FED AND CLOTHED MILLIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 214, 4 June 1919, Page 7

FED AND CLOTHED MILLIONS

A GREAT QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL

SIR JOHN COWANS RETIRES

■ One of the most brilliant chapters of tho war was closed recently when, with the consent of the Secretary of State, General Sir John S. Cowans, relinquished the post of Qunrtermaster-General to the Forces in order to.join, for the purpose of development, one of the group of companies connected with the production of oil (writes a correspondent of the London "Observer").

Sir John Cowuns was appointed Quni , . terniaster-General in 1912, whilst this scheme was being worked out. Though it may be true in one sense that wo wero very unprepared for war, this was not the ouly scheme that was practically ready fpr the supreme emorgency, 4.U the "Old Contemptibles," that magnificent original army of a hundred and fifty thousand men, were secretly, silently, and ijwiftly transported to France under a scheme most carefully worked out in every detail beforehand, .and everyone will recall with what immense fiutisiai;tion the announcement was greeted of their safe arrival in Franco.

Tho Great Task. Thus Sir .Tohn'Cowans's great task began. The Government had wisely safeguarded Hie, Mowatt reserve—a reserve equipment laid down for the Expeditionary Force of 150,000 men, but tho diffi* culty that had to be overcome—and, like every other, was overcome with a success which was remarkable—was to land both troops nnd supplies almost simultaneously on,tho. coast of .France without iiny existing bases and without any repair shop arrangements. During tiie retreat from Mons practically the whole of the reserve disappeared, and had to lib built up again on a vastly 'extended scale.

The task of the Quartermaster-General at this time was to find food, equipment, and a resorye not only for the Expeditionary Force, but also for the armies that were being raised in Englaud, To add to the anxieties the base, as every, one knows, had to be transferred to the West Coast of France, which increased the length of line of communications and emphasised the difficulties of supply. Moreover, the volume of the new armies that were being raised was so great that, as Lord Kitchener himself said, the Wat Office organisation was likely to be carried away by the avalanche of the ro. enjils who wero responding to liis ap. peal to the nation.

The expansion of the armies made a perfectly amazing difference to the re. quiremente. Before the war the normal average production was, to mention but a few things taken haphazard, about 250,000 jackets, , 900,000 pairs of socks, 200,000 caps, and 250,000 pairs of hoots. In the first year of the war these figures wero so multiplied that the number of jackets provided became 11,000,000, of pairs of socks 50,000,000, of caps 11,000,000, and of pairs of boots 10,000,000. As tho years went on those figures grew morn enormous still, but tho expansion was now based on the soundest of schemes and was practically automatic. 85,000 Cooks. At no time wore the vast armies wo raised ever short of food, though in the early period of tho war difficulties were experienced in finding a sufficient number of trained men to cook it. To begla with there wus only the small nucleus of army cooks available who were in tho service- in tho days of peaoo. As speedily as possible a number of men woro trained under the chief inspectors of the Quartermaster-General's service at the army cookery schools at home and abroad, and from 19M to 1318 as many as 85,000 cooks wero provided. So rapid was the early growth of tho now armies Hint owing to inexperience the waste of foodstuffs became a serious problem. In .April. 11)15, the QtMi'lennasler-Gcneral appointed an inspector in each command, and the economics effected in consequence of the introduction of a sound system have saved tho country eomo millions. About the samo time the QuartormasterGonernl introduced a salvage department for the purpose of turning to a profitable use bones, grease, and other oddments. In l!)l(i .£400,000 was saved by this means, and in subsequent years this Bum has been doubled.