The Pascagoula chronicle., 1918-07-06
|AkER REVEALS MARVEL
STORY OF v. s. ARMY
Of American Eagle Now e.
b1o.0oo Men and 10000 Officers 286
Combat Airplanes Delivered to
June 8.


repaired by Secretary Baker, and read
the house today by Chairman Dent
the house military committee, con
raining the following with reference to
he morale of the American army In
rance:
"In France it was necessary to
hange the name of the zone behind
he armies from the service OF the
ear to service of supply because
4 the difficulty in getting men to
erye in region having the she'll
roof connotation of the word rear
"Even at the actual front there is
5omething of tradition against the
hse of the term No Mans Land Our
hen prefer to call it and make II
Yankee Land
Mr.. Baker said the commission OF
classification of personnel reports that
a surprisingly large proportion of re-
cruits ask to be placed in the most
hazardous branches of the military
hnd added:
.Jf reply is needed to those who
say that the men of the national army
are in camp because they have to be,
IL is this. That those men are going
over thn top because they want to 60"
"Consensus Of opinion is, continued
the statement, that drunkenness In the
army is completely under control, both
in the United States and France. You
NAV travel for weeks in France with
out seing an intoxicated American
soldier.
"There is no prominent military
camp in the United States with red
light district in it's vicinity"
Secretary Bakers statement, re-
/ view of war preparations during the
fifteen months of war, showed that
there are now 100000 officers and
2.O1O. 900 men with the colors, COM
pared with 9,524 officers and 2O3.51O
men in the regulars and national guard
fourteen months ago.
The statement shows that 2S6 COM
bat airpanes had been delivered up
to June 8, and that the production
!, rate OF this type then was 80 per week.
More than 1000 Liberty motors had
F.been delivered and the weekly produc-
tion rate was lis during, the first week
in June.
More than 800 heavy Browning ma
,cfY,pe Ills we're delivered during
NAV and the deliveries for that
ynonth OF iisht bro"hines totaiied -
300.
"Snffici'h' rines are now pelhs re-
+, cd - he statement says, ito equip
(an army division every three days.
@Mora fhs 4 100000 rifles had been pro-
duced ID delivered up to June L."
The statement SHOWS that the death
rate no, thousand among all troops
in the United States for the week
ending June s was Ala. as against a
rate of 9014 in the regular army in
the United states IN 1898 ana o.lo
in 1916.
On Juat the capacity OF the nos
pials r. the United States was IT,
6t7 beds, with new hospitals with
1A.677 beds under construction. The
nhmber OF base ahl. general hospitals
had inc re$sed from to 72, with, t,lrr- !
tier in vcreases pending. In France
h)spital facilities are being provided
fo- frorn five to ten per cent of the
whole dictionary force, while the
army ht )spital corps is now composed
OF 24,00O officers and 14S,O00 enlist
ed men. exclusive of the military corps
AM array nurses.
Deiiy cries of elementary training
planes up to June s, Mr.. Baker said,
totalie, 4.495, and advanced training
planes totalled 500. The weekly pro-
duction rate of advanced training
planes was rs on June 8. To show
how uantity production becomes
effectiy e, the statement said, the week
ly prot. luction rate of combat planes
was { in April, 3S in May and 80 for
the wee,k ending June 8. On that
date ais o 37,25O airplane machine guns
had be- n delivered.
The most difficult undertaking in |
uutfittirig an army is the manufact-
ure, of heavy artillery the statement
said. sixteen plants had to be pro-
vided 70 make mobile guns, most of
them b uilt from the ground up.
But the ARTILLERY program" Mr..
Baker sIdded sis now approaching a
point where quantity production is
beginning"
The first of the four government
shelI.fli ling plants is now beginning to
produce. ard number of private
plants are loading shells. Solution of
the problem OF motorizing field artil-
lery n "on the way" the statement
said adding that the immobiIity of
the heavy guns has heretofore been.a
constant factor in slowing up the ad-
vance OF troops.
20 Illustrate the enormous work of
the easrtermaster department the fol-
lowing purchases were noted: 2,567,-
600 hammers: 5,121,0OO axes; 1O.S70.-
600 files 100000 halters; 12s. 900
escort wagons: $4,000 combat wagons:
3ss.s9S horses and mules; 27.249.OO0
pairs of shoes: 2,340.000 pairs of
rubber hip bots: 1oS.02s.O0O yards
denim doth; 104.333.oOO pairs stock
ings.
There are nov $4,000 Americans en-
gagged OF railroad construction aud