ln England and in France now who bless the mission of mercy upon which the first Americans appeared in France. "Our surgeons have set up hospital. Immediately behind the lines. They have been military In every sense of the word. They have not been espe dally fortunate in escaping attack from the air. Our early losses In this war were the losses of Red Cross nurses and doctors and orderlies and attendants In hospitals and ambulance drivers who were sent over to assist our allies In these necessary services, thus not only rendering assistance but acquir ing skill and knowledge of the cir- umstances and surroundings so that when our own troops came In large numbers they could render like serv ice to our own forces. Special Studies Made. "But that was not enough. It was suggested that further groups of me chanics might be needed. Nay, we be gan to see that we were going to be crver there ln large force, ana tne ques tlon that then had to be answered was, how shall we maintain an army in France? Special studies had to be made of that problem, and this is what they showed. They showed .mat xne rail roads and the facilities of France had durina this war. been kept in an ex cellent condition, far. better than any other supposed possible under war con ditlons. And yet. that those railroads were used to' the maximum to take care of the nelds of the French and the British themselves, and that when our Army became a great Army it would be neces sary for us to build back of our own lines an inueuenuem. nuo u wmmuu, cation." c - France White Sheet of Paper. In other words, France was a white sheet of paper, so far as we were con cerned, and on that we had not only to write an army, but we had to write the means of maintaining that army, and from the first time when a careful and scientific study of the opportuni ties of France to help us were made, from that hour until this, we have been building in France facilities, instru ments, agencies. Just as many as we are here in the United States and more -many of them of the same character. "For instance, the French had nat urally reserved the best ports in France for their own supply. The channel ports haye been reserved lor tne British. When we came in it was necessary for us to have independent norta of entry in order that there might not be confusion and admixture of our suDDlles going through these ports of disembarkation with those of other nations. We were given several ports. "As you perhaps recall, tne ports oi France are tidal ports, ports with deep water and tidal basins at high tides. with Insufficient water for landing at the docks when the tide is out. ' Entire Harbors Built. "As a convenience, the construction of docks and wharves in ports of that kind is very much more difficult than where you have a deep-sea harbor, and all you need -to do is to erect a pile wharf. We have had to build docks, we have had to fabricate in this country and send off dock-handling machinery. We have had. to send from this country ven the piles to build the docks. We have had to have railway giant cranes manufactured in this country and sent over to be erected on those docks. We have had to erect over there ware houses at the ports of disembarkation ln order" that these vast accumulations of stores and supplies which go over can be properly housed and cared for ntil they can be dlsiriDutea into tne interior. "We have had to take over and are in process of rebuilding and amplifying a railroad 600 miles long in order to carry our products from our ports of disembarkation to our general Dases of operations. "And all of that, gentlemen, has to be .done, not only studied out, as a necessary thing to do, but, when so studied out and reported here, the manufactures for those things have to be carried on in this country and the things shipped over there nails, cross ties, spikes, fishplates, engines, cars, buildings. Ordnance Depots Built. "We have had to build ordnance depots and repair shops and great maeazlnes of supply in the interior. All of the problem has been carried for ward step by step. 'The plans for a single ordnance re pair shop which I saw some time ago covered acres and acres of ground, de signed over here, the ironwork fabri cated over here, dissembled, put ln ships and carried abroad to be reassem bled over there. We have had to build barracks over there for our soldiers, and in the mean time to billet them around ln the French villages. Building barracks dustry of this country to produce the lumber to build our own cantonments It came In a great and steady stream from all over the country, but when we talk about building barracks in France it means this: "It means to organize, as we have organized, regiments of foresters and sending them over into the "forests of France, which they have assigned to us ror our use, cutting down the trees, setting up sawmills, making the lum ber of various sizes, transporting it to the places where it la to be used and then, finally, using it. Crops Planted In France. . "We have had to go back to the planting of the corn in France In order that we might some time make s. harvest. "Our operations began ln the forests of France, not in the lumber yards, as tney aid in this country. "That great staff under General Pershing's direction containing so many men from the American Army, enriched by captains of Industry and masters of technical performance in this country, all of these large indus trial operations under general direc tion, such as the railroad and dock buildings, under a former vice-presi dent and now a vice-president perhaps or the .Pennsylvania railroad: Atter- bury and men of that quality and ex perience, summoned in to aid him those are the men who are carrying forward these operations which are quite as expensive as those which are carried over