Evening star., 1932-08-07

tirely clear IN ltS own mlno
what our part in the struggle
should be- Obviously our entrance
placed at the service of the allied cause
a practically unlimited supply of money
and material. Many military men, even,
supposed our assistance, as far as men
were concerned, would be limited to
show of the flag by a small force. This
was based largely on the fact that we
had no ships to transport and supply
any considerable number of men at
such a distance from their home base.
And building ships takes time.
1t Is clear from the limitation Of the
capacity of the original cantonments
, that the War Department, including
the general staff, had no conception
what we were entering upon. Nor mas
it ever seemed to me clear that any one
| then in authority completely grasped
| the fact that if we did not get men to
France by the million, instead OF by the
thousand, the war would unquestionably
be won by the central powers.
| took over the ONCE of chief Of staff
of the Army March 4, 1918, and i'm
mediately announced that shipment OF
men to France was to be the keynote Of
my administration; 1t was to take
precedence of everything else; 1t was
to be pushed to the limit regardless OF
questions of supply. find was quoted
/ in the press of that time as having said.
"I propose to get the men to France If
they have to swim" and they did every
thing but that.
First Headed Artillery.
August S, 1917, I had been promoted
to major general and had been assigned
to command of all the artillery OF the
A. E. F., under the title Of artillery
commander of the 1st Army. In
November, 1917, I received a message
from the American headquarters at
Chaumont that Gen. Pershing wanted
to see me. At Chaumont I was in
formed by Pershing he had received a
letter from Secretary Baker stating, in
substance, that on the retirement OF
Gen. Scott as chief Of staff, Gen. Bliss
would be allowed to hold the off1ce until
his retirement December 80, 1917, that
thereafter Secretary Baker had in mind
the designation Of younger man ana
one who had experience in the A. E. F.,
and that his mind turned toward Gen.
March, if he could be spared.
I suggested to Gen. Pershing that
Gen. March could not be spared, ana
Gen. Pershing, as records from 6ecre-
tary Bakers personal files show, replied
to him in that sense-that he would
like to keep Gen. March to carry on
the work Of training and commanding
the Field Artillery. ,
Il went back to my camp disguised
with the prospect of having to return
to America, although, of course, 1t was
a great compliment. and promotion,
but hearing shortly afterward that Gen.
Biddle had been sent back to America
to become acting chief OF stan, !
thought the matter was ended and went
ahead with my work.
Ordered Home in January.
The latter part of January, 1918,
again received notice from general
headquarters that Pershing wanted to
see me, and l found he had received
, from Secretary Baker this cablegram
Can Gen March be spared to return
to this country as acting chief OF stan
If he can, direct his immediate return
I feel 1t urgently necessary to have him
BAKER"
OF course, I had to go. determined
before going to inspect the entire
} American layout. At Gen. Pershlng
invitation went over his headquarters
inspected his staff and their methods
of handling business. I went up tc
the front occupied by American troops
and went over the entire installation
there-from the commanding general!
headquarters down to the trenches, anc
after completing that inspection wen
back to Paris and went over the or
panization of the service of supply.
. | then went out to Versailles and soen
y a good deal of time with Gen. Bis
y and the American section OF the per
manent military representatives, ind
ing precisely what they were doing ant
y had done.
y y AS a wind-up Of my survey Of tn
: American military effort IN France
y y Gen. Pershing came to Paris from
y Chaumont, and we went over togetne
+. accomplish. and his relations with Ou
= allies and the War Department.
!; Five O'Clock Closing Ends.
l. When I reached Washington foun'
lr Secretary Baker had left the Unite'
Is States on his first trip to France.
n talked over with Gen. Biddle the meth
;e DDS of doing business, and when he ha'
;e concluded what he had to say, aske,
II him one question: What are your OF
n hce hours?" He replied that he gen
orally left the office for the day abou
3 o'clock and that he did not com
= back at night unless there was som
20 special cable from G. H. @: In Franc
10 which required his personal attention
went down to the War Departmen
1e that night and found the general stai
Ia Offices dark: nobody was there. wan
al dered along the deserted corridors. Nc
a body was in the ofice OF the Actin
Secretary OF War. In front OF tn
adjutant generals off1ce I found tn