Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-04-25
PLANS OF WAR DEPARTMENT
sTARTLE SHIPPING BOARD
AND OTHERS
NOW IN FIGHT TO WIN
wARAT ANY COST
Goethals Conveys War Department
Desires and Sehwab Expresses Con-
fidence in Ability to Provide Ships to
Carry Men and Supplies-Army Calls
Growing Larger.

Washington, April o5.-General
Goethals took the breath away from
the shipping board conferees today
when he told them how many troops
the war department figured on send
| ing abroad this year and the number
of ships it would require for their
| transportation and . the sending of
their supplies.
The actual figures are a state Sc
oret naturally. Even if the shipping
board and the others who blinked as
the director Of transportation, pur-
chasing and storage for the army
calmly recited the war department
demands were willing to tell, no one
could publish these figures, but as these
gentlemen are absolutely silent on the
subject there is nothing to prevent
guessing and the guess is that the
war department has raised Secre-
tary Bakers tentative estimate Of a
million and half American soldiers
in France by 1919 at least a million.
Problem to Get the Ships.
Where are we going to get the ships
to send them and their food and
equipment?
This is the very question the lunch
con conference was called to deter
mine. For one thing, it was sug-
gested that the navy program be
modified so as to release number
of the shipyards now engaged in get
ting out waWhips OF one sort or an
other for the construction OF trans
ports and cargo boats. The argu-
ment is that the prime necessity OF
of war at the present stage is SOL
ulers, anu as the Ha":cs CT the al
lies are doing quite well in the con-
voy and submarine hunting business
the cargo and troop carriers shoNld
have the preference.
The speeding up of the process OF
making soldiers IS no secret. The
camps are being cleared OF trained
men as fast as they can be sent over
seas, and this schedule is continuous
and progressive. To fill their places
the men of the second draft are being
hustled into service in such numbers
as was not dreamed Of before the call
from our allies for all the men we
could send came to US.
100000 Men in May?
We sent $4,000 selects to the camps
In March. more than 100000 in April.
and | am told that we will call 400,-
900 to the colors in May. Moreover,
there is to be no let up In the months
to come, and the program goes on thru
1919 and 1920.
We are in the war In earnest now
and the measure of our efforts is the
measure of our capacity If it takes
five or ten million to win the war, i've
or ten million will go.
When it came to discussing the ship
capacity we could supply Charles NJ.
Schwab was the prize optimist. While
he was leading the pledges to deliver
what the war department wanted he
got in a small story that had for its
point that the Bethlehem Steel Com
pany could have supplied many more
guns and shells for the army if it had
been permitted to go ahead with the
manufacture of the French and Eng
lish patterns, for which it had the ma
chinery, than it was able to produce
when it had to install special machin-
cry to meet the new specifications.
The moral of this is that he can turn
out more ships if the present plans and
specifications are adhered to than If
they are changed whenever somebody
thinks of something better.