here and of far greater difficulty because it means getting material by cable as to sizes and speci fications, having it fabricated here and sent across there over 300 submarine- infested miles of ocean. camp activities committee, the training camp athletic committee, have all bee brought in and the Red Cross have al been brought in to live with the sol diers. "By virtue of activities started In the War Department, the communities which surround the camps have been instantly gotten -away from the notion which used to prevail of a certain alienation between a civilian and eol dier group, and these soldier boys In these camps have been adopted into the homes and hearts of the people among whom they live. "No such relation has ever existed between an Army and a civilian popu lation as exists with regard to this. Fighting Forces Kept Clean. "And then, with your aid, the Army has been able practically to stamp out intemperance and vice among the sol dier, by the establishment of zones, by the establishment of patrol systems of one kind and another, by the training of these young officers in these train ing camps, young men of experience and fine feeling and all that, we have gotten Into this great Army the Idea that it can be a strong and effective military Army and still be free from things which have hitherto weakened and sapped the vitality and virility of armies. "I have gone -from camp to camp among these cantonments, and my first question almost Invariably Is to the camp, commander, 'What about your disciplinary problem?" "Old men in the Army, men whose lives have been spent in it from their boyhood, and who have been all over the continental United States and through its insular possessions, wher ever our armies have been, who know the life of the soldier and the camp and the post, all say with one accord, and no exception, that they have never seen anything like this, that the disciplinary problems of the Army are reduced to a negligible quantity and instead of the melancholy and pathetic parade through the Secretary of War's office of court- martial after court-martial of men who have fallen down and yielded to temp tation under these unusual circum stances, which used to obtain, I have an Infrequent case now and then of court-martial, by reason of such weaknesses." British and French the railroads which France In August, 1917. Ha continued: were being carried forward with their lover there and building them here is a Ana men me eunor goes on: advance, reconstructing tneir oroken I very amereni tning, gentlemen. iiy next year. 1318, wo eould. nave I ansioea &ad e&za, buudiAS new: rail- J "When we summoned, the lumber jA-lC&risu&a Association, - too. Hospital Work Vast. "In addition to that cn the other side it has been necessary for us to build hospitals and that is where the major need ror hospitals may be. it nas oeen necessary for the sur geon . general's staff . to. be divided in this fashion and to select supplies and procure materials and to send over staffs of trained persons to supervise the construction of these hospitals, and to man and equip them. All of that has gone on contempo raneously with the work which has been done in this country. In order that another element may be added to this kaleidoscopic charac- ter which this war necessarily had. I call your attention to a thing which you already know. This war had more or less set character until the Russian situation changed, and it has changed, and it has changed in the last lew montns. "When we had gotten more or less used to the situation created by the uncertainty as to Russia, there came the great Italian defeat which has called for even greater changes in our pians, in many ways. Perfect Plan Upset. so mat wnat might have been a perfectly acceptable plan as to major operations prior to the change in the Russian situation or prior to the change in the Italian situation, had to be re-studied instantly. For that rea son, among others, there is now or ganized, as you know in France, pur suant to the suggestion of Mr. Lloyd George, the Rapello conference, or the supreme war council. The United States is represented on that by the Chief of staff of the American Army and the major international arrange ments ln regard to the military are worked out there, while General Per shing and his staff of experts are working out those other questions. I "That is a picture of what has been going on over there, gentlemen. On this side much of that has had to be done, and in addition to it, all the things we have done, and I ask you to remember among the achievements on this side is the building of this Army, not of 50,000 or 100,000 or 500.000 but of substantially a million and one-half men. "And now, let me be frank with you and let your judgment be frank with me about this. Army Greatest In History. "Thla Is the greatest army in history since the beginning of time, and no army has been cared for as this army naa uan that picture be duplicated? "We have raised this army, taking me regular Army and the National Guard, raising it to war strength and supplementing it by the operation of a draft. "There are Senators in this room who said to me with grief when we Dro posed that that form of raisinir the soldiers should be had; they shook their heads and said, 'Mr. Secretary, it can't De done. It is too sudden to address to the American people that mode of selecting soldiers. "And yet, has any great enterprise witnin tne Knowledge of any man ln tnis room ever been carried out with more unfailing justice, with more in teuigent- explanation and commenda tion to the good sense of patriotism of the American peotle. and has anv srreat ana revolutionary cnange In our mode ul pi-acnes ever Deen accepted so splendidly as the operation of the se lective service system? We have got