The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-02


 ! ly unused railway systems leading ] therefrom to the northeast Generally | speaking. then, this would contemplate | the use of our forces against the en- emy somewhere in that direction, but ] the great depots of supply must be centrally located. preferably in the area
 included by Tours, Bourges and Cha ! teaurouX, so that our armies could be supplied with equal facility wherever
 they might be serving on the western | front
 1 GROWTH OF SUPPLY SERVICE
 To build up such a system there were | talented men in the regular army. but l more experts were necessary than the
 army could furnish. Thanks to the pa . | triotic spirit of our people at home.
 there came from civil life men trained | for every sort of work involved in | building and managing an organiza- . | tion that was to handle and transport | such an army nd keep it supplied With l such assistance thes construction and
 general development of our plans have
 kept pace with the growth of the 1 forces, and the service of supply is now 1 able to discharge from ships and more | 4o,oO0 tons daily. besidesi transporting i troops and material necessary in the
 conduct of active operations.
 ] AS to organization, all the adminis- l trative and supply services, except the
 adJutant generals, inspector generals l and judge advocate generals deDart- ! ments, which remain at general head quarters, have been transferred to the | headquarters of the service of supplies at TourS, under a commanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply of the armies. The chief
 quartermaster chief surgeon chief signal officer, chief of ordnance. chief | or air service. chief of chemical war 1 ra1 r,;., Tn all that pertains to questions of procurement of supply, the provost marshaI general In the maintenance of l order in general, ana enc director gem eral of transportation in all taht af- fects such matters, and the chief en- glneer in all matters of administration and supply, are subordinate to the com i manding general of the service of sup ply, who, assisted by a staff especially organized for the purpose, is charged With the administra tive coordination of all these services
 The transportation department under the service of supply directs the opera tlon, maintenance and construction of railways, the operation of terminals
 the unloading Of ships and transporta ton of material to warehouses or to the | front Its functions make necessary the most intimate relationship between our organization and that of the French, with the practical result that our transportation department has been able to improve materially the opera ton of railways generally. Constant ly laboring under shortage of rolling
 stock, the transportation department mas nevertheless been able by efficient management to meet every emergency
 Ihe engineer corps IS charged with all construction, including light rail-
 ways and roads. It has planned and constructed the many projects required the most important of which are the new wharves at Bordeaux and Nantes. and the immense storage depots at La faiIlce, Montoir and Gievres, besides 1 lnnumerable hospitals and barracks in various ports of France These prai-
 ests have all been carried on bv
 phases, keeping pace with our needs. ihe forestry service under the en- glheer corps has cut the greater part or the timber and railway ties re- quired
 To meet the shortage of supplies rom America due to lack of shipping. the representatives of the different sup ply departments were constantly in
 search or available material and sup plles in Europe. In order to co-ordi nate these purchases and to prevent competition between our departments general purchasing agency was ere aled early in our experience to coor- uihate our purchases and, if possible. in ouce our allles to apply the principle among the allied armies. While there was no authority for the general use of appropriations, this was met by group ing the purchasing representatives, of the different departments under one control charged with the duty of consolidating 1 acquisitions and purchases Our efforts
 to extend the principle have been sineu-
 iarly successful, and all purchases for the allied armies are now on an eauita-
 ble and cooperative basis. Indeed. 1t may be said that the work of this bureau
 has been thoroughly efficient and busi- nesslike
 ARTILLERY, AIRPLANES. TANKS Our entry into the war found us with lew of the auXiliaries necessary for it's conduct in the modern sense Among our
 most important deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation and tanks. In ofder to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer of the french government to provide us with the necessary artillery equipment of 75's
 155 nm. howitzers and 155 G. P. F. guns rom their own factories for 30 divisions The wisdom of this course is fully demon- strated by the fact that, although we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home there were no guns Of the calibres mentioned manufac-
 luieu III America on our front at the date the armistice was signed The only guns Of these types produced at home
 thus far received in France are log "a nm. guns.
 In aviation we were in the same situa-
 ton, and here again the French gov ernment came to our aid until our own aviation programme should be under way
 We obtained from the French the neces- sary planes for training our personnel and they have provided us with a total of 2676 pursuit, observation and bombing planes The first airplane received from home arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1879 planes. The first American squadron completely equipped by American production, including ah- planes, crossed the German lines on Au- gust r. 1918. AS to tanks, We were also compelled to rely on the French Here however. we were less fortunate for the reason that the Frencha production could \ An Inside Bath