The Washington times., 1918-01-24
FULLY
APPROVES BAKERS
PROGRAM FOR WAR
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
from First Page,

CONTINUED from First Page.)
The Secretary of War recently to
keep secret American plans, especial
Iy numbers and disposition of troops,
there 10 q natural but almost ire
concIlable conflict.
Baker Testinony IneonpIete.
The testimony given by the-secrs-
tary of War before the Senate COM
mittee necessarily represents q very
incomplete statement Of what has
happened, and 1t is for this reason that
President Wilson has said that the
country would soon learn whether
Secretary Baker or his critics under
stands the business In hand" The
plain inference from the Prssident's
statement Ia that there is another
side which cannot now be told.
This correspondent, In an effort to
present fairly the other side-the side
with which the country cannot as yet
be told in details here stating as
much of the essential facts as Il Is
possible to give at this time.
Some EssentIaI Faets.
Briefly, they are as follows:
FtrSt-There are ROre Aen IN
France to-day sAan anySOdy OF
military experience expected that
the United States could transport
IN the time that has elapsed slnes
the declaration Of w1r.
Seeond-Aneriean trOoDa win
be In the thick Of the AghHiag In
the SOr1nG noatAs. and viii have
eonpIete e9uipnent fer that Pur-
pose. Including all the big guns
neeessary to support the Aner1-
can battIefroat.
ThIrS-Just ~ fast a. the e.
tente allies peel their resOarees
In tonnage or Designate the pro-
portions Of men or supplies need
ed at stated Intervals Rore Haa
power than the allies have htfh-
ertO expected would be 1t their
disposal viii be a route to
France.
FOurth-There have been some
radical changes Of plan since the
United States entered the war.
the nature Of which eaanot new
be disclosed In detail. but which
alterations on the ether side Of
the Atlantic were made necessary
by the collapse Of Russia aad the
defeat Of Italy, and by ether rea-
sons.
F1fth-The interallied council
At Paris and the formatiOa Of.
supreme war eouaeiI q aaf In
France wns the direct result Of
changes In plan which seFI0usIy
affected the Cow of men and sup
plies from the UnFted States, and
which have since produced . CO.
ordination that appears very ef-
feeuVe' md one in wnIeh the
United States viii AeneefortA
have an Important part because
Gen. TaskeF III. Bliss, chief Of
. star Of the UnIted States arnys
will be the permanent rs1resenta-
tive Of the War DeDartne.t sa It. /
UhDublished StSPy Given.
Behind the ive essential facts out
lined above 10 q hitherto unpublished
story. 1t 10 given today because II
Is part OF the record and because in
any judgment as to whether the Unit
ed States has made good" 80 far, the
circumstances and sequence of events
in the development OF our plans in
the last nine months must be taken
into consideration,
In the hrst place, when the United
States declared q state Of war on
Germany, the general stan of the
United States army worked out q plan.
This was the result OF conferences
with British and French officials.
Great Britain told America not to
rush pell-mell into the night and
thereby disorEanize the flow OF nu.
nitions and supplies 70 Europe. not tc