The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1917-12-15

for the maintenance of effective op-
erations of the force
Secretary Baker opens his report
with a review of the situation in Mex
leo which led up to the withdrawal of
General Pershing's column, and pays
a high compliment to the self re-
straint and consideration of the Am.
erican officers and soldiers both on
the border and in Mexico.
Taking up the war with Germany,
Secretary Baker describes a fine
spirit of service shown by the Amer
lean people without distinction of
age, sex or occupation"
"Those who believed" he adds,
"that the obvious and daily exhibition
of power which takes place in an au-
tocracy is necessary for national
strength, discovered that finer, ana
freer, and greater national strength
subsists in free people, and that the
silent processes of democracy, with
their normal aaccent on the freedom
of individuals, nevertheless afforu
springs of collective action and in
spiration for self-sacrifice as wide
and effective as they are spontan-
eous."
Mr.. Baker then turns to the method
by which. the army was placed on
war footing. He shows that under
its full authorized strength the regu-
lar army includes $4,000 officers and
100000 men and that the war
strength contemplated by the national
defense act for the National Guard
was $4,000 officers and 456,000 men.
With the million additional troops OF
the selected draft army added, these
figures furnish the army of 100000
men upon which all original war es-
Inmates were based.
The secretary describes the draft
ing of the National Guard which he
says responded with zeal and EN-
thusism" to the call. He describes
also the expansion of the regular
army and reviews the reasons which
prompted the government to go to
selective conscription for the remain
der of it's forces.
The report then touches briefly
upon the officers training camps, the
construction of cantonments, with
problems encountered and solved
through the cooperation of the civ
ilian agencies created by the Council
of National Defense, and goes into
some detail with various phases OF
the cantonment question to show the
enormous size of the task. The build
ing of the National Guard division
camps is similarly cited and Mr. Ba-
ker discusses at some length the
work of the training camps activities
commission organized to create more.
wholesome surroundings for the
troops.
The aviation program is touched
upon briefly and no additional infor-
nation is given. The engineer de-
partment and the part it played in
rushing technical aid to the Allies is
outlined and Secretary Baker renews
his recommendation for a more ade-
quate engineer school with a sugges-
tion that Congress plan for both en-
gineer and ordnance education in a
broad and generous spirit in order to
create scientific agencies of value in
peace or war and where graduates of
West Point would specialize. The sug-
gestion is presented for future con-
sideration rather than immediate ac-
ton and no detailed plan is unfolded.
Taking up the quartermaster prob
lens with the outbreak of the war
Mr.. Baker cites few items of what
it was found necessary to supply.
They include: Twenty million pairs
of shoes, 100000 blankets, 80, ,000,-
900 yards of flannel shirting, 60,000,-
900 yards of tenting. The work is
being done through the cooperation