Ogden Daily Standard | 1919-06-12 | Page 2 | Weak Points of U. S

WEAK POINTS OflLS. This Country Had Cap-Ij Cap-Ij able Men Bui Was Short On Munitions. WASHINGTON. Juno 11. The wat demonstrated the- nation can "organize, "orga-nize, train and transport troops of a superior sort at a rate which leaves far behind any program for the manu lacture of munitions." assistant Set re tars Crowell, director of munitions, declared de-clared in his introductory summary to the official history of "America's Munitions." Mu-nitions." The book, released today, is a volume vol-ume of 600 pages, the text of which goes most minutely into details of .lops taken by the war department to trganlze a systom to meel 'ho ever-ln-creasing demands of the- overseas forces for mechanical equipment and munitions. A critic has an easy opportunity to discover that certain things were not done. Secretary Crowell frankly says and the enumerates the outstanding failures 'American airplanes did not arrive at the front in (sufficient number. American guns in certain esential c.-ll- Ibers did not appear at all; American gas shells were not fired at the enemy, ene-my, American troops fought with French ami British machine guns to a large extent." Reviewing the historical facts which have been cited as explaining these unaccomplished hopes, Mr. Crowell pointed out again that 1920 had beeil definitely set by the allied govern I'tnents as the goal for which America should strive, that, "the decision to prepare heavily for 1919-1920 and to sacrifice for 1917-1918 the munitions which might have been produced at hc cost of less adequate preparaton for the more distant future was based on sound strategical reasoning on the part of the allies and ourselves." The official program for American co-operation, adopted by the supreme war council. Is stated to have coin-prised coin-prised four lines of endeavor, which, I in degree of importance, were, (1) io keep the allies from starvation by shipping fopd; (2j to maintain tho flow of material aready in production for them here; (3) to send as many men as could be transported by available avail-able shipping, and (4) to bend all energies en-ergies to the future great army which would deliver the final blow. Y hen l he enemy's spring offensive brought the cry for "men more men" Ihe report says the response was s thorough that in July, 191S, the number num-ber sent across was three times thai contemplated In the original staff estimates. esti-mates. Attention was called to the fact that while the army war college had on lile detailed plans for defending American Amer-ican harbors, coasts and borders there was no plan for "the equally iuij..r-lunt iuij..r-lunt and equally necessary mobili7.a-Uon mobili7.a-Uon of Industry." The years of l yi 7 and 1918, the volume says, will "forever "for-ever stand as the monument tc the American genius of workshop and factory fac-tory which iu this period insured the victory." The munitions report was prepared in compliance with a request Irom Sec retary Baker who declared that "as the whole people have been called upon to make sacrifices for the war, all the people should be Riven an opportunity op-portunity to know what ha.- been done in their behalf." Di I on