Secretary of War Baker, in his annual report for 1916, called especial attention to this section of the act of June 30, which he understood was intended to remove the difficulties and misunderstandings growing out of the introduction of the General Staff system and the resulting transfer of authority and independence from a series of uncoördinated administrative offices into a harmonized and coördinated body, under the supervision and control of a single administrative officer. Embarrassing questions had often arisen as to how far the functions of the Chief of Staff invaded the administrative independence of the bureau chiefs. The scope and effect of Section 5 of the act of 1916 also seemed to be open to question, in that it might be interpreted to limit the Chief of Staff and his associates to the consideration of questions of military policy, and deprive them of that basis of knowledge necessary for the performance of any coördinating function. Such an interpretation according to Secretary Baker, would have involved practically a return to the old system of independent bureau organization. Such, in effect, was the interpretation placed upon this section by the Judge Advocate General. But the Secretary of War after a thorough examination of the various acts relating to the powers and duties of the General Staff Corps, came to the following conclusion: “... The structure of the General Staff created in 1903 remains as then created, except for explicit modifications provided in the act of 1916. . . . The Chief of the General Staff is charged with the supervision of the various departments, bureaus, and offices of the War Department for the purpose of coördinating their activities and for the purpose of so informing the judgment of the Secretary of War that he may not, by inadvertence or unfamiliarity with military practice, take action which would be prejudicial to harmonious results in the military service." "

Changes in Department Organization during the World War. In noting the rapid changes in administrative organization within the War Department, following the declaration of war with Germany on April 6, 1917, account will be taken only of those agencies which were denominated as "divisions" of the Secretary's Office

"War Department, Annual reports, 1916, I, 50 et seq. For the complete opinions of the Secretary of War and the Judge Advocate General, see Ibid., 70-80, 80-89.

or of the Office of the Chief of Staff, together with those services which were elevated to the status of separate subdivisions of the War Department, whose heads were directly responsible to the Secretary of War or the Chief of Staff. These divisions and offices were organized as administrative hierarchies, being subdivided into branches, sections, and subsections. The agencies set up by the Council of National Defense to act with the War Department in an advisory capacity will be noted in a later chapter dealing with separate war agencies.

Provost Marshal General; Aircraft Board; War Credits Board; War Council. The changes in the administrative organization of the War Department during the year 1917 were chiefly in the direction of the creation of new divisions within the existing bureaus and offices of the department. This was especially true of the Quartermaster Department." The Judge Advocate General was detailed on May 22, 1917, as Provost Marshal General, to have charge of the administration of the Selective Service Act." Although the Provost Marshal General's Office was organized in the Judge Advocate General's Department, it was in reality a distinct administrative service, with its head reporting directly to the Secretary of War. An Acting Judge Advocate General was appointed to take charge of that department during the war period. An act of October 1, 1917, provided for the creation of an Aircraft Board, consisting of civilians and army and navy officers, to supervise and direct the purchase, production, and manufacture of aircraft and materials therefor." A War Credits Board was created by the Secretary of War in November, 1917, for the administration of the provisions of Section 5 of the urgent deficiencies act of October 6, 1917, which authorized the Secretary of War, as

"For a brief survey of these changes, see Fairlie, War department organization, American Political Science Review, XII, 699 et seq. (November, 1918.) The Quartermaster General's Office on April 6, 1917, included five divisions, subdivided into twenty-five branches. The same office on June 15, 1918, was organized with fifteen divisions, including a total of seventy-five subdivisions and branches. Cf. War Department, Annual reports, 1918, 267 et seq. (Chart No. 2).

"War Department, Annual reports, 1917, I, 15, 215.

*40 Stat. L., 296. An Aircraft Production Board had previously been established on May 16, 1917, by the Council of National Defense, to act as an advisory body to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief Signal Officer of the Army. Cf. War Department, Annual reports, 1917, 39, 838.

well as the Secretary of the Navy, to advance payments to contractors for supplies out of appropriations therefor, and in amounts not exceeding 30 per cent of the contract price of such supplies." A War Council composed of the Secretary of War, the Assistant Secretary, the Chief of Staff, and the heads of a number of the staff departments was organized on December 20, 1917, by General Order No. 160, to oversee and coördinate all matters of supply of the field armies and the military relations between the armies in the field and the War Department."

Proposed Reorganization. The necessity for a reorganization of the War Department to meet the enormous increase of duties imposed upon it had become increasingly evident during the first year of the war. General March, Chief of Staff, stated the problem as follows, in his annual report for 1919: "Under the system of separate and independent bureaus, as organized when we entered the war, a condition of affairs eventually and inevitably developed which threatened the very success of any extensive military program. Each bureau, absorbed in the tremendous expansion of its personnel and in its problems of supply, naturally concentrated every effort upon the development of a program which would meet every possible requirement that might be imposed upon that particular bureau without reference, in general, to the requirements either of other bureaus or services, or of the army program as a whole. With this independent and uncorrelated action of the different bureaus the defects of the existing bureau system soon became manifest."

