Editing George Washington Goethals (section)

===Quartermaster General of the United States Army===
[[Image:"The Ships are Coming" poster of World War I for United States Shipping Board - Emergency Fleet Corporation.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A [[World War I]] poster for the US Shipping Board, {{Circa|1917–18}}]]
[[File:I want you for U.S. Army 3b48465u original.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Uncle Sam]] pointing his finger at the viewer in order to recruit soldiers for the U.S. Army during World War I, 1917-1918]]
In April 1917 George W. Goethals was serving at President [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s request, as General Manager and Director of the [[United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation|Emergency Fleet Corporation]]— charged with creating improvised ships, to carry the American army and its supplies to France, in the shortest possible time.<ref name="Anne Cipriano Venzon 2013 p. 294">Anne Cipriano Venzon (2013). ''The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge. p. 294.</ref>
[[File:C01357-military rail transport Frizeville 1917.jpg|thumb|right|Transfer of ammunition from standard-gauge railway to trench railway during the [[Battle of Passchendaele]]]]

The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the [[Selective Service Act of 1917|Selective Service Act]] of May 1917, the U.S. drafted 4 million men into military service, the logistics demands were unprecedented.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sss.gov/induct.htm |title=Selective Service System: History and Records |publisher=Sss.gov |access-date=July 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507211238/http://www.sss.gov/induct.htm |archive-date=May 7, 2009 }}</ref> By the summer of 1918, about 2 million US soldiers had arrived in France and approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in Europe each day.<ref name="historyplace.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/firstworldwar/index-1918.html |title=World War I Timeline - 1918 - A Fateful Ending |publisher=The History Place |access-date=2016-11-06}}</ref>

Mainly as a result of [[Logistics in World War I|supply blunders]] during the bitter winter of 1917, a Congressional investigation was under way, when General Goethals was recalled to active service, and  was asked on December 19, 1917, to accept appointment as Acting Quartermaster General. Goethals did so only after [[Secretary of War]] [[Newton D. Baker]] had assured him full authority and that he would not be interfered with, nine days later he was appointed Director of the Storage & Traffic Service. Reaction to his appointment at home and overseas is illustrated by a message he is said to have received from former President Theodore Roosevelt: "I congratulate you, and thrice over I congratulate the country."<ref name="MAJOR ROY A. SHAW 1951">Major Roy A. Shaw (1951) "Two Acting Quartermasters General and their Assistant". ''The Quartermaster Review'' September–October 1951. Fort Lee, Virginia.</ref>

The Army's [[Military supply chain management|supply chain]] suffered from three main problems—a shortage of specialized personnel, decentralized organization and diverse uncoordinated functions. When the United States entered the war, the [[Quartermaster Corps (United States Army)|Quartermaster Corps]] had suffered a loss of personnel—most officers were sent to the front—this was the first problem demanding attention. Believing the Army's business could be best organized along civilian lines, he hired military men who could get along with industrialists and built with and around a number of highly trained executives and businessmen (among the new recruits were [[Hugh S. Johnson]] and [[Robert J. Thorne]]). Some of these men were commissioned and some were [[One-dollar salary|dollar-a-year-men]], most of whom never collected the dollar.<ref name="Anne Cipriano Venzon 2013 p. 294"/> From General Goethals down, practically everyone was on the job from early morning to late at night, seven days a week.<ref name="Anne Cipriano Venzon 2013 p. 294"/>

Goethals reorganized the corps along [[Line function|functional lines]] and by January 26, purchasing had been taken away from outside agencies, and placed under his control. The functions of each division and branch were specifically set forth and the personnel in charge was officially designated.<ref>Risch, Erna (1989). ''Quartermaster support of the Army: a history of the Corps, 1775-1939''. Washington, DC. Center of Military History, United States Army. p.631.</ref>

[[File:111-SC-29242 - NARA - 55217870 (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Major General George W. Goethals and members of his staff, December 7, 1918. Front row, left to right: Mr. [[Gerard Swope]], Major General George W. Goethals, Brigadier General [[Herbert Lord]], Brigadier General William H. Rose. Back row, left to right: Edwin W. Fullam, Brigadier General [[Frank T. Hines]], Brigadier General [[Robert E. Wood]], Colonel F. B. Wells.]]

The [[Departmental Reorganization Act|Overman Act]], a result of the Congressional investigations started in December 1917, authorized what became known as the "interbureau procurement system," and was to make the Quartermaster Corps the most important War Department purchasing agency. Goethals established a system of standardization of bureau record keeping and supply chain planning. He also worked on installing uniform procurement policies, with the goal of presenting consolidated estimates to congress.<ref>Risch, Erna (1989). ''Quartermaster support of the Army: a history of the Corps, 1775-1939''. Washington, DC. Center of Military History, United States Army. p.640.</ref>

In April 1918 a further reorganization of the General Staff led to the creation of the Purchase, Storage, & Traffic Division, with General Goethals as Director and [[Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army]]. Its creation was the result of protests by General Goethals, to the effect that, though coordination in the handling of [[Military logistics|Army logistics problems]] had been a major objective when the General Staff was created in 1903, coordination was practically nonexistent.<ref>Anne Cipriano Venzon (2013). ''The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge. p. 295.</ref> In the months to come, his division took control of purchasing and storage by the Army as a whole and of transportation over land and water. Now one person coordinated all supply bureaus, which had previously competed for the nation's resources, in a system that had inevitably slowed down input of war supplies.

At a meeting of quartermaster personnel in Washington, on August 8, 1918, Secretary of War Baker said:<ref name="MAJOR ROY A. SHAW 1951"/>

<blockquote>How fortunate this great army is to have so good and able a provider. Indeed, when the history of this war comes to be written, there will be chapters which have, up to now, almost escaped .... Today, I had a letter from General [[John J. Pershing]] in which he was commenting upon the perfection of supplies on the other side....</blockquote>

France and England were not the only overseas destinations for quartermaster supplies. Among others were Italy, Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, China, Russia, and Siberia. In a talk [[Leonard Wood|General Wood]] made at this meeting he mentioned that:

<blockquote>... to handle this task, there are now in the Quartermaster Corps over eight thousand officers, one hundred and fifty-five thousand enlisted men, and sixty-five thousand civilian employees, and that number is being increased all the time to keep pace with the wants of our constantly increasing Army.</blockquote>

In 1919, Goethals requested his release from active service.