Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-01-10

1915" and "great programs of new
instruments of war have been formu-
lated"
I Ir. Baker did not answer criticisms
in detail in his preliminary statement.
AS for the ordnance department he
pointed to lack of experts available
and to the tremendous expansion re-
{ quired at the start of the war
War Council
| The war council, he announced, will
add army officers and men from civil
life from time to time Reorganization
of the ordnance branch is well under
way while the quartermaster branch is
undergoing shifts in which army men
and civilians will be utilized.
! 1t was anticipated, too, that Baker
would take occasion to discuss his
, plans for centralizing purchases and
supplies. AS for the Council of Ma
ticnal Defense and war industries
board, he felt they had filled import
ant inches.
Asks for Advice
baker asked the cooperation and
advice of the military probers, but
without apology for shortcomings. He
said, in conclusion:
We can now see the entire situa-
/ ton. The internal needs are substan-
TALLY, supplied. The technical corps
have been expanded and reorganized
on industrial and efficient lines. The
coordination of all international needs
with our purchases has been effected
An agency exists to prevent conflicts
and to adjust those which cannot be
prevented.
"By the cooperation of all interests
and all people in the country, the ma
| tion is now organized and set to its
task with unanimity of spirit and con-
fidence in its powers.
More has been done than anybody
dared to believe possible. That there
have been, here and there, errors Of
Judgment and delays gees without say
ling; but l should be wanting in frank
ness were l to omit my own estimate
of the real unselfishness and intelll-
gence with which my assistants, mill
| tary and civilian, have applied them
selves to this undertaking and the re-
suits demonstrate the success of their
efforts. q,
Massing figures to show the Amer
lean progress, Baker suggested to the
committee, inferentially, that they had
dwelt on details which, though i'm
portant, obscured the bigness of the
task done.
Death Rate Low
"The death rate in our forces in the
United States Baker said, from
mid-September to the end of December
averaged rs per thousand and is
slightly less than would have been tky
death rate of men of the same age a:
heme.
Aside from deaths due to measles
and its complications pneumonia
chiefly, the rate was about two per
thousand per year and Baker held out
the hope that with improved clcthing
and health conditions the rs rate
would be lessened.
Turning to the ordnance branch, he
pointed to the necessity for developing
trained Officers, enlarging the work
| ing force. building new structures,
modifying designs and plans 10 con-
form to latest war experience. Expan-
sion, tco, had made the quartermaster
branch problems difficult.
In the course of a resume of accom-
plishments the secretary declared:
"The training of the army is pro
eeeding rapidly and its spirit is high.
The subsistence of the army has been
above criticism; its initial clothing
supply, temporarily inadequate, is now
substantially complete and reserves
viii rapidly accumulate Arms of the
most modern and effective kind-In-