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The Commoner
BRUARY, -1918
11
TJW WB Wr .wmaiff," m vi
Sec'y Baker Reviews Work of
War Department
(Continued from Page 7.)
"And. then with your aid, the army
has been able to practically stamp
out intemperance and vice among
the soldiers by tho establishment of
zones, by the establishment of patrol
systems of on kind and another, by
tho training of these young officers
in these training 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
bo free from things which have hith
erto weakened and sapped tho vital
ity 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?'
Army's Discipline
"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
whernvor our armies have been, who
"7T know the life of the soldier and tho
camp and the post, all say with one
accord and no exception that chey
have never seen anything like this,
that the disciplinary problems' of the
army are reduced to $. negligible
quantity and instead of the melan
choly and pathetic parade "through
the secretary m of war's office of
court martial ' after court martial,
of menrfwho have fallen down and
yielded to temptation under these un
usual circumstances, which used to
obtain. I have; an infrequent case
now of '"court martial" by reason1 of
such weakness."
Here at the request of the chair
man, Mr. Baker put into the record a
statement showing the number -of
hospitals the Red Gross established
in France "with the number of the
personnel of each.
The secretary then resumed his
testimony.
"When Lord Northcliffe returned
to England he was invited, as I re
call it, by Lloyd George to accept a
position in his cabinet. He wrote a
letter, which was printed in the pa
pers, and in that he made this cas
ual reference to the United States.
He spoke of his visit here, and spoke
of our war preparations in this fash
ion: " 'War preparations proceeding in
the virile atmosphere, of the United
States and Canada with a fervor and
enthusiasm little understood on this
side of the Atlantic' ' - - r'
Cites German Document. i
"He was then in England. I hap
pen to have a copy of a- confidential
instruction issued by the German1-
government in June, 917, to the
German presses to whjt course they
should take in dealing with American
matters, and they say:
" 'While .the news about American
war preparations, such as the organ
izing and outfitting of an army of
1,000,000 men strongt to reinforce
tim T?rrninh-Enc:lish front is looked
upon In'that form as bluff, the spread
ing 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 capa
city for material and industrial man
agement is arming itself for- war
with great energy and .tenacity.'
- "Your" committee will have full op
t,in?fv. and will doubtless go into
thoso.things, if you will deal with, the.
hospital situation, the medical corps,.
the signal cfrps, you will hear the
wonderful work done by tho engin
eering department of the army; but
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, and when
you have made this investigation I
know that tho 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 in it to hit, and to hit
hard: that we are in it to co-ordinate
our strength with that of our asso
ciates; that tho problem Is not one
of individual star playing, but of
team play, with these 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.
No Division of Counsel
"In so far as I am personally con
cerned, I know what is ahead-of us.
I know what the American feeling
about this war is. Everybody is im
patient to 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 con
tinuing effort at self improvement
and a hospitality toward every sug
gestion for improvement that can
come from the outside, but the net
result is going to be that a united
and confident American people, be
lieving in themselves and in their in
stitutions; are -going to demand, and
that at no late day, on European
battlefields, in tho face of veterans
though they be, that they can not
excel us in achievement, and when
the victory Is won over there, Mr.
Chairman, the credit which will come
to American enterprise, and to
American determination and to
American courage will be an honor
to us, as the ten-.city of purpose and
3plendid achievements of the British
and French already shed great lustre
on the names of the great people."
In his testimony at the morning
session Mr. Baker said:
Welcomes Criticlsv
- ,"I have no purpose to defend in
dividuals' or myself. If I discuss Xiere
Individuals by jiame, if I refer to Gen.
Crozler or to Gen. Sharpe or myself,
it will be only to make it clear. If
any of us should figure in tomorrow's
casualties it would be as nothing
vbegide. the object we ail ask. , I am
not; here ,to deny shortcomings, but I
.ttflnk-I can say this: that where we
have -found such shortcomings or
mistakes we have made every effort
to correct them. I most earnestly
ask that when you have pointed out
to you any shortcomings, whether It
seem well founded -or not, that you
instantly refer it to me In order that
the processes of the department may
sift the truth.
Defending the Jack of Lewis ma
chine guns, the secretary aid that
Gen. Pershing does Dot want Lewis
guns for the ground forces, but only
for aviation. He said that up to last
April the Lewis gun had not been
satisfactorily tested with American
ammunition, although widely used by
England. The French, he said,
never took the Lewis gun in any
large numbers.
2n- '
"The board," ho added, referring'
fn tlm hnftrrl hft ft-nnntntnrl fn thA fall
of 1916' to test machine guns, '"never
delayed for one second the procure
ment ef additional machine guns."
Obviously, he said, there wero not
as many machine guns for camp
training as was tb bo desired, but ho
read a table showing that on Nov. 1
each camp or cantonment had been
shipped 30 Colt, 65 Lewis and 45
Chauchat guns, and, in addition, each
regular cavalry regiment had been
supplied with ten Lewis guns, and
each Infantry regiment with ton
Chauchats.
