the prompt filling of requisitions, and those employees there are very helpful. I mean to say that the plant is very helpful in making the prompt filling of requisitions possible.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any standard color of khaki?

Gen. SHARPE. There was a standard color, and a very slight deviation from it was authorized until the present war, but with that war our source of synthetic dyes was cut off. We have been getting synthetic dyes from Germany. As I understand the matter, we can produce the same synthetic dyes in this country that they do over in Germany, but the cost of production here is so great that they do not use synthetic dyes in the manufacture of the cloth, but they use dyes or produce dyes that they call fugitive dyes. There must be a variation in them. That is, we must allow, starting from the center with the color that we want, four variations of color in order to get delivery under the contracts. That accounts for the appearance of the different shades in the garments.

The CHAIRMAN. In looking at the uniforms every one seems to have a different shade.

Gen. SHARPE. That is more particularly so in the case of cotton than in the case of wool. There is a slight variation in wool, but after a cotton garment is taken to the laundry the fugitive dye becomes very much more evident after laundering than before. It may ap parently be a pretty fair match when we put the clothing out, but when it comes from the laundry it changes its color very decidedly. The CHAIRMAN. There was a standard uniform color? Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir; that came from Germany. The CHAIRMAN. But modifications had to be allowed?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir; or we would not have gotten the cloth out. At one time we had deliveries being made of cloth by the American Woolen Co. and one hundred and twenty odd thousand yards of cloth was held up. That was during the Mexican trouble. One hundred and twenty thousand yards of cloth was held up as not being up to specifications, and at that time the war had already decreased the amount which we were getting abroad. Of course before we got into it we felt the effect of it. The matter was then presented to the Chief of Staff, and it was shown to him, or the plain fact was, that we could not get the cloth at all. They have improved those dyes that we now make in this country, but they are not anything like the dyes we used to import. They are not as fixed.

Mr. SHERLEY. Is the shortage that you have in personal equipment, or that you will have in personal equipment, for the men who have to go in training in September due to an inability to get the basic material necessary to make this equipment, or is it due to inability to get sufficient manufacturers to manufacture the material into equipment, or to what cause is the deficiency due?

Gen. SHARPE. It is due largely to the enormous quantities which are needed in a short time.

Mr. SHERLEY. That does not answer anything; that simply states an apparent fact; but was the demand greater than the possible supply of raw materials, or was it due to shortage in the manufacture of raw materials, or was it due to both of those reasons? The reason for my question in particular is this, to ascertain whether all of the ability of the country to make the particular things that are needed has been called upon or whether it has not.

Gen. SHARPE. It has been fully called upon. You take the tentage duck itself. We are requiring 19,000,000 yards to equip the Army with the initial tentage, and I think that 36,000,000 yards of that same duck are required for a year. There were not looms adapted to manufacture all of that in the country or to produce it. The raw material that is, the cotton-was here, of course, but the looms to produce that particular cloth were not here, and the council had to adapt those looms that were used for carpet-weaving purposes to manufacture this duck. They utilized the carpet-weaving firms and the tire manufacturers.

Mr. SHERLEY. That applies to tentage, and it is not tentage right now that I particularly want to inquire about. I am very much interested in your statement that on the 1st of September you are not going to have clothing for more than 150,000 of the men who are to be drafted, and I want to know whether all of the facilities of the country have been availed of in order to get the clothing?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir; they have.

Mr. SHERLEY. Now, when was it ascertained that you were not going to be able to get the clothing for equipping more than that number of men?

Gen. SHARPE. Mr. Sherley, that report was made to the Secretary about 10 days or 2 weeks ago.

Mr. SHERLEY. Was any recommendation made or any consideration given to the question of whether it might not be desirable to furnish other clothing, or to have the drafted man himself to furnish the clothing that might be used by him in the early months of his training until the full equipment could be furnished?

Gen. SHARPE. We could not substitute any other clothing at that time. It would have been too late to get it. In the meeting the other day, some time before that, when the question of issuing substitute articles was considered, it was thought desirable that we should continue until later to see what could be done eventually.

