Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1918-02-16

plan," said Secretary Baker. II don't
know how the committee and the
country feel about 1t, but l want to
say there Is u plan. It's the only posi-
bic plan under the circumstances.
ut must be remembered" he pro.
cceded, that this war broke out In
August, 1914, and went into it i'm April
1917 SO that for two and a hat years
1t had been going on. 1t was not as
ii an immediate plan could be made
Tor the wars prosecution.
"But we were coming into this WAT
which had been going on over two
and half years, in which all the
military capacity, the inventive gen
JUS and the industrial capacity of
these other greatest of countries had
been engaged OH the problem Of what
the war was to be.
COULDN'T DECIDE PROBLEMS.
at was not for us to decide the
thcater Of war. That theater was in
France. 1t was not for us to decide
tho limo Of communication. 1t was 3,
600 miles away with one end infested
with submarines. 1t was not for us
to decide whether maneuvcrs in the
open should be attempted. Men already
were in the trenches In q death crap
pie.
Our problem was and is to get over
and get at the enemy. 1t was not
for us TO map out at the War College
All ideal plan of campaign, = thcoreti
ca plan. Our problem was to get in
to cooperation with Great Britain and
Franco nfh f,,n u,
most Immediate ana efficient way.
THAT problem couldn't be decided
; here. 1t can't be described in words.
1t Is so extraordinary and so vast
that it must be seon and studied on
the ground before 1T can be comprehend
ed at ALL"
TELLS OF MISSIONS COMING.
at is easily imagined that we might
have perfected an army over here and
carried it across the ocean and found
it wholly unadapted to its task, and
1t might we'll have been that the army
that we did not need, and that some
that w edid not need, and that some
other thing which We might have
supplied would have been the thing
$50 that from the very beginning
it was not n question Of abstrac:
speculation here. but question of
4 shoulder to the wheel could be put"
Mr. Baker told OF the coming Of the
British and French missions with
l}a,four and Joffre. These men were
seen in the halls of Congress, but
few people saw the staffs of trained
experts they brought with them and
who distributed themselves through.
the War Department.
SE.<T MOST BRILLIANT MEN.
"Thcy were the most brilliant men
in their armies" he said. "Evdry
country has sent us that sort Of eX-
perts."
"Thosc experts" he went on, could
describe to us and bring the spcoifi
cations and drawings for a piece of
Iartillery, but they could not tell us
why the British theory of the use Of
artillery was by the British PREFER
ed to that Of the French.
'They could not picture to us a bar
rage OF heavy howitzers as compared
| to Il barrage Of 75.mm guns. They
| could not picture to us the association
Of aircraft, balloons and mobile air
craft with artillery uses. They could
tell us about 1t, but even while they
! told us the story grew old.
| RAPID CHANGES IN TACTICS.
| "Tho one thing they told lis from
the very beginning to the end was
| that this war of all others was not a
static thing; that our adversary was
a versatile and agile adversary; that
every day he revamped and changed