The Robesonian., 1918-01-31
HALF MILLION MEN
IN FRANCE SOON;
MILLION WILL 20 oW

Down in War Preparatt =
Tells of Huge Task and That
Has Been Done.
America will have an army o. half
a million men in France ear : is
year, with million more tained
and equipped ready to folio as
quickly as ships can be proYil / to
carry them, and the outlook foc this
is not unpromising.
1 Secretary Baker gave this infor-
nation to the nation and to The world
Monday in statement before the
Senate military committee, barring
much that until now has been care
fully guarded with the army's mill
tary secrets, in answering charges
that the government has broken down
! preparing for war.
The following is taken from
Washington dispatch:
The secretary addressed the COM
mittee and crowd including many
members of both houses of Congress
gathered in big hearing room Of the
Senate office building. He spoke ex-
temporaneously, beginning with de-
tails of the mammoth task of build
ing an army of a million and half,
answering such complaints of ineffi-
cheney as were cited by Senator Cham
berlain in his recent speech and de-
claring that such instances were iso-
lated and not general.
The Secretary delivered a dramatic
general statement of the American
war plan, telling Of the coming o. the
allied missions, of the day and night
conferences with men from the scene
of battle in which the plans now be-
ing executed were adopted, Of sue
cess beyond the most sanguine expec-
: tations in building the army, and its
industrial support at home transport
ing men across the ocean, construct
: ing railroads in France and prepar
ing to strike the enemy with ever,
resource at the country's demands.
When Mr.. Baker closed it was ap
4 parent he had created profound i'm
preston. Chairman Chamberlail
= said so before he left the stand.
While many things disclosed i'm
pressed the committee, it was frankl
I amazed when told that the men o
80 national guard and national arm
divisional camps are ready to g
today at need. When members want
ed to know why such things had nc
been given publicity before, Mr.. Bak
er spoke of the reluctance of militar
men to reveal their war plans an
quoted German remarks about Ame,
ica's advertisement Of her prepars
tions.
Emphasizing that he vas not the1
to defend himself or anybody else, th
secretary urged the committee apai
and again to lay bare any shortcon
fling ing OF OF The, department that it migF
be corrected Freque1ftti+5yT~ ti5T he pause
to seek stronger language to DESERT
| the devotion of his associates in tt
department, military and civilian.
For one reason OF another
said, "the impression has gone OF
into the country TO soIne-extent
least, that the War Department hs
fallen down.
"It would be a tragic thing if tn
tremendous effort, this wholly unpr
cedented sacrifice made by men, we
in fact to turn out to deserve the cor
. ment that it had fallen down."
Never in the history of time, he
- clared, had an army Of its size be-
raised, equipped, trained and prepar
for battle as had that of the Unit
States.
Mr.. Baker took personal responsit
ty for getting men under training b
fore their equipment was ready g
the last shoe button" Such Office
as Major General Leonard Wood,
said, had urged this policy. He d
scribed conferences that evolved t
ordnance program and it's fulfillme1
submitting documents to prove tn
France and Great Britain were suppl
ing artillery and machine guns +
the first forces that their own urge
request in order that ships might
used for other purposes.
In all that was done prior to the d
parture of the first troops Gene1
Pershing shared in the deliberate
and approved the decisions reache
Mr.. Baker said, and now surround
. with a staff of trained regular office
who could we'll be spared from t
- great task at home Pershing is
France as the "eyes of the army" c
\ cry step taken since has been four
ed on his long daily cable reports
what is going on at the fightl
fronts.
Tables were cited to show that {
ercrowding in the camps and cante
ments had not been gsneral and tt
the sickness had come mostly in
camps where medical opinion h
agreed it was least to be expect
The history of the development a
building of the cantonments was G
en- in detail to show that every p:
caution possible had been taken.
"Now, instead of having $4,000