those young men into camp ana tney are surrounded from the day tney left home until the dav thev come back to it, if in God's providence tney can come back, with more hem cies for their protection and comfort ana neaitn and happiness, physical, spiritual and mental, than any armv possessed that ever went out on a field. Many Good Agencies Enlisted. "They are classified by a system un der classification so that men who have mechanical instincts and training will be given mechanical opportunities in the Army. The 'round' man is not sought to be put into the 'square' place. "The Y.. M. C. A. the American peo ple have subscribed liberally for the purpose the Y. M. C, A., the Knights of Columbus. . the Young Women's training i Hospital . Statistics Supplied. Here, at the request of the chairman Mr. Baker put Into the record a state ment showing the number of hospitals. Army and Red Cross, established in France, with the number of the per sonnel of each. The Secretary then resumed: "When Lord Northcliffe returned to England he was Invited, as I recall it, by Lloyd George to accept a position in his Cabinet. He wrote a letter, which was printed in the papers, and' in that he made this casual reference, to the United States. He spoke of his visit here, and spoke of our war prep-- arations in this fashion: 'War preparations are proceeding- in the virile atmosphere of the United States and Canada with a fervor and en thusiasm little understood on this sido of the Atlantic." "He was then in England. "I happen. to have a copy of a con fidential instruction issued by the Ger man government in June, 1917, to the German press as to what course they should take ln dealing with American matters, and they say: 'While the news about American war preparations, such as the or ganizing and outfitting of an army of one million men strong to reinforce the French-English front. Is looked upon ln that form as bluff, the spreading of which may unfavorably affect the opinion of the German people, yet the fact must not be overlooked, on the other hand, that the United States with, the support of its capacity for mate rial and industrial management is arm-. Ing itself for war with great energy and tenacity." Favorable Showing Promised. "Your committee will have full op portunity and will doubtless go into ; those things. If you will deal with the ' hospital situation, the medical corps, the signal corps, you will hear the won- ' derful work done by the engineering department of the Army. "When it is all told, Mr. Chairman, it will be a story which I am sure your committee will be glad to report to tho Senate of the United States as being a tremendous response to a tremendous responsibility. "When you have made this investiga tion I know the American people will feel, as I think they have a right to feel, that we are In this war to win it; that we are ln it to hit and to hit hard: that we are in it to co-ordinate our strength with that of our associates; that the problem is not one of individ ual star playing, but of team play, with the veterans and experienced persons under actual battle conditions; that more has been done, perhaps, than the country expected, more than the wisest in . the country thought was possible to do. Insofar as I am personally con-. cerned, I know what is ahead of us. know what the American feeling about this war 19. Everybody is im patient that we should do as much as we can. There will be no division of counsel. there will be all the criticism there ought to be upon shortcomings and failures: there will be. so far as the War Department is concerned, a contin uing effort at self-government and A hospitality toward every suggestion for improvement that can come from the outside. But the net result is going to be that a united and confident American people, believing in themselves arid in their institutions, are going to demand victory, and that at no late day, on European battlefields. In the face of veterans though they be, they do not excel us in achievement. "And when the victory is won over there, Mr. Chairman, the credit that will come to American enterprise and to American determination and to Amer ican courage will be an honor to us. as the tenacity of purpose and splendid achievements of the British and French already shed great luster on the names of those great peoples." From Senator Chamberlain's speech, Mr. Baker said it had seemed to him that, although it was not the Senator's purpose to make it so appear, tho country got an impression rrom tho failures and delays that made them disproportionate to what was going on. Fencing In Defense Denied. The Secretary said there might ba instances of shortcomings, but only in- stances. . When he appeared previously, Mr. Baker said It "was with the intention of being frank," but despite this desire he seemed "to have the feeling that I was fencing in defense of some of my subordinates. He denied any such Intention and said when he concluded, if there was anything else the committee desired to investigate he would do everytning possible within his power to assist without fear or favor, ana to eneci any improvement. The Secretary said tnat wnen ne heard of the two letters read ty Sena tor Chamberlain concerning bad treat ment of sick soldiers he immediately asked Mr. Chamberlain for all the details. I want to follow those through to the very end," said he, "and find out who is responsible, in order that I can punish the guilty." Although more than l.ooo.ouo men are under arms in this country, Mr. Baker said, the number of complaints received have been relatively small, probably not more than IS. In every instance, he said, investigations have been made immediately. Some reports, the Secretary said, have not proved serious upon inquiry, whila iCeneluded on fag I.. .Column I m - - , 1