The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-01-29

have an army of half million men in
France early this year. A million men
are equipped and ready to follow as
quickly as ships can transport them.
From early morning until Monday
afternoon Secretary Baker addressed
the senate committee and crowd in
GLIDING many members of both houses
of congress, gathered in big hearing
room of the senate office building He
spoke extempOratneously, beginning
with details of the mammoth task
Of building an army of million and a
half answering such complaints Of in
efficiency as were cited by Senator
Chamberlain in his recent speech and
declaring that such instances were iso-
lated and not general. Some questions
were asked, and Mr.. Baker from time
to time had assistants 60 to the tele-
phone for reports on specific ques-
tons.
Then, toward the close of the day
the secretary delivered dramatic
general statement Of the American
war plan, telling of the coming of the
allied missions of the day and night
conferences with men from the scene
of battle in which the plans now be-
ing executed were adopted, and OF
success beyond the most saguine ex-
pectations in building the army. and
it's industrial supports at home, trans
porting men across the ocean. con-
structing railroads in France and pre-
pairing to strike the enemy with every
resource at the countrys command.
When Mr. Baker closed it was ap.
parent he had created profound i'm
preston. Chairman Chamberlain said
SO before he left the stand. There was
no attempt at cross examination. The
chairman proposed that the secretary
be given rest and it virtually was
agreed to recall him for further exam
ination later after the committee has
completed its hearing of officers of the
medical corps, aviation section and
other branches of the service.
PART l.
Washington, Jan. 29.-"Now, gen
tlemen, about the plan Of the war. 1t
will be remembered that this war
broke out in August, 1914. We went
into it in April, 1917, so that for two
and one-half years, or more than two
and one-half years, the war had been
going on. 1t was not as though war
had broke out between the United
States and some country, each of
them prior to that time having been
at peace with one another and with
everybody else; so that an immediate
plan should be made in the United
States for conducting war against its
adversary, but we were coming into q
war which had been going on for two
and one-half years, in which the
greatest militar yexperts, all the in.
ventive genius all of the industrial
capacity of those greatest countries
In the world had for two and one-half
years been solving the problems OF
what kind of war it was to be and
where it was to be waged.
Not Our Decision.
4 1T was not thing for us to decide
where our theatre of war should be.
The theatre of war was France. 1t was
not for us to decide our line of com.
Our line of communities
tions was across tire thousand miles
IOf ocean, one end of it infested with
submarines. It was not for us to de-
eide whether we would have the man.
,euvering OF large bodies Of troops In
the open. There lay the antagonists
On opposite sides of No Mans Land in
the trenches at a death grapple with
one another. Our antagonist was on
the other side OF that line and our
problem was and is to get over there
and get him..
.The one thing the foreign experts
told us from the very beginning to the
End was that this war, OF all others,