NOTES ON THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17661, 13 December 1917, Page 4

NOTES ON THE WAR.

It was stated in a cable, message the other day that tlio United States now* had 1,360,0CX) men in the army in Franco and America, with another 140,000 marines and auxiliaries. Tho message is emphatic evidence of the manner in which the Americans have been getting to work, because the divisions in France or in training at home are only the beginnings of the army. “A shroud British friend of mine, who has lived here many years.” writes Lord Northcliffe in an article in the Philadelphia “Public Ledger,” “ remarked, the other day that it took a long time to get Uncle Sam into tho war, hut that it may take a much longer time to get him out. Already, after bareiy five months of preparation, the United States have close upon a million and a half soldiers undergoing intensive training for their task. The Regular Army was brought up to its full strength, 400,000, by voluntary enlistment. The National Guard, a State Miljtifi, was filled up by the same means until it numbered 000,000. Then came tho ballot for conscripts under the Conscription Act; this gave between 600,000 and 700,000 more. For the training and upkeep cf this force, and for the provision of all that it will require in tho field, sums of money have been voted which make one’s brain reel. For aeroplane construction £128,000,000 have been appropriated. Upon merchant ship building £227,000,000 are'to be spent. In all. the war expenditure of the United States already amounts to well over £1,600.000 a day, and loans to Allies account for another £2,400,000 every twenty-four hours. The war machine gathers momentum as it travels. Its ramifications ,vc bewildering. Scarcely a day passes without some fresh and startling proof of its force.”

Lord Northcliffe gives very impressivo and interesting facts concerning the American effort in the course of his articles. Ho describes, for example, the creation of a special training camp. “Lot me describe .one of these cities in the words of an English eye-witness, one of tho sixteen cities which will accommodate the first instalment (687,000 men) gathered by conscription,” he says. “ These cities are tangible proof of the efficiency of American methods of organisation applied to war-making. We asked and obtained permission to see one of tho most rapidly finished. It happened to bo two thousand miles from New York City. It did nob seem to concern those who extended tho very cordial invitation to us that tho journey was a long one. It is regarded here as wo in England look upon the journey from London to Newcastle, or London to Glasgow. We were particularly interested in tho construction, because it is the result of tho activities of a great firm not unknown in England, Stone and Webster, whoso ramifications extend not only throughout the United States but to most parts of tho world in the form of tho International Corporation.

“Early in. July there lay, three miles outside San Antonio, Texas, a strotch of ground covered with a difficult kind of scrub or bush. On July 6 there appeared an army of between 9000 and iO,OOO workmen of every known nationality, directed by young Americans of the Harvard and Yale type. Tho 10,000 arrived in every kind of conveyance, in mule-carts, farm waggons, horse cabs, motors and huge motorvans. At the end of tho day’s work, when the whistle had blown, the scene resembled that of some eccentric, elaborately staged kinomatograph film. Together with the army of 10,000 men camo many kinds of sets of automatic machinery. The hard concrete roads of the United States are now made by machinery with a thoroughness and permanence which should attract attention in Europe. In this new town outside San Antonio 12 miles of rail, 25 miles of road, 31 miles of water pipe, 30 miles of sewer were accomplished in 45 days.

“ The scale of wages is as surprising to Europeans as the energy expended. The average wage for all and sundry exceeded £5 a week, carpenters getting 26s daily. Nearly all material had to bo brought from what appear to us vast distances. As often as not the thermometer stood at lOOdeg., yet the daily photographs taken by the contractors sh.ow that progress was continuous until, on August 25, a considerable part of the city was ready for occupation. Tho strongly and comfortably built huts are all provided with heating arrangements for tho winter, and baths, hot and cold, are attached to each building. There are vast stores and offico blocks, several post offices, a huge bakery, laundry, stables for 1300 horses and mules, hospitals, schools; in all, between 1200 and 1300 buildings. And what lias been done in Texas was being done simultaneously in fifteen other parts of tho country. Although Long Island is so close to New York and is one of tho most fashionable country-house districts in tho United States, the site chosen for Yaphank, the great camp on Long Island, gave as much trouble as any other. A forest had to bo cut down and the roots blasted out of tho soil. Furthermore, tho work was hampered by mosquitoes to a degree that will be understood by those who have disturbed virgin soil in new places.”

The American method seems to have appealed very strongly to Lord Norfch-

cliffo. “They havo a prompt and unexpected way of doing things in this country which is pleasingly refreshing,” ho comments. “ One morning I rend that all saloons within five miles of Yaphank had been closed. Nothing more was said about it. No discussion preceded the matter. There were no abstruse calculations as to compensation. The United States is at war; saloons arc not good for war, closo them. That’s all there was to it. They.are a good-natured but a drastic people. One of their groat war accomplishments is tho stamping out of sedition. When I first arrived hero it was common to see knots of rather bored-looking people at street corners round a wildly gesticulating man standing on what I believe is known as a 1 soap box.' I noticed the number of these orators grew. I stopped ono evening to listen to one of them in the negro quarter; he was talking a lot of excitable rubbish. In one part of his discourse ho evinced unexpected sympathy for tho down-trodden Irish farmer, who is notably, by the way, among tho most prosperous of farmers. The American giant paused ono day in his war preparations, issued some kind of police order, and there was an end to pacifism. Armed men in special motor-cars ended it.”