OCR Text |
Show B SUBMITS ANNUAL REPORT 10 PRESIDENT Document Contains Only a Brief Historical Review of the Year; No Detailed Information. PLANS WITHHELD FROM THE ENEMY Secretary Opposes Universal Univer-sal Military Training; Gives Some of Quarter-jP Quarter-jP master Problems. W A.? U I NGTO.V, Dor.. 1 -! Scoro-l:iry Scoro-l:iry Baker's animal report for the war lopartment, niiide public today, constitutes consti-tutes only a brief historical review of the year, and, so that it may ho devoid de-void of informal ion i'or the enemy, shows no recommendations, no detailed information of the transportation of the army to France or any army plans for the future. .Secretary Baker docs say, however, that ho does not favor universal military mili-tary training as a regular national policy. pol-icy. "The department has not sought and i does not now seek legislation on the subject," he enya, "chiefly for tho rw-1 rw-1 son that tho formation of a pormancnt ' military policy will inevitably . he affected af-fected "by the arrangement consequent upon the termination of the present w;ir. Civilized men must hono that the future has in store a relief from the burden of armament and the destruction destruc-tion and waste of war. I "However vain that, hope may ap pear in tho midst of the most devastating devastat-ing and destructive war in the history of the race, it persists perhaps bccAuse we aro encouraged by tho analogous substitution of courts for force in the , set t lenient of private controversies; perhaps because all the perfections of nature teach ns that they are the product prod-uct of processes which have eliminated wanto and substituted constructive principles for destructive principles. Militarism Not Wanted. I 'S'hcn a pormancnt military policy. I heret'oro, comes to he adopted, it will "tiouMloss he conceived iu a spirit which be adequate to preserve against possible attack those vital pvin-: Ides of ti.berty upon which democratic f-titutions are based, and yet bo so re- j grained ns in no event to foster tho ' rowth of mere militarist ambitions or ! Tto excite the apprehoupions of nations with whom it is our .first desire to live1 in harmonious and just accord." ! As to the, expeditionary force in France, Secretary Baker says it would be unwise to disclose details and therefore there-fore contents himself with telling- of the 1 sending of General Pershing, tollowed !bv a full division of regular troops and t;i contingent of marines as the first units. Tie described also tho organiza-1 lion of the Rainbow national guard di-I vision (the Forty-set'ond), saying: J "The purpose of this organisation was to distribute the honor of early j participation in the war over a wide area and thus to satisfy in some part the eagerness of these state forces to be permitted to serve in Kurope. " Pays Tribute to Navy. 1 1 igh tribute is paid to l.lie "splendid co-operation of t he navy, by means of winch these expeditionary forces have been safely transported and have been enabled 10 traverse without loss the so-called danger dan-ger zone infested by the stealthy ;ind de-strtK-tive submarine navy of the enemy." en-emy." It became necessary, Mr. Baker says, to build up an elaborate transport system for the expeditionary force, with preat terminal facilities both in this country and in France, and to gather a lare surplus of supplies on the other side as a safe-yunrd. safe-yunrd. 'i "This placed an added burden upon the J supply divisions of the department." he ' ytyj, "and explains part some of the I shortages, not ably fliose of doth inp, v. Inch have temporarily -embarrassed mob-1 mob-1 ibz.it ion of troons at home, embarrasd-t embarrasd-t 'ucnts now hAppily passed. " i .The arranenif nts made have1 resulted. Baker continues, "in the transport- Inpr of an army to Franco, fully eanipped, will) ade(uate reserves of equipment and subsistence, and with those Inrse quantities quanti-ties of transportation appliances motor vehicles, railroad construction supplies and animals, all of which are necessary for the maintenance of effective operations of the force," Secretary Taker opens his report with a review of the situation In Mexico which led up to the withdrawal of General Pershing's column, and pays a high compliment com-pliment to the seIf-rotraint and consideration consid-eration of the American officers and soldiers, sol-diers, both on the border and in Mexico. Taking up the war with Germany, Secretary Sec-retary I laker describes a fine spirit of service shown by tiie American people, "without distinction of age, sex or occupation." occu-pation." "Those who believed," he adds, "that the obvious and daily exhibition of power which takes place in an autocracy is necesary for national strength, discovered that a finer and freer and preater national na-tional strength subsists in a free people, and that the salient processes of democracy, democ-racy, with their normal accent on the freedom of individuals, nevertheless afford af-ford springs of collective action and inspiration in-spiration for self-sacrifice as wide and effective as they are spontaneous." Mr. Baiter then turns to the method by which the army was placed on a war fooling. Jle shows that under its full authorized au-thorized strength the regular army includes in-cludes 8.01)0 officers arid 470.000 men, and the war strength contemplated by the national defense act for the national guard was j::,ooo officers and 4K6.000 men. With the million additional troops of the selective se-lective draft army added, t hese figures furnish ",000,000 men, upon which all original orig-inal war estimates were based. The secretary describes the drafting of the national guard, which, he says, responded re-sponded "with zeal and enthusiasm" to t he call. J le describes also the expansion expan-sion of tiie regular army and reviews the-reasons the-reasons which prompted the government to go to selective conscription for the remainder re-mainder of its forces. The report then touches briefly upon the officers' training camps, the construction tered and solved through the eo-opera-Llou of the civilian agencies created by the council of'national defense, and goes into some detail with various phases of the cantonment question to show tiie enormous size of the task. The building of national guard division cajnps is similarly simi-larly cited, and Mr. Rake discusses at some length the work of tho training camps' activities commission, organized" to create wholesome surroundings for the troops. Aviation Programme. The a via tion programme is touched upon briefly and no additional information informa-tion is given. The engineer department and the part it played In rushing technical techni-cal aid to the allies Is outlined, and Secretary Sec-retary Raker renews his recommendation for a more adequate engineer school, ' with a suggestion that congress plan for both engineer and ordnance education in a broad and generous spirit in order to create scientific agencies s of value In peace or war and where graduates of West Point would specialize. The suggestion sug-gestion is presented for future consideration, considera-tion, rather than immediate action, and ho detailed plan is offered. Taking up the quartermaster problem with the outbreak of the wan Mr. Baker cites a few items of what it was found necessary to supply. They Include: Twenty million pairs of shoes, 17,00n,O00 blankets. "3.000,000 yards of flannel shirting, shirt-ing, 50.uoo.000 yards of tenting. The work is being done through the co-operation of civilian agencies, the secretary said, and adds: "The problems of supply are not yet solved,, but they are In the course of solution. solu-tion. Sound beginnings have been made and, as the military effort of the country-grows, country-grows, the arrangements perfected and organ izai ion created will expand to meet it." |