Arizona republican., 1918-01-29

our ports of decentralization to our geneal bases 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. fish plates, engines. cars, buildings. We have had to build ordnance depots and repair shops and great magazines of supply in the interior. All of that problem has been carried forward step by step. The plans for a single ord- nance repair shop, which I saw some time ago, covered acres and acres of ground designed over here, the iron work fabricated over here, disassem- bled, put in ships and carried abroad to be re-assembled over there.
 Have to Build Barracks
 We have had to build barracks over there for our soldiers, and in the mean time to billet them around in the French villages. Building barracks over there and building them here is a very different thing, gentlemen.
 When We summoned the lumber in dustry of this country to produce the
  it came in 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, regi- ments of fOresters, and sending them over into the forests of France which they have assigned to us for our use cutting down the trees, setting up sawmills, making the lumber of various sizes, transporting it to the places where it is to be used, and then finally using it.
 We have had to go back to the planting of the corn in France in order that we might some time make a har- vest. Our operations began in the forests of France, not in the lumber yards as they did 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 trlal operations under general direc- ton, such as the railroad and dock buildings, under a former vice-presi- 1 dent and now vice president, perhaps, or the Pennsylvania railroad. Alter
 - per1ence, 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 on over here and of far greater difficulty, because it means getting material by cable as to sizing and specifications having it fabricated here, and sent across through those in tested three thousand miles of ocean, and then set up on that side.
 Everything Must Be Shipped In addition to that, on the other side it has been necessary for us to l build hospitals and that is where the major need for hospitals may be. It l has been necessary for the surgeon generals staff to be advised in this fashion and to select supplies and pro- 1 cure materials, and to send over staffs Of trained persons to supervise the ! construction of these hospitals and to man them and equip them All of that has gone on contempOraneousIy with 1 the work which has been done in this country, and then, in order that an- other element may be added to this ! kaleIdoscopic character which this war necessarily has, 1 call your attention to a thing which you already know. | This war had more or less set char
 
 and it has changed, in the last few months. When we had got more or | less used to the situation created by the uncertainty of Russia there came the great Italian defeat which called for even greater changes in our plans. in many ways.
 ''So that what might have been q | 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 I be re-studied instantly, and for that reason among others, there is now re- organized, as you know, in France, | pursuant to the suggestion of MT. Lloyd George, the Rapello conference, or the supreme war council, and the | United States is represented on that l by the chief of staff of the American army and the major international ar | engagements in regard to the military are worked out there while General | Pershing and his staff of experts are working out those other questions.
 Picture of What Is Done
 That IS picture of what has been l going on over there, gentlemen On l this side much of that had had to be done, and in addition to it, all the things we have done, and I ask you to | l this side, is the building of this army, not of 50,000 or 10000 or 500O but of | substantially a million and half men. | And now, let me be frank with you and let your judgment be frank with me about this. Has any army in his tory, ever since the beginning of time been so raised and cared for as this army has? Can the picture be dupli- cated? We have raised this army, talk | ing the regular army and the national army, raising it to war strength and | supplementing it by the operation of 8 draft, and there are senators in this room who said to me with grief when we proposed that that form of raising the soldiers should be had, they shook their heads and said, MT Secretary, il can't be done. It is too sudden to ad- dress to the American people that mode of selecting soldiers And yet has any great enterprise within the knowledge of any man in this room ever been carried out with more un- failing justice, with more intelligent execution and commendation to tht good sense of patriotism of the Amer ican people, and has any great ant revolutionary change in our mode 0 practice ever been accomplished s
 splendidly as the operation of tn
 selective service system?
 - We have got those young men i 1 camp and they are surrounded from tn 1 day they left home until the day the 1 come back to it, if in Gods providenc
 they can come back, with mol q agencies for their protection and con
 fort and health and happiness physica
 spiritual and mental, than any arm
 that ever went out on field
 Classification System
 They are classified by system Ill
 der classification so that men who ha'
 mechanical instructions and trainil
 will be given mechanical opportuniti
 in the army. The round man is n
 sought to be put into the 'squal
 place. The Y. M. c. A.. the Americi people have subscribed literally f