The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-28
BAKER DEFENDS
 US. WAR DEPT.
 IN PUBLIC REPLY
Isolated Instances of Neglect Do Not Prove Inefi- ciency In Army Preparations, Secretary h. sists and Reviews Accomplishments
 of His Bureau
(Continued from page 1.)

because here and there men are un- willing or unable to give the care that IS their duty. There are conditions to be remedied. The shortage of wo- man nurses is serious But of cruelty and indifference I have found noth- ing. Ninety-nine out of 100 boys are receiving better care than they could afford at home"
 And I wish to point out further" added Secretary Baker, ''that the very heads of the medical profession, the masters of the profession, are in con- stant touch with the surgeon-gen- eral."
 No army could be raised in any country, the secretary contended, without danger from communicable diseases. All that could be done was to provide every means of science to meet that danger. That he insisted was being done.
 Taking up Senator Chamberlain's attack on the ordnance bureau, MT. Baker said that mems minds differed about the types of guns to be used and about the quantity. He then dis closed that a unanimous decision to adopt the so-called re-chambered En- field rifle was reached at a confer ence attended by Gen. Pershing, who was preparing to go to France; Gen. Scott, chief of staff; Gen. Bliss, as- sistant chief; Gen. Crozier, chief of ordnance, and Gen. Kuhn, then head of the war college, and several other staff officers, "experts in rifles" It was late in May or early in June. The American Springfield rife, Sec retary Baker said, was admittedly the best military rifle developed by any country when this decision was reached. There were in stock about 500 900 of them
 It was not then known, Secretary Baker contended, whether American troops would fight beside the British or the French. The British used a rim cartridge of one cafiber and the French a rim cartridge of another caliber. The British government had | been preparing to rearm the entire British army with the Enfield when | the war broke out in 1914. The ex- cellence of the American weapon was I SC well known that the British de- | cided to remodel their guns, but the suddenness of the war prevented them from making the change. | After America entered the war, MT. Baker said, Maj.-Gen. Wood came to his office and advocated the necessity of calling out a large army. Secretary Baker said there were not the clothes or arms, but Gen. Wood replied that he knew that, but contended that the men needed to live together for 'pre- liminary training" He told Gen. Wood he agreed that the army should be assembled as rapidly as possible, but it was the intention to build up the regular army and the national guard first and then the national army.
 Concluding his statement regarding the decision to call many men early, Secretary Baker said:
 ''So, the determination ultimately was on an attempt to forecast the time needed for training. It was deemed wise to put men into camp to learn camp living and essentials of a soldiers life little in advance be- fore they could be fully supplied with arms"
 Regarding Senator Chamberlain's S statement that rifles originally sent to camp were motley collection, ' Secretary Baker said he did not ob- ject to the term but that the facts were that i've had about 600,000 Springfield rifles and something over 100000 Krags.
 'The German army, best prepared in the world" he added, furnished an obsolete rife for practice until men learn to take care of a better weapon.
 q do not mean to say" he added, ''that the question was decided infal- Ilibly. It might have been better to use the English Enfield. But I do mean to say that it was decided con- scientiously, that now every man in this country intended to carry rifle has one, and rifle of better quality than if we had adopted the existing type at the time.
 And although we have sent sol- diers to Europe much more rapidly than we ever thought we would or should, every soldier has not only modern rifle, but has had practice with it. That also is true of every soldier who will go to Europe"
 Turning to the machine gun ques- Ition. MT. Baker said that up to last IApril the Lewis gun had not been satisfactorily tested with American ammunition, although widely used by England. The French, he said, never took the Lewis gun in any large num- bers.
 ''The board" he added, referring to the board he appointed in the fall o1 ] 1916 to test machine guns, never de- layed for one second the procurement of additional machine guns" He told of the navy's test Of the Lewis gun last April with an army , officer present, and added: "As a, result of that test an immed- fate order was given to the Savage Arms Co. for Lewis guns. Large or. ders for Lewis guns have been given We are advised, however, by Gen.Per. shing that he does not desire Lewis guns for use on land. Gen. Pershing and his staff desire them only for air craft.
 "In the meantime the French gov ernment is able to supply us with light French guns and heavy HotchlSiss guns for the troops thata are abroad and that will be sent for the present
 "We have ordered all the Lewis guns we could get and have encourag- ed the company to extent it's plant for increased production. It has not yet begun to expand to the extent we would like. Our army abroad is pro- vided with the guns it has elected as adapted to it's use and our supply is to supplement that''
 There are now in the United | oI