The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-06-18
CONTINUED from last issue)
CHAPTER XIII

NTIftT Ell NNlII
A large party, including Col. e. NJ.
House, the American delegates to the
interallied conference, Ambassador
William G. Sharp and Lord Northcliffe,
went by special train from Paris De-
cember 4, 1917, to our training area,
stopping at my Chaumont headQuar-
tiers en- route.
On the train l had an interesting
conversation with Lord Northcliffe of
the British air board regarding the
formation of an American army and
its transportation overseas. Lord
Northcliffe thought his government
. should do more to help with shipping,
but, like most Englishmen, he be-
lieved it best for us to send our men
for service with the British. He ar
gued in favor of proposal that Lloyd
George had recently made to Mr..
House, that we should incorporate in
their units any infantry that we might
not be able to organize Immediately
into complete divisions of our own.
'Tt is all very WELL" 1 said, "to make
such an appeal to us, but it is impos-
sible to ignore our national viewpoint.
The people themselves would not ap-
prove, even though the President and
his advisers should lean that way. We
cannot permit our men to serve under
another flag except in an extreme
emergency, and then only temporarily"
I also insisted that we would con-
tribute more largely to allied success
by the use Of the American army as
a unit.
Hits Fault Finders.
About this time Mr.. House told me
that Petain had criticized the Ameri-
can ideas of training and also that
Louis Loucheur, minister of munitions,
had spoken about the rise in prices
caused by American purchases. Mr..
House wisely suggested to these gen.
tlemen, he said, that matters Of this
kind were for me to settle.
1 called without delay on NJ. Glenn
enceau and told him of the reports
and explained my understanding about
training agreements with Petain and
also the steps that had previously
been taker by the purchasing board,
in cooperation with his own bureaus,
to prevent the rise in prices. also
to- d him that French dealers were
largely to blame If prices had risen,
as we had eliminated competition
among ourselves and that our pur-
chases were and had been for some
time actually handled through French
officials.
l objected to these back-door meth.
eds of lodging complaints and empha-
sized the necessity Of frankness and
dfrectness in all our dealings. I asked
him to give instructions tn If there
was any fault to find with "ur meth
DDS 1t should be brought to my per-
sonal attention. He entirely agreed
with me and expressed chagrin and
surprise that any other course had
been followed. On the face of it there
was no other conclusion, however, than
that both complaints were made for
the purpose of finding out just the ex-
tent of my independent authority.
Gets Apology From Petain.
l took occasion few days later to
let Petain know very politely what l
thought of the improperly Of this sort
of thing and also criticized him then
and there for telling anybody, even
Mr.. House, as he had done, about the
plan to attack the st. Mihiel salient
as the first offensive by the American
army. was pleased with Petain's
apology and his statement that there
would be no further action Of this kind
on his part.
As a matter of fact, ! think the
French enormously regarded House as
sort of special ambassador, and
thought that they could lay the foun-
dation for an approach through him
to the question Of amalgamation.
Just before his return to the States
House said to me that he entirely
agreed with me, and that he felt sure
the President and secretary Of war In
tended to leave the whole question re.
garding the disposition of our troops
to my judgment. Assurance on this
point was in no sense necessary, as l
had full confidence that this was the
case.
During his stay in France I formed
Q high opinion Of Houses ability. We
formed a friendship in the beginning
which enabled us to discuss all mat
tiers most freely and frankly. Before
he left for home he and / arranged
for confidential communication by
cable should 1t become necessary to
reach Mr.. Baker or Mr.. Wilson direct.
The Missing Turkeys.
Immediately upon my return to
headquarters at Chaumont December
Z, 1917, General Hartford reported
there had been shortage Of turkeys
and other essentials Of truly Ameri-
can Thanksgiving dinner, and in a
facetious manner deplored the heart
lessness Of staff at Washington that
would so neglect our troops.
He stated that the shortage was due
to these supplies, which had been or
dered in September for delivery No
vember 1, being buried under large
cargo that could not be unloaded In
time. The following cable was sent
oa vurittnn nv Hartford.