The Washington times., 1918-01-12
BAKER SAYS AIDS
HAVE DONE BEST IN
WAR PREPARATION
By DAVID LAWRENCE.
Continued from First Page.)


CONTINUED from First Page.)
ment on January l. 1917, and on sub
I sequent dates and contended that
! there had been going on progressive
| ly usefur changes in the entire de-
partment throughout the twelve
| months.
Changes When Needed.
He gave the impression that as
| soon. as experience had suggested or
required a change, it had been adopt
ed. He defend his bureau chiefs with
the general statement that they had
done the best they could under the
circumstances and was disposed to in
dicate that civilians who had been
made reserve officers were not as use
! full after all as their uniforms or
rank might indicate and that the pro-
cess OF educating these same reserve
officers In a knowledge OF the military
organization OF the War Department
itself was no small task.
Senator Hitchcock OF Nebraska. a
! Democrat, put his finger on one OF the
weaknesses of the War Department when
he cited the case OF an American citizen
who had a fireless cooking invention
There was no little Tnirth in the, commit
tee room as he read the personal expert
ence Of the inventor who went from pill
lar to post and back again. seeing all
sorts OF officers over a period Of two
months. being sent back and forth in an
interminable chain OF official reference
before he could get to the bureau with
| authority to talk business with him.
@Isn't There Some OneF'
Isn't there some one" queried Senator
Hitchcock, "to whom a man can. go in
the War Department and find out the
right office or bureau with which to
deal2'
The Nebraska Senator made some
caustic remarks about business in
stitutiOn and the Secretary OF War re-
piled that literally tens OF thousands
of inventions were placed before the
War Department constantly and that
IL was not possible for any one man
or group of men TO have sufficient
technical knowledge to saw right OFF
the bat whether an invention had
merit.
And Mr.. Baker rememt cred con-
yenientIy that Senator Hitchcock him
self had been interested in one OF
these disappointed inventors and re-
called, moreover. that he bad written
a letter to the Nebraska Senator go
ing into some detail about the reason
for the rejection. wherSupon MIR.
Hitchcock declared that ne had an
other case in mind.
CoIIoquy Leads I.Owhere.
But The colIoquy led nowhere, ex-
cept to an expressed appreciation by
the Senators of the fact that the War
Department is a busy place: that the
Secretary of War has a big burden.
and to a statement by Mr. Baker that
anybody. in the United States can see
him between L. and o'clock every
/ day; that he has 9 staff OF secretaries
competent TO handle callers: that
, General Bliss would be glad to direct
/ people who don't know their way
about. and that IL visitors at the
War Department got on the wrong
| track. II is usually their own fault.
/ because they don't go TO the Offlce OF
J the chief Of stan OF the Secretary of
I War himself. where directions are
given to the Rnral public on how to
/ proceed with inventions and kindred
! matters.
: When the committee inquired into
the health conditions at the camps.
! particularly those Under canvas, the
Secretary OF War revesled that a most
expert body of medical men. in fact.
the best physIcisns in the land. had
gone over the plans in detail last May
I and had predicted that the canvas
camps would b.. better than the can
Z tonments. and that the cubic feet OF
air in them would make disease less
likely.
Praises CantOnments.
I But the prediction of these expert
doctors proved wrong. Mr.. Baker said
that quite the reverse happened. The
wood built cantonments were better
protection than the canvas.
Again the Secretary of War gave
! the impression that he had not been
himself able to attend to every detail
and that he had relied on the advice
of men recognized AZ experts in their
professions. Circumstances unfore-
seen and not entirely within his con-
troll are responsible for delays and
mistakes-that is the idea he con-
veyed.
For instance. when Senator Wads-
worth OF New York suggested that
some previous consideration might
have been given to the question OF
climatic conditions at the national
guard camp at SpartRnburg. :. g, Mr..
Baker countered with a smile and the
, following observation:
"But did anyone know the climate
of the United states before this
year,"
South Carolina is a warm spot and