The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-08-08
BY WILLIAM PHILIP sIMMs

SpIltllIlts tdii lnt oiah piieSAo ooe
here. on the ground that they toll not
neither do they do anything but spin
-joyriding in autos.
But did you ever stop to consider
the amount of administration" re-
quired to keep an army going The
man in the street, even the average
soldier seldom takes the trouble to
figure it out To him.. the Brass Hat
is mainly decorative. Is he?
Take the one problem of transport
looked after by what the British call
the %" STATS: With the Germans at
tacking along 50-mile front how
many pounds of supplies do you esti-
mate must be hauled up to battle po-
sitions from bases at the rear?
The answer is 100000, 900 pounds:
100000 tons.
And this is taking for granted that
the bases previously have been plen-
tifully stocked at tremendous pains
and labor with requisites from the
four corners of the world.
AN ASTOUNDING TASK.
The more one thinks of 1t the more
astounding the task proves to be. and
it is all the greater during a defensive
battle
During an offensive the work is cut
out for every officer and man in ad-
vance. 1t is all matter of routine.
From general commanding down to
truck driver everybody knows today
pretty much what tomorrow's supplies
must be, in what proportions, to what
units they are to be delivered, where
and at what time.
The defensive changes all this.
March 20. %" was following out its
routine deliveries. March 81 the en-
tire system was as obsolete as the
written rules for crossing the sands
of the Sahara were to old ooah when
ne suddenly was called upon to navi-
gate the Ark.
British divisions no longer were
where they had been Their address
es had changed. At daybreak they
were in one place. At noon in anoth-
err AT night maybe they were no
place at all but on the move.
That was one problem which had
to be solved
NEEDS CHANGE OFTEN.
Then the needs of the divisions had
changed overnight, and were chang
ing almost from one hour to another
Before, they had to have trench NOR
tars and trench mortar shells None
of this stun was needed now that
they were on the move. Sometimes
one kind of ammunition was urgently
needed then not needed at all. Sud
denly, in one spot. particular kind
of artillery material would be abso
lutely necessary, and just as sudden.
ly of no use whatever. Barbed wire
was in great demand one day and
glut on the market the next.
Before the offensive started Sup.
plies" knew to the man how many
rations were required. Afterwards.
with armies shifting and side-slipping
divisions merging and criss-crossing
all the time; with British divisions
being sent to the French and French
divisions being shunted up among
the British. to know what to send and
how much was enough to puzzle the
solver of the Asian mystery himself.
Where one day supplies went up by
train, the next they had to go by mo
tor truck, horse transport and pack
mule.
From routine the system had TO be
extraordinarily elastic, adaptable to
hourly changes.
AMERICANS ARRIVE.
About this time the Americans be-
gan arriving in large numbers in this
zone. They were without transport
engineering supplies and mostly min
us equipment. %" had to take care
the other. and to their credit be il
said they did il. Not regiment went
hungry. il is said. mad. in the midst of
all this when U. $. soldiers, who are
coffee drinkers, called for coffee grind
ers from tea-drinking lot. the coffee
grinders were produced as If by mag.
ic. Not an American unit was left
without its grinder though only o.
and probably heaven, knows where
they came from.
The refugees had to be looked after
by somebody. and this job fell TO the