The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-12-06

replace that worn out during her ter- rife self-denials of the past four years. We can not refuse to render all the assistance possible in the re- construction of that heroic nation"
 Under the heading of lighting ] Equipment for the Army MT. Baker | gives summary of what was accom- plished in providing ordnance for the l army. When the armistice was signed | 30,881 complete units had been con- tracted for. On Nov. l, 10,634 had been delivered, divided as follows: Trench, 5000; light (fieId guns), 3,85O; medium, 1,070; heavy, 695; railway, 19. The contracts were di- vided as follows: Trench, 11,70O; light, 1o,11S; medium, 5,ss5; heavy, 3,472; railway, 211.
 As to rifles, MT. Baker shows that 2,137,025 of the modified Enields had been accepted prior to Nov. 1. Brown ing machine gun production is given as follows: Light, 47,019; heavy, S9,546. The following cablegram is quoted to show the performance of the Browning guns in action: Experience of 18th Division in offensive operations Sept 25 to Oct 21, Browning machine guns. Thir- teen machine gun companies engaged, weather conditions continuous rain and mud. There was not one instance where the guns failed to op-
 crate due to muddy and wet belts. x On the whole it may be said
 that the performance of the Brown | ing machine gun and automatic rife
 in active operation has been so satis~ 1 factory as to create an insistent de-
 mand for these weapons from ma l chine gun units and from division 1 commanders
 MT. Baker gives much space to
 aircraft problem, including the pro-
 duction figures published from time
 to time in the past. He shows that 3,1S9 DeHaviland and 101 Handley-
 Page machines were produced in this
 country and 1900 planes had been
 shipped to France before the armis-
 tice was signed. On the other sids, 2,676 planes of service types had been Y provided for the American squadrons
 by the French government. On Sept.
 30, General E'ershing had 32 air squadrons at the front, the first of
 them to be equipped with American planes having reached the battle
 areas in July.
 Air sservice casualties, the report
 says, have been higher than in the artillery and infantry and reports to
 October 24 showed 128 battle fataai- ties and PA by accident overseas A total of 262 men had lost their lives in this service while in training in the
 United States. .~sasEass
 The general health of the army has . been surprisingly good, the report
 shows, the death rate for all forces, at home and abroad, up to Aug. 30
 having been at the rate of 59 per 1000 per year, or little more than the civilian rate for men of the same , groups. It compares with a rate of 65 per 1000 per year during the Civil , War and 26 during the Spanish War. Pneumonia caused 56 per cent of the
 deaths.
 There were 316,OOO cases of inf1u>
 enza among the troops in the United
 States during the late summer and , fall, and of the 2O,5O0 deaths between Z Sept. 14 and Nov. 8, 19, 800 are as- cribed to the epidemic
 Discussing the embarkation service
 l 3 total of 2,O75,834 men and 5,153,0OO 5 tons of cargo were shipped overseas e the great bulk of these movements t having been handled after Jan. 1 o1 y this year. When hostilities ceased f the service was engaging 3,000,00 e deadweight tons of American ship. d ping and SO0,00O more tons had been
 allocated for its use, with a hal g million tons additional per month be- r ing delivered.
 f In closing his report MT. Baker s speaks this word for the men who s fought the war at home:
 T desire again to express regret A for its (the repor't) insuficiencies. h am conscious of howsfar 1t falls shor , in the matter of just recognition o. S the accomplishments of my associates if of exhibiting in adequate measure = the heroic achievements of our sol o Continued On Page Five)