Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-17
SEC. OF WAR BAKER
PLEADS FOR KENT ISLD.
The Government Must Have 1t, He
Tells Residents Of The
Tract!
THE GOVERNOR PRESENT
Over 500 Kent islanders Packed Com
mittee Room On Military
Affairs

Secretary of War Baker. appearing
before the Senate Committee on Mill
| tary Affairs Saturday, in Washington,
made dramatic appeal to more than
500 Kent Islanders, packed in the
committee room, to make the sacrifice
of their homes in order that the War
Department may have an adequate
proving ground for the proving of
guns and ammunition for .Pershing's
men in France.
The Secretary, turning from mem
bers of the Committee, addressed his
appeal to the Kent Islanders. He
said.
This is a time for the whole nation
to make sacrifices. We have passed
law under which thousands of
homes must give up their boys to go
abroad to fight for our institutions
Mothers must sacrifice their sons,
wives must sacrifice their husbands.
This war will be followed by a gen
Grafton of fatherless children. There
fore, | make no apology to Kent Is
landers in approving the acquisition of
their land for a proving ground site
I'VE must see that the guns and
ammunition placed in the hands of
these young men, who go to France,
are adequately proved. Kent Island
will aid us to see that this is done,
and / hope the good people of Kent
Island will see the necessity of our
having the best proving ground
which is this island
Gen. William Crozier, Colonel Hof-
fer and other Ordnance Bureau OIL
cials followed Secretary Baker and
went into a technical discussion of
the need of a new proving ground.
They stated Kent Island was the best
place they could find which possessed
all the advantages.
Senator John Walter Smith inject
ed considerable excitement into the
hearing by charging that munition
manufacturer of Baltimore is inter-
ested in the acquisition of Kent Is
land Mr.. Bruce, of Baltimore, who
was standing in the crowd, advanced
and said he would like to make
statement, saying Senator Smiths
statement was a personal attack on
him. He was told he would be heard
later.
Governor Harrington was present
at the hearing and probably will make
statement later.
Kent Island possesses all the de-
sirable advantages, and the ordnance
officials, who are in charge of these
tests, believe they can get quicker
and better results there than at any
other place in the country,
The House is expected to take ac-
ton on the proving ground provision
in the war budget bill today. The
Senate Military Affairs Committee will
probably make known its decision
within a few days.
Must Be Near At Hand.
I'VE must have the proving ground
in the East in close proximity to the
States of Maryland, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, New York and New Jersey,
where S5 per cent of the nations am
munition is manufactured, said Col
onel Ruggles ITO get an adequate
proving ground means that We will be
compelled to disturb large number
of people, no matter where we go in
| the well-settled eastern section of the
country. Kent Island will be no ex-
ception in this respect.
within a short time the factories
of this country will be turning out
ammunition in quantities unheard be-
fore. 1t is important TO the govern
ment as we'll as TO the manufacturers
that this be tested promptly. If
| manufacturer is delayed week or
more in getting reports on his am
munition. when some of it is defec-
| tive. IL means that within that time he
will have turned out a lot of defective
4 ammunition. While the government
does not pay for it. it loses it in
way. as we want all the supplies we
| can get as fast as we can get them
1 Therefore, it is imperative that we
make reports on testing as quickly as
possible. That means defects are
found quickly and the manufactures
| is notified so that he can stop max
ing the product that way. That not
i only means big saving for the War
Department in war supplies, but !
big saving to the munition maker.
Must Disturb Thousands.
Major r. H. Somers. the army Off
Ger who made the investigation OF
proving-ground sites, at the hearing
Saturday showed that no adequate
place can be found in the chesapeake
Bay territory without disturbinb many
thousands of people. He pointed out
that the Yorktown peninsula, between
the James and York rivers, which was
considered, has population of 10000:
the York and Rappahannock rivers
peninsula has a population Of 5000;
the territory between the Potomac
and and the Chesapeake, in Maryland.