Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-05

| through The object Of the drive. tie
strategic conception of Nhlch included The
British drive ~ tfs northern end of the
railway system and the French advance
II the center, was accomplished on No-
vcmher ! vlen the Americans entered the
outskirts Il Sedau e. bc ioincd there the
next day by he french
i The meeting of French and American
i troops on this historic spot. Mr. Baker
/ Says. slQna,e,l the defeat II the Ctr
/ man arms a defeat as decisive and hn-
! initiating n that forced upon france IL
| years before ~ the same SPOT II there
| had been questions before a. to the ne
| ccptance Of tht armstlce terms, the Allied
advance eliminating u tins meeting at
sedan lett ~ chnloe III the matter
3.66tsn MI y SERVICE.
IN -ketchinr tic building u, II tho war
army Mr. Baker selects Il few -trlLl ing
figures as illustrations 81 what cAeFl step
meant and what haa been accomplished
On the day the armistlec was signed be
declares more than - per cent II the On
tirc malc population IF the country he-
tween the ages of IS and - Was III the
military service. the army having reached
total Il = .Ghi .on fneu, Hore fhan ?
HN0m e whom Were II Europe. as
compared with 4 strength u 1861 ii
March 1911. a week before war was Ie-
clarcd
To illustrate the speed ii hts expansion.
the report cites the lae' tint the British
ARMY in France had reached IL high mark
IN the summer If laI7 three years after
the beginning u the var, and that figure
wss SliVhtk more han 1tH0 .0GU men
II took - months for the United States
q reach the eaIc strength, there. but
Mr.. Baker polnt9 out that during those
wears If battle British manp0Wer had
been heasiiv called upon 10 replace
casualties Vitle in manS months, he
flow tiaruaa aeep~ Ill nertt to aug
mrnt tho t.Trc Esclnu assembled F. .ctnc
eSton' .al- ,'a- .1tf-nt be adj, ht the far
gr,atcr tr..:.sp ton difficulties # the
Nncrreil praJesf
Rcespltulaf.5p ihe total tmrr1ean
casualties. - ie> men - already an
nounced Nj naker sal.I The deaths due 10
battle alone we're a6M@ and that bali
of he no.nded feptr.ed probably suffer
"a ~i4hf MUIR Il 5d4- that Federal
battle fatalities IN the o3y3 Var tatalIed
Il0.0oD lapaH Iast Yttal men IN the
Russo japan, va and tfonnanx los,
y .60O N he traaea-Prassl4n vsr
-FftcIn. Ftstf t.ttt.rtsf
Speaking of Tic -,iective service Mr.
B4ktr nakes th,9 ut.- reafIan. without
dissaIseIug The ,.,i#.lloa If universal null
tar, framing seull % .,tiss
III hat tue when ms preceding
annual report VI issued there vas ample
evidence that The seiee1ise draft vas 4
swift effective and Just means of sesur
ing lie military strength aeee SAY for
the condaet of 4 great WI The eNper
len"e ol the past year has strongly re
enforced that conviction
As Ia rifles, Mr. Bauer shows tha,
,. III 90 OF the modified tniields lad
been accepted pIlof 10 November
Browning mne gun production Is
gwen a, follows Light. 100. heavy.
80, 546 The following eslhlegram y
quoted to SHOW The performance Of the
Browning guns IN seton
"EXpcuence 81 SeVentv-nluth Division
n offensive operations September p 10
october p, Browning machine guns
/ thirteen machIne-gun companies en-
gagged, weather conditions continuous ram
tnd mud Eherc was net one
Instance wherc the guns failed to operate
iuc to muddy and vet belts On
he whole II lnav be SAID thai lie per
Of the Browning machine elni
md automatic rifle IN active operation
Ias been 50 satisfactory as to create m
nsistent demand Tor these weapons from
Machine gun units and from division
commanders
AIRCRAFT FATALITIES LANCE
Mr. Baker gives much space Ia air
rait problem, including the production
lgures published from time 10 time IN the
,ast He shows that : la9 Dehayiland
md lnl iandlep-Page machines we're
'roduccd M this country and 9Oa planes
.ad been shipped 10 France before the
rmlstiec was signed On the other SIDE.
.676 planes Of service types had been
provided for the American squadrons hy |
hc French Government On September
~, General Pershing had 32 air sqtladrons
1 the front. the first of them 60 be equip
'ed with American planes having reached
he battle areas III July
Air service casualties tie report SAYS.
ave been higher than III the ARTILLERY and
niantry and rep rts IL October 81. showed
2S battle tata.ties aud 80 accidents
verseas \ total Il z63 men had lost
hrir hives III this service, whilr IN tram
* III the United States
HEALTH or aEs COOP
The general health Of the ann, has
zen surprisingly good. the report shows.
he death rate for all forces. at home and
broad, up to August 80 having been at 5
ne rate Of 80 per 900 per year or little !
iore than the civilian rate for men Of the |
anne age groups. 1t compares with I
ate OF 65 per / 900 per year during the Z
avii War and 20 during the Spanish War /
caused 56 per cent Of the i
aaths
There were $4,000 cases of influenza
nong the troops in the United States /