The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-10
UNCLE SANS SOLDIERS.
Machinery by Which the Army Would Be Handled in War
Time.

1t is related of Won Molke that when
awakened in the dead of night with
the announcement that France had de-
clared war against Germany. he only
remarked: Look in my cabinet, file
A. drawer %; send off the kilograms
you find" Then he turned over and
went to sleep again. General Miles
would not find everything SO ready if
war came suddenly upon this country.
An army is like a snake; it has great
length Of body and small head. The
head is the fighting part, and one Of
its most important duties is to protect
the body, which consists of wagon
trains and lines of supplies; for if the
body be injured the head becomes
pOwerless. 1t is well to bear this smile
in mind in considering the plan of
army organization and the steps which
are being taken to make it effective.
Fortunately for the success of these
steps there is no other country in the
world whose resources can respond as
promptly and as generously to an i'm
perative call as those of the United
States.
ARMY EQUIPMENTS.
In completing its military equipment
the government depends partly upon
partly upon private factories All
leather materials used in the service
are manufactured in the arsenal at
Rock Island. Ills. The armcry at
Springfield, Mass, turns out the small
arms, the Krag-Jorgensen and Spring
field rifles, and the ammunition for
these rifles is made i'll the tranKfo. {.
arsenal at Philadelphia. The arsenal
at Watervliet, n. Y, turns out high
field pieces while the disappearing
carriages for the new high-power sea-
coast defense guns and the carriages
for high-pOwer mortars are manu-
featured in the arsenal at WATERFOWL,
Mass. Here also are made the conical
shot which are used for practice firing
and for determining ranges in battle
before the more costly steel proJectlleS
are brought into play.
Forgings for the great guns are sup
piled by contract by the Bethlehem
steel company at Bethlehem, Penn,
and the Milvale steel company at
Philadelphia. The Bethlehem company
also makes ordnance complete, and is
now engaged in the manufacture of 100
high-power steel seacoast defense
guns. which will cost $780, CO. There
is also under construction by the COM
pany a 16-inch breech-ioading rifle. the
largest high-power gun ever built in the
United States. the projectile of which
will weigh 2,100 pounds. and the pro-
polling force of which viii be a powder
charge weighing 900 pounds. On the
completion of the guns, either by the
government or private contractors,
they are sent to Sandy Hook for test
ing. and then they are shipped by rail
or sea for the point along the coast for
which they are intended.
COMMIsSARY GENERAL.
To supply an army with weapons is
only a small part of the work of
equipment. The army must be fed and
clothed, and provision must be made
for countless contingencies. Wagons.
light battery carriages, ambulances
and FORCES are now built by contract,
and they can be turned out quickly.
Clothing, shoes, hats and like furnish
ings for the army come under the
supervision of the quartermaster gem
eral and his assistants and are supplied
by contract and stored at the different
quartermasters' department store
houses throughout the country. Food
supplies are under the supervision of
the commissary general of subsistence
and are likewise secured by contract.
In time of war, or in preparing an
army to take the field. a vast amount
of supplies, forage and equipment must
be constantly on hand. or in easy
reach. While the provisioning of a
company, battalion or regiment of a
thousand men is perhaps not a difficult
task. the supplying of meal for 100,-
600 men is a far different matter: and
1t is absolutely essential that trans
portation from the base of supplies
should at all times be uninterrupted
and subject to no delays. For this
reason the government would assume
control of such railroads and vessels
as might be necessary. and they would
be run temporarily as an adjunct of
the army, private busiT=s~ being per-