Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-03-18 | Page 3 | Secretary Baker Begins his Work in Early Morning

SECRETARY BAKER . BEGINS HIS WORK IN EARLY MORNING ON BOARD SECRETARY BAKER'S SPECIAE TRAIN IN FRANCE. Friday, March l.v (By the Associated Press). Newton D. Baker, American secretary of war, today saw other parts of the' gigantic gi-gantic works begun by the Americans in France, which are keeping well in advance ad-vance of t lie requirements of the expanding ex-panding army. The secretary now has left the series of debarking ports and is examining the interior establishments, where reserves of every soi t are assembled as-sembled and from whi-h lines of supply radiate toward the striking forces at the front. One such depot is of diamond shape, six and a half miles long and two miles across at its greaetst breadth. Here is the third largest ice-making plant in the world, capable of supplying sufficient Ice daily to keep frozen eleven million pounds of meat in a storage warehouse ware-house a fifth of a mile long. The secretary continued during the intervals in-tervals of his inspection his long conversations conver-sations with Genera I Pershing upon the situation of the army in France, what it lias and what it will need. "Tho American military establishment." said Mr. Baker to twenty nr thirty Fre:vh miiii : ry officers w ho wf re prcscn 1 M to him on the tra in!ng field of a famous mi lit a ry school, irea I h- in debt to Frame for tier aid in making our military mili-tary preparations. Our ground of fit p;-? here are fnrt unaie in being able to have your instructions, and the 'government of the United States values it." 'lfhe secretary was speaking shortly after sunrise, while on three sides of the great quadrangle 700 American artillery officers or candidates for commissions were working with guns, large and small, studying out topographical problems in the open air. taking the velocity and direction di-rection of the wind from the flights of experimental balloons or learning the theory of gunnery from some of the most gifted specialists in France. Mr. Baker was greatly interested in even-thing relating re-lating to the instruction of the artllery-men.