Republican farmer., 1918-06-28
BRITISH REPUL SE EFFORTS 0F HUNS IN ARRAS REGION
OF MILITARY HAVE
 BALKED CRITICS

Washington, D. C., June 30.-Critics of the gS Administrations military achievements during the first year of America!s participation in the world war were confounded by the stagger- ing array of facts and figures laid before the House by Representative Charles Pope Caldwell, of New York. A member of the House Committee on Military Affairs, MT. Caldwell has made a careful study of the situation and Indicated that he spoke with au- thority in revealing to Congress and the country what the United States had done in the way of supplying man power to the struggling Allied armies on the Western front.
 Prefacing his statement with tri- bute to Secretary of War Baker as man fully equal to the great task as- ! signed him by the President MT. Cald- well disclosed the wonderful growth of the Army in twelve months and out lined the program of the future. America has done her share-in- deed, more than her share-for she has done many times more than any of our Allies suspected that she was capable of doing and more than the greatest enthusiast in America hoped she could do," MT. Caldwell asserted. ''She has confirmed our friends and confounded our enemies.
 "Or. let me put it in another way: America has raised and equipped a bigger army in a shorter time and now holds a greater section of the fighting front, transporting her forces 5000 miles across an infested sea, in ten months, than England was capable of doing in 12 months across the English Channel of less than 30 miles. We began with less, went farther, and ar rived with more in shorter time. Yet their motive was necessity and ours only desire.
 Growth of Army.
 | "When war was declared in April 1917, the standing army of the United States consisted of 136,000 officers and men, many of whom were in foreign service, and the National Guard con- sisted of 164,000 officers and men, many of whom were too old for active service and a large part of them physically unfit to perform the duty for which they had volunteered. 1 "Our experts told us it would take two years to raise an army of mil lion men and five years to train the commissioned personnel. It has now been about one year since the first legislation was passed authorizing the increase of our Army for war pur- poses. The strength of our military forces is now 148,32S officers and l. SS9,S94 men, a grand total of 2,03S,- | 222 officers and men.
 "So we have today an army of more than 1000, 900, of which 500,000 have already been shipped to France and million more have had the necessary training to fit them for foreign ser vice. Our critics now complain that we have not done more yet we have done in one year twice as much as they thought we could do in two years. The Army is growing so rap idly and it's needs are so urgent that the efforts heretofore made will be small in comparison with those of the next twelve months. We will prob ably have between 100000 and B. 900, 900 men before the end of the next fiscal year.
 "When Gen. Joffre made the re- quest for a small expeditionary force. the critics of the administration de- manded what they thought was inn possible-that we ship to France dur ing the first year 50,OO0 to 100000 men, During the first ten days of
 May we shipped 90,ooO. Within one year after the first shipment America will have an army of a million men in France with their necessary arms,
 equipment and supplies.
 "It will be the best-fed, the best clothed, the postpaid army of it's size
 that the world has ever known, speak ing the same language, worshipping the same God and following the same
 flag. Its personnel will have the
 quickest perceptions of any soldiers
 in the world, and will have trained
 under modern conditions, surrounded
 by the best moral influences, with the
 lowest percentage of disease, and will
 be served by the highest motives that
 actuate men"