Arizona republican., 1918-05-10
Attacks General Maurice

The premier discussing General Matrices action said he had ascert- aimed that Maurice had never made representations to the chief of staff on the subject.
 Yet" the premier continued sarcas- tically, this is so important that select committee must be set up to in quire into it; so important as to jus tify General Maurice trampling on the kings regulations, and setting up an example of indiscipline to the whole army
 Both he and MT. Bonar Law were anxious for an examination of their maintained that a select impartial tribunal. There was a mass of confi- dential documents involved and he maintaine dthat a select committee was not the best tribunal to investigate facts when passions were aroused. The house of commons long ago came to a similar decision when such questions as disputed elections were involved Mir. Asquith had deprecated a select committee to investigate Mesopotamia for reasons which the premier con sidered right
 Strength of the Army With reference to the strength of the | army, the premier said: There is absolutely no doubt that | there was very considerable addition to the man power of the army at the beginning of 1918, as compared with the man power at the beginning of 1917, in France. There was a great increase in the man power of the army throughout the world in 1918 as com pared with 1917. But the increase in France was greater than the average | throughout the whole area
 
 Maurice had that in mind when he talked about fighting strength. We must draw a distinction between the combatant and the non -combatant. Are They Combatants Let me say at once that I do not | accept that distinction when he talks about fighting strength, as to who are combatants and who are non-com- batants. (Cries of "oh, oh,') Are those men who stopped the advance of the Germans at Amiens the other day combatants? They are not, if you be- | gin to make distractions. | Are the men who are under tHre every day making roads and tramEaSs and railways; who suffers seV{Se | casualties, combatants or non-cyH- batants? Does any one mean t6<tell me they are no part of the fighting 1 strength or the army
 Reading from a document, which be said came from General Matrices dss partment nine days after the premier's speech, the sentence: from the state ment it will be seen that the combatant strength of the British army was greater on the first of January. 1918. than on the first of January, 1911" the premier continued.
 Misleading the Public
 T have been charged with mislead ing the public and leaving the public to believe that at the time of the attack the allied position on the western front was that we had a slight superiority i in infantry, a superiority in cavalry and superiority in artillery. The | whole of these figures were based on statements made by General Maurice With reference to the extension Of the British front, after declaring that General Maurice. although at Yer sailles, was not in the council chamber, the premier said:
 There was not a single yard taken over as the result of the Versailles council. Although General Maurice did not say so, the real point was this: It was asked in a question by Mir. Lam bert whether this portion of the line
 
 cabinet against the objection of Field Marshal Haig and General Robertson. There was not a word of truth in it. Of course, Field Marshal Haig was not anxious to extend his line, nor was the war cabinet. The pressure from the French government and the French army was enormous. What was done was not done in response to pressure from the war cabinet.
 Not Attacking French
 q am not suggesting for moment that our French allies were acting un- fairly. There was considerabAe ferment in Fance last year on the sioject Of the length Of the line helu by the French army. The French ses had been enormous and they had .4lstained the greatest strain of the fighting for three years.
 There was a larger proportion of French manhood put into the line than in any other belligerent country. They held front of 326 miles; we held 12e miles. But the Germans were massed
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