The Washington times., 1919-06-30


division Of troops and send them to
France and stimulate the tagging
spirits of the French.
HE urged that we send a large
army q great army, with the expecta-
ton Of ultimately participating in
force on the Western front The con-
florence then turned on the question
Of Transportation facilities and har-
Dor facilities in France to enable us
to handle troops and supplies He
said that the port OF La Pallice would
be placed exclusively at our disposal
and would be adequate for our work
for a very long time-more than ade-
quate to land this single division and
supplies, perhaps not quite adequate
for our great army when 1t came,
because he said, When your great
army comes you will have 100000,
perhaps as many as 100000, and you
will have to have better port facili-
ties for them
Figured On 100000.
1.-THE widest expectation OF the
French general staff was that when
America finally did pull herself to-
gether and prepare to participate on
the western front we would have. as
many as 400 900 to 500, 900 men. Now,
as 1t turned out, La Pallice, while
exclusively occupied by the American
transportation force. was SO ipsig-
nificant q place that it does not ap-
pear in our weekly report
at became quite forgotten. Brest,
of course. was the place where we
landed most Of our men. Bordeaux
was the place we landed most of our
freight and cargo. st. Nazaire was
the second port of Importance. We
absorbed the entire Bay of Biscay
coast Of France, and when the armis-
tice finally came we were taking over
Marseilles.
"As compared with the perform
ances of an army OF 400, 900 to 100000
men, the thing which America finally
did and it was not so long in doing
It, that in the month OF June, one
year and two months after we de-
clared war, we were selecting, train
ing, equipping, Transporting, and
maintaining soldiers in France at the
rate Of 10000 q day; so that, in the
single month of June, 1918, we trans
ported nearly as many men as the
marshal had expected to put in our
great army as the maximum Of our
effort. And when the armistice did
come to pass. we had in France over
1000 900 men and our casualties on
the western front are pretty nearly
as numerous as the maximum eX-
pectation of the marshal for our en-
tire army"
Discussing the problems confront
ing the Administration after the
armistice was signed, Secretary
Baker said that a reaction had set in
among the ranks of the men in
France, and that this was the direct
cause of the establishment Of the
American University at Beaune. He
said:
'sWhen the armistics was signed,
with 100000 men in France, with
very uncertain modes and guam
titles of transportation to return
them to this country, the problem
which the general command over
there faced was some sort Of occupa-
ton which would keep the idle
soldier from becoming a discontinued
soldier.
How Education Started.
AT the outset the reaction OF some
of the military men was faulty. The
answer of some commanding generals
wss TO drill his men until they were
so tired they couldn't think Of any
thing else. They got them out Of bed
before daylight. And finally the boys
themselves gave the answer. They
said: We don't want to drill. The
war is over. We want education.
Can't there be some sort OF pro-
vision made by which those who
know more can teach those who know
less%"
This, the Secretary said, led to the
organization OF the Beaune Univer-
sity. He continued:
"Anson Stokes Phelps at Yale made
the suggestion that the Y. NJ. c. A.
might effect a wide educational OPP
portunity among the soldiers. But
later il was found quite beyond the
financial power of the Y. M. c. A to
carry the. thing out. The army
stepped in and took its place with
this astonishing result. l was In
France recently and I looked over the
system.
There is at Beaune-there was I'M
til the day before yesterday-there
was at Beaune university, the
American Expeditionary Force Uni
versity. which had IL 900 students. Sc
Iected from all divisions Of the A.
Z. F. There were eleven full-fedged
colleges in that university-divinity,
law, medicine. dentistry, agriculture,
surgery, the arts, draw
ing, painting, music SCIENCE pure
and applied. The colleges were
taught very often by enlisted men,
by officers. sometimes by
experts from this coun-
try who went to France to assist in
the teaching.
Little in Way OF Fittings.
There was none OF the parapher- |
MALTA Of a great university at Beaune. |
The buildings were just shacks. But |
there was a blackboard and a little |
platform, and on the platform pri- !
vate, a doughboy, teaching integral
to a class OF fifteen or TWEEN !
ty men, OF whom two or three were |
ma ors, some were captains, some |
some 'corporaIs and ser |
geants and doughboys indiscriminate-
ly. SO that we had no military HER |
archy."
One OF the colleges. the Secretary |
said, was a normal school, to which |
men were sent from every division in |
the A. E. +. AS soon as they took a /
brief course, they went back to their |
divisions and assembled all the men |
who could not be spared from the
divisions and still wanted to learn
things, and they had men in every
division in France and Germany
clear to the Rhine while listening to
he Lorelei studying reading, writ
ng, and arithmetic.