The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-29
SECRETARY OF WAR ANSWERS" CRITICS"
 w DRAMATIC SPEECH

I We had and send so large a part of them to France and then think of those who remained at home, you will realize, am sure, that those who remained here had the double duty, insufficient for either as pect of it. in numbers-and they still have this double duty-they had to go forward with manufacturers work out industry and industrial relations; they had to see about supplies or raw ma ! teiials and manufacture finished prod ucts and make from day to day altera- | tions and changes that had to be made and they had to be ingenious with sug- gestions. to see whether they could de- vlse on this side, something that had not been thought of over there.
 WAITED SUGGESTION
 They had to be hospitable to sugges- | tions which came from the other side, they had to confer with the foreign of ficers who were here and were con- stantly being changed, so that men fresh | from the front could be here to advise with us, and in addition to that every one of them had to be a university pro- lessor, going into the life of the com | munlty and selecting men who had me- | chanlcal experience and knowledge and training and adding to his original equip ment the scientific training, that finish ing touch which made him available for use as a military scientist
 LITTLE GROUP AT HOME /. As consequence, this little group which stayed here, have built the great I special departments of the army The ordnance department, starting. I think with s3 or 96 officers, has now, as I re- call the figures, something like 5000 of Har they have had to be specialized and that has had to go on contemporaneously with this tremendous responsibility to the changing conditions on the other side.
 In the meantime. when we started into this war, I think it was commonly thought throughout the country that our ] contribution at the outset might well be I financial and industrial. The industries of this country were largely devoted at that time, the appropriate industries and many converted industries, were largely 1 devoted to the manufacture of war ma 1 terials for our allies.
 | AS suggested this morning, when we went into that market we found it large fly occupied, so that our problem was not going to a shoe factory and saying, l make shoes for us,' but it was going to a factory which never made shoes be- ! cause all the shoe factories were busy making shoes for people from whom we could not take them, and saying. learn how to make shoes in order that you make them for us.
 Now, of course, that is not true of shoes, but it is true of machine guns; l 1t is true of other arms, 1t is true of | ammunition, it is true of forging ca l pacity, which was the greatest secret In the country, and all of this time we had not merely not to disturb the pro gramme of allied manufacture in this | Ex,Ar 1..I ..<~& a.,% e Ak1 plies of raw material to our allies and we had not to disturb the industry of this country to such an extent that prod ucts upon which they depended for the success of their military operations would be interferred with as to agricultural and commercial and industrial prod ucts.
 ROOSEVELT QUOTED
 At the outset the idea was that we 1 would be a financial and industrial as- l sistance to our allies during the year 1918, and I think I probably can read from ! the Metropolitan Magazine for August a suggestion which will show what the | current expectation of the country was. 1 The editor of the Metropolitan Magazine was protesting against what he believed to be the intention of the government ! at that time.'
 Here Senator Weeks interrupted to
 
 Theodore Roosevelt is associate editor. Secretary Baker replied that MT. Roose- | welt was a contributing editor, and con- tinued
 This magazine came out In August, 1917 and in this editorial says:
 "Since it is our war, we want to put everything in it so as to finish in the shortest possible time, so that the world | may be restored. To our mind the whole | plan of the war department has been l favored with desire to hold on until l the allies finish the war for us
 You see the editor was dealing with i what he supposed to be the intention of | the war department at that time, that we l were holding off so far as actual military | operations were concerned and letting I the allies do the fighting.
 1 What he says we should have done and, I ask your particular attention to 1 it, Is this:
 We should have strained every energy to have gotten from 5000 to l0O,ooo men | to France this year."
 | That is, the year 1917. I tell you no | secret, but 1t Is perfectly well known to everybody in this group that we have 1 far exceeded what in August, 1917 was | regarded as a programme so ideal that the editor of this magazine refers to II as a thing which we ought to nave strained every nerve in vain, but nope i less, effort to accomplish
 l In response to question by Chairman | Chamberlain, the secretary said the 1 Tinted States did not have more than the minimum number of men in France in August 1917. He continued: | And then the editor goes on:
 And by next year G910, we could have had 50O,O00 men to send over, or any part of 500.000 men which we could ship. ,ono And now, instead of having bo'ooo or 900 men in France in 1917 we have many more men than that in {, France, and instead of having 5oo, I 900 men whom we could ship 10 France if we could find any way to do it in 1918, we will have more than one half million men in France early in 1918, and we have available, 1T the transportation facilities are available I to us, and the prospect is not unprom- ising, 1,500,000 men who, in 1918, can be shipped to France"
 Senator Weeks asked whether the Secretary knew who wrote the edi- torial, and MT. Baker said he thought ! it was attributed to MT. Wiggin, the 1 editor in chief
 Why" asked Chairman Chamber lain have you not felt it proper to ! let the public into your confidence with rafarance to these things that you are