"The gas troops will, in the future, handle all short-range methods of firing gas, smoke, or high explosive. They will deliver the greatest quantities of material possible up to ranges of a mile and a half or a mile and three-quarters. So effective and so efficient are these short-range methods of projection that the No-Man's-Land of the future will be the width covered by these projectors and mortars. They can't, and never will, compete with the artillery, where range and great accuracy are the most important factors. The efficiency of artillery gas shell or artillery smoke or high explosive shell is only one-fifth that of the projector. Hence, for economy and efficiency, the artillery will be used to fire gas, smoke, high explosive, and incendiary materials only at ranges beyond those reached by the gas troops."
Again, showing how the American authorities were seized with the importance of the matter, we read:
Vast Expansion in Personnel.—"So greatly were these possibilities appreciated in the summer of 1918 that the number of gas troops authorised for use against the Germans was increased from six companies to fifty-four. Back of all this, however, was the productive capacity of the United States, which ensured that those troops would be able to fight day and night, summer, winter, and fall, until the war was over. No wonder the German quit—it was time, and he knew it."
And in conclusion General Fries tells us:
"The universal adoption of gas warfare on sea and land and in the air, combined with its persistent quality, will make that nation able to produce and use gas in the largest quantity superior in war to any other nation on the globe. The United States can reach that position and maintain it, and I believe that we are going to get such encouragement from the War Department that we can do it. I feel sure that the army appreciates the value of chemical warfare, and that it appreciates also the value of the chemists to chemical warfare.
"So long as there is any danger of other nations continuing these methods of warfare, research and experiment in chemical warfare must be pursued. Research must not only be directed towards the gases and apparatus, likely to be employed in the future, but also towards protection against all possible gases. Training in the use of gas will be confined to appropriate branches, but training in defensive measures will include the whole army.
"We must continue our studies of what is known as chemical warfare. No nation has renounced the use of poison gases as the result of the Peace Conference. There are nations whose word we could not respect if they did renounce it. It is essential to study the offensive side of chemical warfare if we are to be prepared for defence. The great importance of adequate defensive appliances arises from the fact that preparations for the offensive use of gas can be made in peace-time with great secrecy, and may have far-reaching and even fatal results in the early stages of a war.
" . . . For these reasons it is necessary to make adequate provision for research, experiment, and design in connection with war material. It is equally necessary to avoid overlap, duplication of effort, and the setting up of military institutions for scientific research which can better be done by existing civil institutions."
He also quotes from a statement from General Debeney, Director of the French College of Warfare:
"Should war begin now, aviation, and especially gas, would play one of the most important parts. The progress of aviation would make the rear of each front, and very far in rear, extremely dangerous, and the progress of chemistry would permit the use of gas on zones of such an extent as cannot be imagined.