Mr. SHERLEY. Has any conclusion been arrived at, that you know of, touching what is to be done relative to the equipment of these additional men, so as to avoid delay in their training?

Gen. SHARPE. That matter was referred to the equipment board of the General Staff at the War College, and I do not know about the thing, except that we were informed we were to equip these 150,000 men in Septemer, and the balance at the dates that I have referred to.

Mr. SHERLEY. You have no official knowledge of what conclusion, if any, has been reached as to whether other means will be used in equipping the men or whether they will simply be delayed in going to these cantonments.

Gen. SHARPE. I think that was in that report, but I do not recall having seen the report when it came back from the General Staff; I do not know whether it has reached the office yet.

Mr. SHERLEY. The General Staff has functioned on that proposition?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes; they have an equipment board.

Mr. SHERLEY. And they have actually considered this concrete case that is now presented?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHERLEY. When was it apparent to you that it was going to be impossible to furnish anything like the personal equipment necessary for the drafted Army in September?

Gen. SHARPE. It must have been a week or 10 days before we made this report. The reason of that is largely due to the very great number of troops that we have equipped over and above the number we were told we would be called upon to equip by the 1st of September. We have equipped. I do not know how many thousands of men in addition to those numbers that we started out to equip by the 1st of September; we equipped nine regiments of Infantry, I think, six or eight base hospitals, and we have equipped and sold supplies which we were ordered to sell, to over 4,000 medical officers, and then we have equipped 40,000 men in these different camps, these men undergoing instructions, none of which was in our original plan when it first came up and all of which changed our ability to meet the requirements by the 1st of September.

Mr. SHERLEY. Even if you make an allowance for all of that, and add to it your several hundred thousand, you would be short of the equipment that would be necessary, assuming that the six hundred and some odd thousand drafted men go into service in September? Gen. SHARPE. I did not say 700,000.

Mr. SHERLEY. I said several hundred thousand.

Gen. SHARPE. When you come to examine these figures you will see that we have done wonderfully well in getting the number of people―

Mr. SHERLEY (interposing). That is not what I am now speaking about.

Gen. SHARPE. I understand that you are not criticizing, but we want to put before you the fact that we have equipped an enormous number of people over and above what was in our estimate when we first started out to get this equipment by the 1st of September. Mr. SHERLEY. I do not know what your original plan was.

Gen. SHARPE. The plan was for the Regular Army, the National Guard, and 500.000 men by September.

NOTE.-Deficiency appropriation approved June 15, 1917, based on Regular Army, 242.954 men; National Guard, 329,954 men; Volunteers, 500.000 men; a total of 1,072,908.

Mr. SHERLEY. But even if you figured on this extra equipment. which would be something short of 100,000

Gen. SHARPE (interposing). It is a great deal more than that, sir. Mr. SHERLEY. Well, you have only enumerated about 40,000 of the officers

Gen. SHARPE (interposing). And nine regiments. There were 14,000 or 15,000 in those regiments.

Mr. SHERLEY. That would make 55,000.

Gen. SHARPE. And I think there are 120,000 that we have taken in over and above what we were told to.

Mr. SHERLEY. Even if you figured 120,000, that would still make you considerably short of the total that it was figured on by the 1st of September, because you are only now going to be able to supply 150,000 men.

Gen. SHARPE. That is true, sir, but orders were placed which made the deliveries of these people come at a later period than was anticipated when we first started out.

Mr. SHERLEY. That is just what we want to get at.
The CHAIRMAN. When were your contracts made?
Gen. SHARPE. They have been made at different times.

The CHAIRMAN. During what period? They were made before the appropriation was made, were they not, or at least most of them? Gen. SHARPE. Commencing in May, I think, the early part of May. The CHAIRMAN. And running over what period?

Gen. SHARPE. Well, they are running on now.

Mr. GILLETT. When was your last contract made?

