Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 188, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1917 — OUR WORK IN WAR SETS NEW RECORD [ARTICLE]

OUR WORK IN WAR SETS NEW RECORD

Army and Navy Journal Asserts That It Has No Parallel in Military History. ALL CRITICISM IS SILENCED Service Paper Points Out That No “Political General" Has Appeared to Hinder Operations—Praise . for Defense Council. New York.—That the achievements of the army and navy of the United States in the first three months of the war “have worked forward with a smoothness and an absence of scandal that have no parallel in our history of warfare,” is the editorial statement made by the Army and Navy Journal in a review of the part this country is playing in the great struggle. “In material accomplishments we have set up,” the Journal says, “a redord before the world of which we may well be proud. The great outstanding facts of these three months of war is that our military and naval operations have been conducted solely by army and navy officers, with never a ‘political general’ showing his head above the horizon. Between the people and the work of the navy there has been drawn, of military necessity, a screen of stecrecy more effective than anything we have ever known before, and which redounds to the highest credit of the press of the country. When that screen has been lifted now and again we have seen our," fleets of destroyers operating In British and French waters ; we have learned of another fleet being In the South Atlantic on patrol duty; we have learned of hundreds of merchantmen, armed and manned by navy guns and gunners, fighting U~ boats and losing their lives in that arduous duty; and finally, we have learned of the navy’s superb achievements In convoying to France the greatest body of troops we ever sent to foreign soil in one expedition, without the loss of a man. Great Growth of the Navy. “Our navy’s personnel has almost doubled in that time, so that now we have over 129,000 men in the navy, while In the Marine corps we have 29,361, as against the 13,266 on April 6, the day the state of war was declared. The auxiliary patrol fleet manned by the Fleet Naval reserve is gradually assuming the form of a really effective body of young men who are learning navy traditions more rapidly than would have been thought possible six months ago. In addition to its herculean task of training the great “influx of recruits to the regular service, the officers of the navy have taken on their shoulders the added burden of training thousands of young men to be officers and crews of the great fleet of merchantmen that the government is building as a part of the allies’ strategical plan to conquer the U-boats. “Even greater than this has been the army’s achievement owing to the signal change that has come to the nation’s. policy regarding a large army since the entry of the United States into the W. For on the army has devolved the task of the regulars up to tlio war strength set by the national defense act and putting that army On a war footing, while it has also had to face and carry through the many problems presented by training the National Guard for duty overseas, preparing the plans for the first selective draft registration and seei ing they were carried out, the plans for the working of the draft Itself and for housing, provisioning and equipping the 500,000 men that are to be in cantonments some time after the first of September. Coincident with this the army has had to perform the hitherto unheard-of task of conducting sixteen training schools for the making of officers and of three camps for the training of officers of the medical relief corps. Under-officered as every corps is in the service they have had not only to struggle along with the routine of the service but also to handle the problems of this enormous expansion of the regulars, the National Guard and the national army that Is In the making. And with all this, the,anny has sent to France General Perahing and his staff. General Sibert and his expeditionary force; has taken over com-

pletely the conduct of six of the British base hospitals; has sent army surgeons up to the firing line; has landed Its first unit of woodsmen in England fully equipped with sawmills and other topis, and has at least one unit of aviators on British soil. And nowhere at home has the routine of army life been allowed to drop below Its accustomed efficiency, although the army has had to handle the additional task since May 1 of creating two new departments and providing them with headquarters staffs. Praise for Defense Council. “Criticism and fault-finding have entered, like rumor *palnted wljfi a thousand tongues,’ but they have pretty well disappeared since. In common decency, these elements have had to acknowledge the army and navy officers have carried out their allotted tasks efficiently and well. Europe has rung with praise of our men abroad, and our enemy,- by the tone of his abusive language. Is awakening to the fact that we are a foe to be reckoned with In the field instead of being merely a race of dollar-hunters. On the civil side of what has been done In these three months there Is another admirable tale of high achievement Through the council of national de-, sense and Its advisory commission the matter of the purchase' of supplies (fruitful source of scandals In the past) has been worked out In a manner hitherto unknown in the history of the wars of the United States. Through these bodies the railroads have been brought into a relation with the government more close and practical than most of us would ever have thought possible. War has brought about economies in railroad operation that were frankly declared impossible a year ago. Manufacturing plants have also been brought Into really effective cooperation with the government, and It would appear that the problem of supplying a great air armada is also to be brought about through this agency.”