New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-02-14
DEMOCRATS IN j. S.
SENATE EXPOSE
SECRETARY BAKER
CHAMBERLAIN LAYS BARE
FAILURES OF PACIFIsT
WAR OFFICIAL WHICH RE.
SUITED IN DEATH AND
DISASTER TO SOLDIERS
(From Official Congressional Record

NTIOW OItlCidI congressman RECORD
Continued from Last Wesk.)
Per.hins Exposes War Department
How do we know it? Gen. Perish.
ing. in his report to the Secretary oil
War on the 10Th Of November, 1918
says:
Our entry into the war found u.
with few of the auxil aries necessary
for its conduct in the modern sense
Armory one most important defi-
ciencies in material were -rtillery
aviation. and tanks. In order to
meet our requirements as rapidly
as possible we accepted the offer OF
the French government to provide
us with the necessary artillery equ D.
ment of seventy-five;, one-fifty-five
millimeter howitzers, and one-fifty-
five G. p. F. guns from their own
factories for 80 divisions. The wis
dom Of this course is fully demons
trated by the fact that although we
soon began the manufacture OF these
classes of guns at home, there were
no guns of the calibers mentioned
manufactured in 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 l09 sevcnty-fve mil
limeter guns.
In aviation we were in the same
and here again the French
Government came to our aid until
our own aviation program should
be under way. We obta ned from
the French the necessary planes for
training our personnel, and they
have provided US with total OF
700 pursuit, observation. and bomb
ing planes. The first airplanes re-
ceived from home arrived in May.
and altogether we have received
| ,379. The first American squadron
completely equipped by American
production, including airplanes,
crossed the German lines o, August
?, 1918. AS to tanks. we were also
to rely upon the French.
Here, however. we were less for
tunate, for the. reason that the French
production could barely meet the
of their own arm es.
Ii should be fully realized that the
French Government has always TAX
en- a most liberal attitude and has
been most anxious to give us every
possible assistance in meeting our
defic ences in these as we'll as in
other respects. Our dependence
upon France for artillery. aviation.
and tanks was, of course, due to
the fact that our industries had not
been exclusively devoted to military
production. All credit is due our
own manufacturers for their efforts
to meet our requirements, as at the
time the armistice was signed we
were able to look forward to the
early supply of practically all our
necessities from our own factories.
A most generous suggestion upon
The part of Gen. Persling, after we
nad been in the war for l8 months,
10 be IN such a position when the,
1918, that we could look
Onward with some degree CT pride
md comfort to the prospect that We
we're likely to have "all our necessi-
les from our own factories" in the
lear futurel
The answer to all of this by those
Who resent criticism is: But France
vas doing this for u.s." Why, Mr..
President, the idea of America de-
upon France for these
hings The piece of ordnance that
S looked upon the world over as the
greatest piece of artillery in the
world is the 75-millimetcr gun,
nd here we found our Ord
lance Department undertaking
O improve the carriage and the gun
tself and to make it better than
france. when Germany had been
rying for years to acquire the secret
f the recoil mechanism of the
french 75-millimeter gun. and no
on earth had ever gotten
/ except America. We finally aban-
oned our attempted improve
1ent of the French 75-m limeter gun
nd went back to the French gun
nd began to get them in quantity;
nd when the armistice was signed,
hough none of the American manu-
acture were at the front, there was
ONE chance of our getting the IS
,llimeter and these other guns
hat are mentioned in Gen. Perish
lg's report.
U. S. Depended on France
Now, notw thstanding the splendid
enerosity of Gen. Pershing in his
eport to the Secretary, once in a
'hile something slips out in his re-
ort to show the condition m which
ur men found themselves. If there
as one great battle in France where
.merican boys made their names
nd their country immortal it was
t St Mihiel Gen Pershing. in his
ccount of that battle, said this
nd ! am only going to read para
ranh from it:
The French
Agan. ''the French" This was
80 ~ he first battles in which Gen
ershing had gotten the American
,rce together so as to have it pure
, and distinctively an American
ctory wh IN it was won
The French were generous
Says Gen. Pershing-
In giving us assistance in corps
nd army artillery. with its person.
el, and were confident from the
art of our superiority over the
,emy in guns of all calibers. Our
eavy guns were able to reach Metz
I'd to interfere seriously with Ger
an rail movements.
Nov. notice a9ain: