Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-08

which included the British drive at the northern end of the railway sys- tenn and the French advance in the center, was accomplished on Novem- Der when the Americans entered the outskirts of Sedan to be joined there the next day by the French.
 "The meeting of French and Amer ican troops on this historic spot, MT. Baker says, "signalized the defeat of the German arms, defeat as de- cisiye and humilating as that forced upon France AT years before at the same spot, If there had been ques- tions before as to the acceptance of the armistice terms, the allied advance eliminating in this meeting at Sedan left no choice in the matter"
 In sketching the building up of the war army, Mir. Baker selects few striking figures as illustrations of what each step meant and what has been accomplished. On the day the armistice was signed, he declares more than 23 per cent of the entire male population of the country be- tween the ages of IS and 31 was in the military service, the army having reached a total of 3,664,000 men, more than 2,O00,000 of whom were in Flu rope, as compared with a strength of 1S9,674 in March 1917 week before war was declared.
 To illustrate the speed of this eX- pansion, the report cites the fact that the British army in France had reach ed it's high mark in the summer of 1917, three years after the beingning of the war, and that figure was slightly more than 2,00O,000 men," It took 19 months for the United States to reach the same strength there but Mir. Baker points out that during those years of battle, British man. power had been heavily called upon to replace casualties while for many months the flow of American troops all went to augment the force being assembled. To some extent this was offset, he adds by the far greater transportation difficulties of the Amer ican project.
 RecapitulatiOn. .+
 Recapitulating the total American casualties, 236,108 men as already an nounced, MT. Baker said the deaths due to battle alone were 36,00G and that half of the wounded reported probably suffered slight injury" He adds that Federal battle fatalities in the Civil War totalled 110,000;: Japan lost 59,000 men in the Russo-Japanese war and Germany lost 2S,600 in the Franco-P war.
 Speaking of the selective service Mr.. Baker makes this observation x.-;fh 0t universal military training, soon to arise:
 "At that time (when his proceeding annual report was issued) there was ample evidence that the selective draf was swift, effective and just means of securing the military strengtf necessary for the conduct O a great war. The experience of thu past year has strongly reenforced tha conviction.''
 Discussing the extensive engineer ing undertakings in France, the neet for which has ended with the signin, of the armistice, MT. Baker gives thi hint at the policy the government il plArsuing:
 "steps have been taken to reduc orders and cancel contracts for sucl items as will not be needed in France In, this connection, however, care i being taken to assure ourselves tha we are not depriving France of mater ial which she so urgently needs to re place that worn out during her terri fife self-denials of the past four years We can not refuse to render all tn assistance possible in the reconstruct ion of that heroic nation"
 ! Under the heading of Fighting ca uipment for the army" MT. Baker give a summary of what was accOmplishe in providing ordnance for the army When the arnlistice was signed 30,SS complete units had been contracte for. On November 1 10,634 had bee delivered divided as follows: Irene 5000; light (field guns) 3,S50; med ium, 1,070; heavy 695; railway 19 The contracts were divided as follows Trench, 11,7O0; light, 10,11S; mediu1 5,3S5; heavy, 3,472; railway 211.
 AS to rifles, MT. Baker shows tha 2,137,025 of the modified Enfield ha been accepted prior to November Browning machine guns production i given as follows: Light, 47,019; heavy 39,546. The following cablegram quoted to show the performance of tn Browning guns in action:
 Experience of Seventy-ninth Divls ion in offensive operations Septembe % to October 21, Browning machin guns. Thirteen machine-gun compan ies engaged, weather conditions con tinuous rain and mud. 4 + Ther was not one instance where the gun failed to operate due to muddy and WV belts. f + + On the whole it may b