Gen. SHARPE. I can not give that data offhand, but the supply committee of the Council of National Defense can give all of that data. Of course, we have it in our office.

The CHAIRMAN. What we would like to have is this: We would like to have information as to when the contracts were made for the clothing and equipage for which appropriations have been madefor the first million men, and the times fixed in those contracts for delivery. Now, as soon as those contracts were made it was known just what equipment you would have by the 1st of September if the deliveries were made in accordance with the contracts.

Gen. SHARPE. The point of placing the contracts, of course, you understand

1. Authority for the purchase of supplies for the initial equipment required by the first 500,000 men was given on March 27, 1917, for immediate delivery. 2. Authority for the purchase of supplies for the initial equipment of the second 500,000 men was given under date of April 3, 1917, deliveries to be completed by December 1.

3. Authority for the purchase of supplies for the upkeep for 1,000,000 men for the second and third quarters was given on May 19, and for the fourth quarter on June 28, deliveries to begin and be completed as soon as possible.

4. In this connection it should be stated that special organizations such as reserve engineers, base hospitals, and training camps have had to be supplied in the meantime, which has upset stock estimated to be available on September 1.

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). I am not criticizing.

Gen. SHARPE. I understand you are not criticizing; I understand you are asking for information. However, that was fixed by the council and undoubtedly their effort to prevent rises in market prices had something to do with the rates of delivery under the contracts.

The CHAIRMAN. These prices average from 50 to 100 per cent in excess of what was believed to be the market price when the estimate was prepared.

Gen. SHARPE. We took the price which we had paid-

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). The fact of the matter is that some of these contracts were made before the estimates were prepared? Gen. SHARPE. No; I think not.

The CHAIRMAN. The estimates were made in April, were they not? Capt. DALY. Yes; but none of them were made, as far as I know, before the estimates were prepared. At any rate, the figures on which our estimate was based were figures taken from contracts we had made.

Gen. SHARPE. Some contracts were made in March under the appropriation giving us $28,000,000; some contracts were made then. The CHAIRMAN. That was long before the appropriation was made?

Gen. SHARPE. This opening was on March 5.

Capt. DALY. The Council of National Defense did not have anything to do with that.

Gen. SHARPE. No; they did not have anything to do with that at all. Then we made contracts some time in April for an additional

500.000 men.

The CHAIRMAN. You stated that you were notified to be ready to equip the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the 500,000 drafted men by the 1st of September?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Did that include the Regular Army and the National Guard at their present contemplated strength?

Gen. SHARPE. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. At what strength?

Gen. SHARPE. It included

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). Has the number of men in the Regular Army and the National Guard been increased beyond the number it was estimated would be in it?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. To what extent?

Capt. DALY. I think aproximately 250,000 in the Regular Army and 330.000 in the National Guard; those were the original figures. The CHAIRMAN. That would be 550,000?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And how many are you providing for?
Capt. DALY. Are you speaking about the strength now?
The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Capt. DALY. 470,185, Regular Army; 456,800, National Guard; and 656,360, National Army.

The CHAIRMAN. That would make about 533,000 more men than were originally estimated for?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes. Then there are 120.000 which we equipped for these technical units over and above

The CHAIRMAN (interposing). That makes about 653,000 additional men?

Gen. SHARPE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How is the money you are now asking to be expended?

Capt. DALY. For the purchase of cloth, woolens, and materials required for the manufacture of clothing, and for the purchase and manufacture of clothing for issue and for sale at cost price, $152,108,865.50.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the department buy all the material and then issue it to the manufacturers?

Capt. DALY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. So that in making contracts for clothing the contracts really cover the manufacturing cost?

Capt. DALY. Yes: the manufacture of the clothing; we first buy the material; we make a contract for the material and then make contracts for the manufacture of the clothing and deliver the necessary material to the contractors for the manufacture of the clothing. The CHAIRMAN. So that the cost of the material is wholly within the Government's control?

Capt. DALY. Yes, sir.