570 :a 1144 >py l MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY BULLETIN OF THE SPEAKER'S BUREAU • C8M44 D. of D. AUG 16 t^ 7 MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY BULLETIN OF THE SPEAKER'S BUREAU. The following information may be of value to our Speakers. Our National Unpreparedness. We have guns on the Atlantic Seaboard which would, if they had the proper gun carriages, out- range any guns carried by the war vessels of any nation. As a matter of fact they are mounted on an old style of gun carriage which will not allow proper elevation of the guns so that they will secure their full range, consequently we should be out- ranged by enemy war vessels from 4,000 to 6,000 yards. The remodelling of these gun carriages is going on very slowly, so slowly that, if the rate is not accelerated, the guns might well be obsolete before the carriages are remodelled. There is not a single piece of modern heavy field artillery made or even designed. There is not a fighting aeroplane of the fastest type, — in fact this country has only recently succeeded in copying a foreign aeroplane motor, such as would be suit- able for the swiftest war-planes. We fall far short of sufficient "school aeroplanes" for instructive purposes. In France they lose about 25 aeroplanes per day in the instruction camps alone. Our wire- less apparatus is so incomplete that at the time of the trouble on the Mexican Border we had to take equipment from the Panama Canal to supply the deficiency. Our regular troops, few as they are, are underhorsed, undermanned, and undergunned. The British allotment of machine guns is 72 to each 2,000 men; our allotment is 6, and of our guns the only ones not practically obsolete are 240 Lewis machine guns loaned us by the British Government out of the contract being filled for it by American manufacturers. Our Government has not yet de- cided what type of heavy machine gun it would use, to say nothing of placing an order for its manu- facture. How serious this latter statement is may be judged by reading the accounts of field operations in France, where the absolute necessity for field artillery is very evident. With our present artillery equipment our army could not stand for a moment against the heavy artillery that could be landed on our shores and brought into use against us. It is true that we are making vast quantities of munitions for the Allies, and these munition manufacturers could give us great supplies of shells, but we haven't the guns to shoot them. There are very few plants in the United States equipped to make heavy ordnance, and, if they were equipped, gun making is a slow process. Experience in the present war has taught that the minimum requirement is two rifles per man per year. For our present authorized Land Forces (500,000 Regulars and National Guard and 500,000 Volunteers — a total that must be greatly increased) we have .65 of a rifle per man, and to bring this up to the aforesaid minimum requirement would take our Government arsenals 4^ years. We have no hospital cars, and our ordinary coaches are so constructed that a wounded man on a stretcher cannot be put into a car without uncoupling the train, or using the rear door of the end coach. If our whole fleet put to sea to-night, all our ammunition for 14-inch guns would be afloat. There is no reserve supply and it takes months to make 14-inch shells. Our range finders are made abroad and can no longer be obtained. We are so short of them that the one in use at Harvard University for the in- struction of young men training to become officers has been removed to be installed in Boston Harbor. Equally unprepared are we in another way, essential in successful prosecution of war — we do not know how to economize, as a nation or as in- dividuals. It is well to lay stress on food produc- tion, and the work being done on that line will be of value though handicapped by the shortage of labor; but it is equally important to instruct in the economical use of food supplies. A man, once the contractor for the garbage disposal of a large town, a suburb of Boston, states that enough food is wasted in that community to feed a population nearly a half again as large. The waste in hotels and restaurants is notorious, but the waste in private families is often nearly as great. Here is one way in which our women may help in this war. How Our Allies have Prepared. Few of us realize what has been done abroad. There are 40 million men under arms in the bel- ligerent countries, exclusive of 5 million in hospitals, 6 million held prisoner, and an untold number in- capacitated for further service — and there are 5 million dead. England has found that it costs $1,250 to turn a recruit into a soldier fit for the first-line trench. Between Bar-le-Duc and Verdun, over 50,000 motor cars and trucks are in continuous operation. Eng- land, when the war began, had only 480 field guns of 3-inch or greater calibre; to-day, along the 120 miles of trench she holds, there is not a spot on which she cannot bring to bear 480 field guns of 3-inch or greater calibre. On one occasion, when the French suspected that the Germans were bringing up a liquid fire outfit at Verdun, they dropped 43,000 shells in a space a quarter of a mile square. The Germans in four hours have hurled 10,000 tons of projectiles. Behind the front at the Somme is a supply depot. Packed closely are cannon, shells, barbed wire, sheet metal, timber, food, and forage,— only narrow lanes divide this material so that it is readily accessible — and the depot is 36 miles long and 10 miles wide. What the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety is doing to aid Preparedness. The Committee of One Hundred was appointed by the Governor, who, on the 10th of February, sent through his Secretary a letter to one hundred citi- zens of the Commonwealth asking them to serve on such a committee, "in order that Massachusetts may be ready in the event of any National emergency, to co-operate with the Federal and State officials to the full extent of her resources." Our first effort has been to build a piece of ma- chinery which may be of service in preparedness work and to urge the construction of a similar piece of machinery in every community in the State. The bulletins (dated April 10th) already sent you, explain the scope of work of such sub-committees of Local Public Safety committees as we recommend be formed, and, of course, indicate the work being done by our own corresponding sub-committees. The work of our other sub-committees is as fol- lows: Committee on Industrial Survey. A committee designed to assist the Federal Gov- ernment and to supplement the work of its National Council of Defense in making a survey of all the factories of the State with a view of determining what they could best be used for in case of war. This Committee has persuaded the Federal Gov- ernment to release the blueprints and specifications for shells, so that American manufacturers can ex- amine them and determine what machinery they should provide if they were called suddenly to man- ufacture them. In England and Scotland there are now being turned out every 48 hours more munitions than those countries manufactured during the whole first year of the war. We know little in this country of the preciseness necessary for the proper manufacture of munitions. Here is one illustration: the time fuse of a 75 millimeter shell must be so accurate that at a