New-York tribune., 1918-02-28

ported there have been found only two in
stances where neglect occurred, and in these
two instances the responsible officers were
court martlalled and dismissed from the
vice. No army ever assembled nor can
be-, Secretary Baker said, which does not
bring men together who have been exposed
to communicable diseases to which they are
rot immune And the most which can be
done is to meet these conditions with every
device and every suggestion which science
and care can devise. And that is the aim Of
the surgeon general, and in the doing of this
he has the support, and he knows he has, of
every officer in the War Department from the
Secretary down.
I'm England I.itchencr's Citizen army
drilled for months in civilian clothes, with
sticks for arms. To the draft army in our
camps 100000 rifles delivered at the
outset. These were inferior rifles. A re-
modelled Enfield rifle was prepared with
interchangeable parts Every soldier in our
camps who is to carry rifle Carries one
OF these improved Enfelds. Every American
soldier who has gone to Europe has carried
one. ana there is an adequate supply for
every soldier who will go in the future.
no eacn cantonment Of the draft army
1873 machine guns Of different types were de-
lNefcd, for practice work, before the ma
chlne gun corps were ready for them, and for
each camp of the National Army 100 machine
guns were provided. Lewis guns were or
uered as soon as that gun had been adapted
tor the use of American ammunition
But the Lewis guns which were taken
abroad by the marines have been retired from
service by order Of General Pershing. and the
men have been armed with the Chauchat
rifles, or light guns, and with the heavier
HUtCnklSS ha
fers for land operating troops. The French
are willing and able to furnish our troops
abroad with all Of these machine guns that
are now needed. The Lewis gun is being
taken by the army here as fast as it can be
manufactured, and the factories are making
improved machine guns, similar to the French
type, for quantity production to supply our
needs. Similarly the British and the French
governments, on their own initiative, have
offered to supply tho American forces in
France with heavy ordnance, because the
British and French munitions works are now
producing moro heavy guns than their armies
need, and because the Allied governments
wish to save for other purposes the ship tom
mage that would be needed to transport across
the Atlantic big guns and ammunition for
American use in France
These are the plain facts behind the com
plants that our troops abroad arc drawing on
the meagre French supplies for guns; that
there has been neglect Of the sick in our home
cantonments; that our drafted men have been
without rifles, without overcoats and with
out uniforms.
These are the facts upon which the state
ment has been based that 'the War Depart
mont has completely broken down. They are
not facts which iii any way bear out hun
dredth part of the criticism that has been
/ founded InG ~, \,
which the department has done superbly they
are microscopic points to cavil at. That such
serious campaign has been successfully
based upon them is criticism Of the Ameri-
can people.
1--WE have sent to France an army that is
lar larger than the most optimistic military
experts expected of us. We will have half a
million men there early in 1919 says Secre-
tary Baker. And the work that has been done
to receive them in France has been almost as
great as the work done here in order to send
them. Docks have been built. A railroad Of
six hundred miles has been constructed De-
pots and warehouses have been erected An
enormous plant has been needed, and it has
been designed and assembled in America,
transported to France in parts and erected in
its place there. Provision is being made on
a scale to take care of million men, And
the million men will be trained and ready as
soon the shipping is ready to transport and
supply them.
"This is a trying time 1t is the peevish
time of drudgery and impatiencc But it is
the time above all when the people of our
country should not be pecvish-when thev
should be cheerful and patent-when they
should give support to their public servants
until facts prove that the continuance of this
support is unwarranted and unwisc
Each month sees new thousands pouring
across the sea to join the American cxped-
tionary force in France No man left behind
has any right to consider his lot save in COM
parison with the lot of those who have gone
forth to offer their lives on the altar of lib
crty. Here in America the worst that NAV
befall us is discomfort, Inconvenience or
money loss, but our soldiers and sailors face
daily the danger of death and the horror of
those wounds that are worse than death.
"This is the thought which we must lie
down with at night and get up with in the
morning. We safe at home, while others
go down into the valley of the shadow to
tight for US.
"The least that we can do is to keep blaz,
ing the fires of courage and determination. so
that the light may flame across the sea into
the very trenches.
"Woshington, d. c."