The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-28


Lewis Gun Test Success.
He cold of the navy's test of the
Lewis gun last April with an army Of
ficer present and added:
| AS result of that test, an i'm
mediate order was given to The Savage
Arms company for Lewis guns. Large
orders for Lewis guns have been given.
We are advised, however, by General
! Pershing, that he does not desire
| Lewis guns for use on land
| General Pershing and his staff de-
sire them only for aircraft. I'm the
! meantime" said Mr.. Baker, the
French government is able to supply
us with light French guns and heavy
| Hotchkiss guns for the troops that are
abroad and that will be sent for the
| present.
1--WE have ordered all the Lewis
| guns we could get, and have encour-
! aged the company to extend its plant
: for increased production. 1t has not
/ yet begun to expand to the extent we
would like. Our army abroad is pro-
vided with the guns it has selected as
adapted to its use, and our supply is
to supplement that
| Sent Machine Guns to Camps.
| Obviously. he said, there were not
as many machine guns for camp train
| ing as was to be desired, but he read
| a table showing that on November l
each camp or cantonment had been
supplied thirty Colt, sfxty-five Lewis
| and forty-five Chauchat guns and in
addition, each regular cavalry regi-
ment had been supplied with ten
| Lewis guns and each infantry regi-
nlent with ten Chauchats
| Practically all Of these were
shipped before the troops were ready
for them: that is, before Noyember
l." Mr.. Baker, said
Senator Reed asked if before the
| troops were ready for them" meant
| that the men needed preliminary
training or before they had been mobi-
liked.
| Secretary Baker said he believed
that it meant that the ranges had not
been completed and also that pre-
] l1minary training was necessary.
Senator Kirby asked Why Lewis
| guns had been sent to the camps
when it had been decided not to use
| them with the land forces. Secretary
| Baker said lit was so that the men
might learn the complicated mechan-
isms of as many types as possible.
AS to Big Guns.
On the question of big guns, Score
| tary Baker recalled that General
! Crozier, chief of ordnance, had urged
congress and the various secretaries
of war continuously for larger pro-
| grams because of the time it took to
| make the guns. The record served. he,
thought, to show that General Crozier
| had realized the delay that must be
faced and sought to prepare in ad-
vance.
Reading from letter from NJ. Tar
dieu, French. high commissioner, Sec
| rotary Baker showed that France en-
tered the war with more than 5000
pieces of heavy artillery, but only 14O
quick firers. Great effort was made
M. Tardieu said, to get the slow fir
ing guns from the fortresses into sery-
al nd hi Il
to be mistake, quick firers were
needed for field work
An appended list of orders for
heavy artillery placed by France, the
secretary said, showed that cit did
not lie in the imagination of any one
to realize what the ordnance program
OF the war would become-not even
france, the very seat of the conflict
with the enemy at her throat.e SIS =
Some - reports, the secretary said,
nave not proved serious upon inquiry,
while others had in which case cor
rections followed.
The case of the body of an officer
who died at an aviation training school
being shipped home in a sheet, Secre-
tary Baker said, inquiry developed
that the emp was in charge of a Brit
ish aviation officer, who followed the
British method of sending bodies
home unclothed, the mans clothes be-
ing shipped in separate parcel. An
charge.
Cites Funston Case.
Another complaint of neglect of
patient at Camp Wheeler, he said, de-
veloped that it was unj justified and
resulting from the distressed i'm
agination of the widow"
There still are in the hands of the
inspector general nine cases being in
vestigated. Mr.. Baker told of investi-
cations which resulted in discharge
of Lieut.. Charles w. Cole and Lieut.
John G. Dye, for neglect of patients,
as published in the newspapers Satur-
day and Sunday. The judge-advocate
general advised adding a prison SEN
tence to the dismissal, and that is be-
ing considered.
The department sets it's face
against that sort of callous disregard
of soldiers health Secretary Baker
said Il want doctors and the coun-
try to know that their lives and well
fare are a responsibility which I will
not permit to be lodged or handled in
a cavalier fashion"
While camp commanderS~are held
responsible for health conditions, Sec
rotary Baker said the surgeon gen.
erals office has daily inspections, and
| he has appointed DIR. John "a Horhsby,
| a hospital expert, as his personal in
spector A telegram from Doctor
| Hornsby regarding camp conditions
Senator Chamberlain assailed. dis
closed them greatly improved" with
mortality reduced and ample accom-
| modations for all SICK
Secretary Baker read a letter from
| Mrs Mary Roberts Rinehart, the
I writer, who has a son in the service,
commencing hospital conditions she
recently inspected. Mrs. Rinehart said
she was impressed by Senator Cham
berlain's tragic letters.
Encourages Mothers.
But 1 feel the mothers of the
country should know wrote Mrs.
| Rinehart, that the number of such
| cases is small 1t is cruel to allow
every mother to judge the medical
corps because here and there men are
unwilling or unable to give the care
| that is their duty. There are condi-
|