Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-07
ARMY GOSSIP IN WASHINGTON.
Current Events Cleaned from the
Army and Navy Register.

ARMY GOSSIP IN WARRINGTON.
| Current Events Cleaned from the
Army and Navy Register.
It is not likely that very much will be
done during the coming winter at Omaha
where the army signal corps has been trying
70 establish main depot Fifty men OF
the signal corps will be transferred from
| Benicia Barracks Cal, TO Omaha and teie-
graphic instructions to this effect have been
sent from Washington, but the conditions
at Omaha are such that very little can be
done until spring, except in the way Of
taking care Of property and arranging for
| the work which Is to be undertaken on the
approach Of warmer weather.
Reports received at the War department
Indicate that recruiting for the army has
not been attended with the same numerical
results as heretofore. There is a consid-
cradle reduction in the percentage Of ac-
cepted men at the recruiting stations This
is partly due to the greater strictness which
is now observed by recruiting officers in
the examination Of applications, a step
which appeared to be necessary by the
number of discharges recently on the
ground of disability It is due mainly.
however, to the fact that there are not as
many candidates presenting themselves at
the recruiting offices. a condition which ex-
lists to some extent at the naval recruiting
stations. This lack of applicants Is attrib-
uted to the unusual demand for labor in all
parts Of the country.
The War department has acquired the
patent rights to an Invention OF freless
cooking, that OF Hans Peter August Mel
son OF Virginia. who says his method is
similar to that which has been under trial
at Fort Riley and in New York. OF course
the War department took advantage of the
opportunity to obtain the patent rights, al
though the inventor may make use of the
incident to advertise the fact that his sys-
TEN of fireless cookery has been adopted
by the United States government That
may or may not be the case, for It is likely
that in whatever is done in that direction
by the War department there is likely to
be no application of any particular method
The systems of flreless cooking which have
been. and are still being. tested by the SUBJ
sistence officers OF the army are found to
be OF great practical value in camp and In
garrison; 1t is still a question to what ex-
tent they will be of service in the field II
Is believed that anything which has its
beneficial uses In garrison ought to have an
Importance in field operations. II the
preservation and cooking of food is posi-
BILE by the use of special devices in one
place 1t is conceivable that there will be
possibilities of their advantageous employ
ment Observation-Disclosures trench may be
dug and a fire maintained. The expert
ments now being conducted by Captain
Murray at Fort Riley are along the line Of
the field application OF freless cooking.
M ri.
of-staff of the army contemplates going
upon the retired list in advance Of the date
when he would be so transferred by opera
tion of law. The latter event would occur
on April IA, 1906 and 1t is under considera-
ton by General Chaffee that he shall anti
cipate such retirement by several months
IL is probable he will ask to be retired
about the first OF the year and that he will
then be succeeded by Major General Bates,
now the assistant chief-of-staff. General
Bates would serve until the LIST of April and
be succeeded in turn by General H. c. Cor
bin, who will probably be back in the War
department in few months as assistant
chief of stan pending his appointment
as lieutenant general. Upon the compile
ton of General Corbn's term OF active
service he will be followed in the office of
chief-of-staf by General Arthur Macarthur,
according to the present plans Of the presi-
dent General Leonard Woods appoint
ment TO the grade of lieutenant general and
detail as chief-of-staff will follow the pre-
mature retirement of General Macarthur.
The quartermaster general OF the army
this week authorized the inviting of pro-
posals for the construction OF the new ad-
! ministration building of the stan college at
Fort LeaVenworth, Kan. according to the
| plans described and illustrated in the Reg
lister OF September 2. There was necessa-
rily restriction upon the architects. inns
much as the two old buildings. known. re-
| spectively as Sherman hall and Sheridan
hall, do not easily lend themselves 10
| further adornment. They are built along
very severe lines, but the designers OF sho
duartermaster generals Office have wrought
with considerable success. Their plans con-
template the erection OF a central building,
to be known as Grant hall, and which will
connect the two existing buildings, sher-
man hall and Sheridan hall The former
edifice is at present used to accommodate
the classes of the college, while Sheridan
hall is a storehouse. The latter building
will be fitted with a new roof and an attic
story giving the space required for the ac-
commodation OF a large drafting room. 1t
viii be necessary, also, to raise the build
ing and place new foundation under it
so 1t will stand at the same level as Sher-
man hall. In the new central building will
be the ofices OF the commanding ofhcer
and rooms for his aides and the clerks The
necessary retiring rooms and record rooms
will be situated there also Under this
central building there will be a driveway,
from which access may be had TO the
upper stories direct. The material to be
used in the construction of the new build
ing will be brick, with light stone trim
mngs There will be a tower, equipped
with a clock. The architecture OF the new
part may be described as simple, bordering
on the classic and arranged so as to be I'm
harmony with the unadorned Characters
tics of the old buildings which are to be
converted to this combined use.
Personal NOTES.
| Colonel O. O. Stealey, a washington news