There have also been important changes in the Ordnance Department, it
being announced on April 8 that Brig. Gen. Charles B. Wheeler, who
recently succeeded Major Gen. William Crozier as head of the Ordnance
Department of the Army with the title of Acting Chief of Ordnance, had
been succeeded by Brig. Gen. C. C. Williams, Chief Ordnance Officer with
the American expeditionary force in France. General Williams was ordered
to return to Washington to take up the duties of Active Chief of
Ordnance.
A summary of the work of the Gun Division, Bureau of Ordnance, prepared
for the Secretary of War, shows that it has been necessary to equip
sixteen large plants for the manufacture of mobile artillery and that
the total program of the Gun Division calls for an expenditure of
approximately $2,000,000,000. At the outbreak of the war the Gun
Division was composed of three officers and seven civilians. At the end
of 1917 it had approximately 500 officers and 3,500 civilians, since
increased to 1,500 officers and more than 10,000 civilians. The Ordnance
Department has also established a comprehensive repair service for
artillery, motor vehicles, and other equipment.
With the creation of a Construction Division in the War Department on
March 16, to handle the largest single building program in history,
aggregating $1,084,000,000, a board of eminent experts appointed by
Acting Secretary Crowell took over the work of the Cantonment Division,
which did the preliminary work of building national army camps. The
building program, involving hundreds of thousands of workmen and
extensive structures for the army throughout the country, is under the
immediate direction of the Chief of Staff. Headed by Professor A. N.
Talbot of the University of Illinois, President of the American Society
of Civil Engineers, the board includes representatives of leading
architectural, engineering, business, and labor organizations.