Tho Big Guns
On the question of big guns, Secre
tary Baker recalled that Gen. Crozler,
Chief of Ordnance, had urged con
gress and tho various secretaries of
war continuously ror larger pro
grammes because of the time it took
to make the guns. The record served,
he thought, to show that Gen Crozier
had realized the delay that must be
faced and sought to prepare in ad
vance. British and French theory of ar
tillery usage differs, ho said:
"Wo had to decide for ourselves
what we should use."
Army exports were sent abroad, to
study the question. Early In June it
was intimated that France had so
far accelerated her industrial pro
gramme that "the wastage of indus
try would not fully occupy her re
sources and that she could supply ar
tillery for American forces, then go
ing to France, without curtailing her
own forces. Capt. Tardleu opened
the subject.
"On July 13 or 14," Mr. Baker
continued, "an agreement was made
by which tho French government
agreed to" supply the principal pieces
of 75-milimetre field guns and 155
milimetre r.i.id fire howitzers needed
for the American forcps being sent
abroad. The American government
wished to adopt the quickest solution
to get tho largest supply in the short
est possible time. At that time, al
though we were sending troops to
France, It was not in any large num
bers a matter somewhat for the re
mote future."
"You thought It was better to use
the French factories instead of wait
ing to build our own?" asked Senator
Reed.
"Exactly," Secretary Baker re
plied. 'Also it saVed tonnage. And
I'm te)ling no secrets when I say that
ships are the crux of this problem,
and every time we can use French
industrial resources instead of mak
ing and sending our own products we
are doing it."
Manufactured "Here.
Statistics of manufacture in this
country of artillery were given by
Secretary Baker, some publicly and
some to the committee ih confidence.
He said, for example, that the first
three-inch anti-aircraft gun was de
livered this month and that its pro
duction Is rising steadily to an esti
mate of 300 per month maximum.
"So," he said, in recapitulating, "I
think it is fair to say (and if there is
a possibility that I am wrong I want
it called to my. "attention) that the
American army in France, large as
it is, and the American army to be
sent there, large as that is, are and
will be provided with artillery of the
type they want as rapidly as they
can use it, and that our own stream
of manufacture to supplement this is
in process, with delivery of pieces
rising steadily."
Senator Frelinghuysen -said he un
derstood the shell making capacity
of the country had dropped 75 per
cent after the United States entered
the war, the war department having
permitted plants to go out of business
J and be dismantled.
Secretary Baker said he had no in
formation on that point but would
obtain; it for the committee. He sug
gested that plants built and owned
by the British government might
have been dismantled and shipped to
England. '
Senator Sutherland said a negro
preacher had told him that his son
at Camp Meade, Md had been "sup
plied with castoff Tclothing of white
soldiers and no woolen undercloth
ing. Secretary Bakor said ho would
Investigate, but declared there wag
no discrimination In tho treatment
of white and negro troops.
Secretary Baker said the idea had
gotten abroad that tho American
army uniform is part shoddy. He
declared it is all wool and that shod
dy is put only in overcoats and
blankets. -
"When wo wont into tho war," he
said, "the standard of tho army uni
form was 75 per cent wool and 25
per cent cotton. But that was
changed, and now every yard is of
virgin wool, with a large increase in
its strength."
00,000,000 Shells ThJs Year.
Tho secretary read a -report show
ing 60,000,000 shells are now under
manufacture for delivery th's year.
"I want to make one further ob
servation," Secretary Baker pro
ceeded, taking up army food, "I
think it is not unfair for me to say
that in the provision of food no army
over assembled anywhere was ever
fed as ably, as well, as nutritiously
and as appetizingly as th's army.
While there have been complaints
about other things, I think it is the
unanimous testimony that the food
has been of the highest quality, with
no suggestion of defect n its quan
tity or preparation, and that gener
ally tho food proposition has been
carried out with the moat extraor
dinary success."
Sickness at Camns.
. Sites for the camps and canton
ments were next taken up by Mr.
Baker. Praising Gen. Leonard
Wood's experience and qual'flcations'
to select sites, Secretary Baker re
ferred to the fact 'that the general
had been a medical officer and also
"or'ginated the training camp idea,
carrying it to a demonstration at
Plattsburg." Gen. Wood, lie added,
was, "recognized by common consent
In the army as the most capable to
select camp s'tes and inaugurate a
training camp system."
"The fact is," Mr. Baker said,
"that mo3t of our sickness, contrary
to expectations, has occurred at the
camps." (In contradistinction to0
cantonmento. )
The secretary admitted that illness
at Camp Bowie was perhaps caused
by too many men being housed in
one tent together with a shortage in
clothing.
Senator Weeks askol if the pneu
monia epidemic did not result from
inadequate hospital facilities.
"I don't think so," said the secre
tary. "The fact Is," he added, "we were
overtaken by epidemics before the
base hospitals were ready at some
national guard camps. When Gen,
Gorgas made his Inspections the con.
ditions were remedied instantly.
Tne secretary said that when he
heard of the two letters read by Sen
ator Chamberlain concerning bad
treatment of sick soldiers he imme
diately asked Mr. Chamberlain for all
the details.
"I want to follow those through to
the very end," he said, "and find out
who is responsible, in order that I
can punish the guilty."
Some reports, the secretary said,
have not proved serious upon inquiry
while others had, in which case cor
rections followed.
In the case of the body of an otticer
who died at 'an aviation training
(Concluded on Page 14.)
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