distance of 3 to 5 miles it will explode a shell within 42 feet of the mark. That is the requirement imposed by the French military authorities. And so well have the women fuse-makers of France done their work that the average test shows an explosion within nine feet of the mark. Committee on Military Equipment and Supply. This Committee is informing itself where neces- sary equipment and supplies for Massachusetts troops may be quickly purchased in case the Federal or State Governments fail to act quickly enough. It already has located and has purchased most of the equipment that will be needed by the Home Guard. There is no longer reason to fear that Massachusetts will be slow in properly equipping her soldiers — the one-million-dollar appropriation by our Legislature has assured us of that. This money may be used by the Governor, with the approval of the Council, for any emergency pur- pose; but our Committee can be very useful in co-operating with the State military officials in securing supplies. So far as the Federal Govern- ment is concerned it has already been shown that there will be delay in getting needed supplies from that quarter. Committee on Mobilization and Concentration Camps. This Committee has investigated and found suitable location for camps where the National Guard or the Home Guard may be mobilized, and where aliens of a hostile government may be in- terned. Such camps must not be too near the coast, must be near railroads running east and west and north and south, and on ground suitably drained. Committee on Horses. One of the things impossible to obtain quickly in time of war are sufficient horses for military 10 purposes, and a census of the horses available has been made. Although no great number is avail- able in Massachusetts and most of the horses must come from the West, it is interesting to note that city horses, particularly horses of the type used on milk wagons, delivery wagons, etc., are the best. Horses from the country are more easily frightened and — even more serious — are more apt to suffer from disease when brought into the crowded conditions which result from mobilization. Committee on Transportation. The object of this Committee is apparent from its name. It must arrange for the quick transporta- tion not only of troops, but of supplies or materials of any sort. In a battle in France lasting four hours 10,000 tons of projectiles were used. This indicates the transportation problem this Com- mittee must deal with. The Committee is also co-operating in the work of guarding transportation lines, particularly points such as bridges, tunnels, etc., damage to which would seriously cripple service. Committee on Land Forces. This Committee is co-operating with similar com- mittees in all the other New England States, for New England constitutes a single military division, — the Fifth. As a division we lack several necessary 11 units — we have no regiment of engineers, no avia- tion corps, no transportation trains, and efforts are being made to supply the deficiency. This Com- mittee has handled the thousand or more inquiries that have been made relative to the officers' reserve corps. Committee on Naval Forces. This Committee is co-operating with similar committees in Maine and New Hampshire, the First Naval District, extending from Eastport to Chatham light. It has enrolled a large number of motor patrol boats and provided for manning them, and has successfully urged the construction of others by private citizens for the use of the Government. It has also provided for a naval aviation station and is arranging for the construc- tion of hangars for four aeroplanes at an expense of $50,000. At this station squads of thirty men can be trained for aviation, and there will be three instructors for the purpose. Committee on Hygiene, Medicine, and Sanitation. This Committee is acting with the Committee on Mobilization and Concentration Camps in the important matter of securing suitable sanitary conditions at places where camps will be established. It is also looking after the physical condition of the enlisted men and men willing to enlist. A large 12 percentage of rejections of men volunteering for military service is caused by defective teeth, and in many cases this difficulty may be removed by proper dental work. Many dentists in Massa- chusetts are giving an hour or two of their time each day for this service. Such, briefly sketched, is the work of the Public Safety Committee; such in not quite so broad a scope, perhaps, but of equal importance, should be the work of each local Public Safety Committee. Our work so far has been chiefly devoted to building up our organization and in stimulating similar action in every community, but some real work of ac- complishment has also been done; for example, through the efforts of our Committee requisitions for equipment for the National Guard aggregating $200,000 were honored at Washington. That was the last allotment made by the Militia Bureau before the War Department issued instructions that no further allotments were to be made, Congress having adjourned without making the necessary appropriations. Even then we lacked about $750,000 worth of equipment. We were determined to get it, and finally the War Department agreed to issue it if Massachusetts would agree to pay for it if the Federal Government did not. The agree- ment was made and as a result the full war strength of the Massachusetts National Guard will be completely equipped weeks before the Guard of any other State in the Union. 13 On their first night on duty the soldiers of the 9th Regiment guarding railroad bridges near Boston and at the Watertown Arsenal were forced to sleep on the ground. The next day the attention of the Committee being called to the matter, wooden floors were provided for the tents and in some instances the men were provided with election booths loaned by the City of Boston. A day or two later a snowstorm, unusually severe for April, caught the soldiers unprepared with rubbers and they were immediately supplied by our Committee. Small things, perhaps, but essential for the comfort of our soldiers, who should, at least, be spared un- necessary hardships. What Youe Local Committee on Public Safety can Do. Follow the suggestions in our bulletins as far as you deem them adaptable to your community. Consult freely with any of our organization and have the chairmen of your sub-committees confer with the chairmen of our corresponding sub-com- mittees. And finally impress upon the people of your community the need of thorough preparedness. We may not always have the Allied fleets to protect us. Even though we enjoy that protection our responsibilities are enormous. Canada has sent 425,000 volunteers. Were we to contribute in the same proportion we would require five million men. 14 Our men must be trained thoroughly. The Allies no longer send to the front men who are merely good riflemen. They must either be expert hand-grenade throwers or expert machine-gun operators as well. For every man at the front there must be ten men behind the line working for success. And to all of us not more actively engaged is given the opportunity of practising those principles of economy, of forti- tude, of willingness to serve, that alone can bring — or justify — our victory. April 16, 1917. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 933 457 4 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 020 933 457 4