Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/151

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UNITED STATES
123
UNITED STATES

ried over in United States naval convoys, escorted by American cruisers and detroyers. Not one eastbound American transport was torpedoed or damaged by enemy submarines, and only three were sunk on the return voyage. In 10 months, the transportation service grew from 10 ships to a fleet of 321 cargo carrying vessels, with a dead-weight tonnage of 2,800,000.

A mine barrage had been laid in the North Sea for which 85,000 mines had been shipped abroad. The work of the destroyers in curbing the submarine menace was declared by the Secretary to have been without a precedent in Allied warfare and had received the most enthusiastic commendation of the Allied naval authorities. The work of the marines in the fighting at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and many other battle fields has already been described in the foregoing pages.

Statistics of the main accomplishments of America in the two years between April 6, 1917, when war was declared, and April 6, 1919, are here subjoined:

April 6, 1917:
 Regular Army 127,588
 National Guard in Federal Service 80,466
 Reserve Corps in service 4,000
  Total of soldiers 212,034
 Personnel of Navy 65,777
 Marine Corps 15,627
  Total armed forces 293,438
Nov. 11, 1918:
 Army 3,764,000
 Navy 497,030
 Marine Corps 78,017
  Total armed forces 4,339,047




Soldiers transported overseas 2,053,347
American troops in action, Nov. 11, 1918 1,338,169
Soldiers in camps in the United States, Nov. 11, 1918 1,700,000
Casualties, Army and Marine Corps, A. E. F. 282,311
Death rate per thousand, A. E. F. .057
German prisoners taken 44,000
Americans decorated by British, French, Belgian,
 and Italian Armies, about 10,000
Number of men registered and classified under
 selective service law 23,700,000
Gas masks, extra canisters and horse masks 8,500,000
NAVY AND MERCHANT SHIPPING
Warships at beginning of war 197
Warships at end of war 2,003
Small boats built 800
Submarine chasers built 355
Merchant ships armed 2,500
Naval bases in European waters and the Azores 54
Shipbuilding yards (merchant marine)
 increased from 61 to more than 200.
Cost of 32 National Army cantonments and
 National Guard camps $179,629,497
Students enrolled in 500 S. A. T. C. camps 170,000
Officers commissioned from training camps
 (exclusive of universities, etc.) 80,000
Women engaged in Government war industries 2,000,000
BEHIND THE BATTLE LINES
Railway locomotives sent to France 967
Freight cars sent to France 13,174
Locomotives of foreign origin operated by A. E. F. 350
Cars of foreign origin operated by A. E. F. 973
Miles of standard gauge track laid in France 843
Warehouses, approximate area in square feet 23,000,000
Motor vehicles shipped to France 110,000
ARMS AND AMMUNITION
Persons employed in about 8,000 ordnance plants in the
 United States at signing of armistice 4,000,000
Shoulder rifles made during war 2,500,000
Rounds of small arms ammunition 2,879,148,000
Machine guns and automatic rifles 181,662
High explosive shells 4,250,000
Gas shells 500,000
Shrapnel 7,250,000
Shipbuilding ways increased from 235
 to more than 1,000.
Ships delivered to Shipping Board by end of 1918 592
Deadweight tonnage of ships delivered 3,423,495
FINANCES OF THE WAR
Total cost, approximately $24,620,000,000
Credits to 11 nations 8,841,657,000
Raised by taxation in 1918 3,694,000,000
Raised by Liberty Loans 14,000,000,000
War Savings Stamps to November, 1918 834,253,000
War relief gifts, estimated 4,000,000,000

Political Happenings During and After the World War. Congress passed, in 1915, another immigration bill with a literacy test. This was vetoed by the President. The Supreme Court, in June, 1915, decided against the Government in the dissolution suit against the steel trust and declared that the “grandfather clauses” of the Oklahoma and Maryland constitutions were void. The United States in September, 1915, undertook the supervision of the revenues of Haiti. A conference was called in October of that year of South American diplomats to consider the Mexican question. It was decided that Carranza should be recognized, and, on October 19, President Wilson recognized Carranza as heading the de facto Government of Mexico. In February, 1916, as a result of the failure to agree with the President's policy on national defense, Lindley M. Garrison, Secretary of War, resigned, and was succeeded by Newton D. Baker of Ohio. In January, 1915, Francisco Villa, the most powerful of the Mexican revolutionary leaders, killed several American miners and on March 9, with 500 followers, invaded the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing seven troopers and