The Washington herald., 1918-05-14
Welcome Denials.

American troops must be in the defense Of the
Western front against the onslaught of Hin
denburg.
They are anxious to meet the test Of ire. They
are eager to prove their mettle. They believe
the time is ripe for display of some slight meas
ure of the power that America will contribute to
the defense of civilization.
Six weeks ago the call came. The British gov
ernment communicated to Washington sugges-
ton that American troops pending the necessarily
slow and tedious process OF creating tull-fledged
American divisions the Atlantic, be merged
into the French and British armies that every
ounce Of allied power could be used to meet
the German thrust when needed
The American government liked the suggestion
acted upon it, threw aside temporarily its plans for
the creation of separate and distinct American
army abroad and speeded up troop movements at
a magnificent rate.
Reports have been printed to just where
American troops had been placed in the Amens
Montdidier sector, and when and where they
probably would have their baptism of fire from
the enemy. There to be little doubt that
the process of brigading them already is far ad-
vanced
For that reason it is impossible to believe the
Ottawa dispatch which has it that the war COM
mttee of the British cabinct"-a fictitious organiza
tion-has decided that the "entente, having been
given the choice of small immediate American
army for defense, waiting until it is REINFORCED
by a complete, powerful, self-supporting American
army, has chosen the latter"
1t is true that our present forces in France are
small, relatively speaking. 1t is true they not
self-supporting. They dependent the French
and British not only for commissary. but for most
of their equipment, including machine guns. That
is Of the necessary implications of brigading
them. And although Americans have good reason
to blush the persistent delays in the machine
gun production program, it would be impracticable
to sprinkle Brownings in with French and British
guns in any event. AS for subsistence, the exact
arrangements made with the entente governments
for the maintenance OF the brigaded American
troops has not been revealed 1t is impossible to
disclose whether American soldiers being
rushed to France faster rate than it is within
our power to keep continuous flow of supplies to
them; it is certain that new production of ship
ping under Schwab will solve this and other bur-
dens now harassng our war leaders
Both Secretary of War Baker and Earl Reading
the British Ambassador, issued statements yester-
day which may be construed official denals of
the Ottawa dispatch. Secretary Baker said it
at variance" with all of the information which he
had received from abroad, and indicated that the
program of the brgading of was being
carried out. Indeed, if it not being carried
out, the reflex would be dangerous, so far as the
United States was concerned. 1mperceptiby it
would slow up our preparations 1t would
duce the scale Of dispatch of troops abroad 1t
would scrap all the plans which have made to
place American power into the thick of the
fight without further delay
Of course, a considerable portion OF our forces
may be used as replacement units a mobile
reserve, to be used by Foch to strike the enemy
when the golden hour arrives. 1t is only natural
that this function would be assigned them, rather
than that they should be placed in the front lines.
The dispatch from Ottawa is canard A
change of allied plans would be hurtful beyond
measure.