Among the defects enumerated by General March were the following: (1) Competition for manufactured articles, raw material, and labor among the bureaus of the department; (2) congestion in the placing of contracts and the location of new manufacturing plants; (3) lack of unity in the procurement. of supplies and the handling of accounts; (4) absence of any agency for determining questions of priority among the different bureaus for manufactured articles or raw materials; and (5) lack of an effective system of traffic control. To remedy these defects, according to General March, it was necessary to provide for: "(1) A redistribution of

40 Stat. L., 345, 383. Official Bulletin No. 231 (February 11, 1918), 4. "Official Bulletin No. 186 (December 17, 1917), 1.

existing functions of various bureaus in such a manner as to consolidate important similar or identical functions in the one agency best adapted to handle them; (2) the creation of certain new agencies to handle matter previously handled by existing bureaus but not logically a part of their function, and the creation of certain new services found to be necessary as the result of the developments and experiences of the army overseas; (3) the reorganization of the General Staff in such a manner as to enable it to perform its proper functions of an effective central controlling agency to coördinate and to control all existing War Department agencies and services so as to eliminate lost motion and to direct their activities in such a manner as to further to best advantage the development and the execution of the military program as a whole." "

Embarkation Service; Inland Traffic Service; Director of Purchases. The War Department had taken steps providing for a reorganization of this character, to the extent authorized by existing legislation, during the latter part of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. A large number of new divisions had been created in the staff departments and bureaus, and several new agencies had been organized in the office of the Chief of Staff. An Embarkation Service was erected in the latter office by General Order No. 102, August 4, 1917, to take charge of embarkation matters for all supply bureaus of the War Department. This service was transferred by General Order No. 167, December 28, 1917, to the Storage and Traffic Service of the General Staff, created by that order. On January 10, 1918, a Division of Inland Transportation was organized, as a part of the Storage and Traffic Service. The title of this division was changed to the Inland Traffic Service by order of April 22, 1918." General Order No. 5, January 11, 1918, created in the Office of the Chief of Staff the Office of Director of Purchases, which was given general oversight of the acquisition by purchase or otherwise of all supplies and munitions required for the use of the army."

Construction Division; Tank Corps. The Cantonment Division, which was first organized on May 17, 1917, and given substantially the status of an independent organization, although subordinate

"War Department, Annual reports, 1919, I, 245-47.

"Ibid., 347-48, 394.

"Official Bulletin No. 219 (January 28, 1918), 2.

to the Quartermaster Corps as regards appropriations and personnel, was attached to the Operations Division of the Office of the Chief of Staff under date of February 12, 1918. The name of this division was changed to the Construction Division by order of the Secretary of War dated March 13, 1918. The Tank Service, first organized as a branch of the Engineer Department on February 18, 1918, was placed under the immediate direction of the Secretary of War on March 6, 1918, as a separate agency of the War Department, and designated as the Tank Corps."

Reorganization of General Staff. The organization of the General Staff in such a manner as to enable it to perform its proper function as the coördinating agency of the various bureaus and offices in the War Department was contemplated in the issuance of General Order No. 14, February 9, 1918. This order provided for the organization of the General Staff into five main divisions, namely, Executive, War College, Purchase and Supply, Storage and Traffic, and Operations, each in charge of a Director, as assistant chief of staff. The Chief of Staff was charged with "the planning and development of the army program," and the order provided that the Chief of the Purchase and Supply Division should "have cognizance and supervision of the purchases and production of all munitions and other supplies," and should be charged with "the supervision and direction of all purchases, procurement and production activities of the several bureaus, corps, and other agencies of the War Department." By General Order No. 36, April 16, 1918, the Divisions of Purchase and Supply and of Storage and Traffic were consolidated into a Division of Purchase, Storage and Traffic."

Office of Chief of Field Artillery; Second and Third Assistant Secretaries. A separate office of the Chief of Field Artillery was created by War Department order of February 10, 1918. Prior to that date, the administration of this branch of the service had been performed by the General Staff, under the immediate supervision of the senior Field Artillery officer on the General Staff."

"War Department, Annual reports, 1918, 1393; 1919, 420.

"Ibid., 1919, I, 249, 347. For a full account of the organization of these divisions under the order of February 9, and subsequent orders, see Ibid., 255-443. See, also, Official Bulletin No. 231 (February 11, 1918), 6; No. 233 (February 13, 1918), 3.

"War Department, Annual report, 1919, I, Pt. 4, 5066-67.