The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-31
WAR ROOM an THE WHITE HOUSE.
Where the Strategy Board Meets and
Studies the Situation.
Golfers Weekly.

ColllerS weekly.
On the walls of the war room are all the
latest maps from the Coast and Geodetic
Survey, the photographic Office and the
Land Office, and some that We're made es-
pecially for the Presidents convenience.
Philippines, Porto Rico and all other points.
arranged in sections on the wall in such
manner as to place before the eyes of the
President at one glance the entire eXpanse
of the globe On these maps are marked
the distances from one point to another;
the cable lines. the sailing routes, the time
needed to cover them, the places where the
ships of the enemy and of the blockadiag
squadron are located from time to time and
every possible sort of information that could
be needed during consultation on the war
problem. The most unique of the series
of charts are those showing the location
of the Spanish and American war ships,
so arranged that they can be changed each
hour or minute of the day as the telegraph
may report the movements on the chess
board of the war. Among other conven-
fences designed for the President there
are two boards covered with sheets of paper
on which are written alphabetically the
name of every ship in both navies. Stuck
into little hole in the space containing
the name there is pin, on the end OF which
there is a flag bearing the corresponding
name of the ship. These fiagpins are used
for indicating on the map the places where
the ships may be from time to time; the
American flags being blue and those OF
Spain red. There is an interesting little
corner on one of the boards, separated by
a group of red flags huddled together This
corner is labeled 1.-The dead line" and the
flags are those that, before the LIST of May,
represented the Spanish ships which on
that day were destroyed by the fleet of Adj
miral Dewey.
In the left-hand corner of the room, near
the entrance from the corridor. is Secre-
.tary Porter's desk, where he is at work
during many hours of the day and night,
and beyond him, nearer the middle of the
room, is the desk of Captain Benjamin L.
Montgomery, of the signal corps, United
States army, who for several years, has
acted as Geographic manager of the White
House. At the left of his desk, in the cor
ner, there is a wooden case through which
pass fifteen special, long-distance telephone
wires, and in the opposite corner a cable
containing twenty special telegraphic wires,
all of which come together at the desk and
make it possible for him, without moving
outside radius of ten feet to have direct
communication through the telephone with
every department of the government at
Washington, including the Capitol, on wires
which are connected with the White House
alone, and over the telegraph and cable
lines to every point in the United States
and elsewhere, that it may be important for
the President or the members OF the Cab
net to reach at any time in order to give
or receive information with regard to the
war movements.
Into this war room, over these special tele-
graph and telephone wires comes, every
hour and every minute of the day and night,
information from a great many sources, Of
hcial and otherwise. on every conceivable
phase of the war problem that could pos
sibly be of interest to the President and the
officials of the government. The press as
sociations send all their important news
bulletins directly from their Office TO Mr.
Montgomerys desk, and from there they
are at once placed before the President at
any time during his waking hours Much
of the information that comes is dp gated
from various sources, but it is all of the
greatest interest, and the President feels
that already the war room has been of in
calculable service. Here the Cabinet con-
situations take place. and there is hardly
an hour that some Of the officials Of the
government are not studying the maps or
reading the official and unofficial news hui.
letins that pour in over the numerous special
wires. Moth ng can take place in any quar-
ter of the globe that affects in any way the
Situation without the President knowing u
instantly. The war room is thus becoming a
most important adjunct to the military ad-
miniStration