The Grit-advocate., 1905-06-16

u
TO~ ment has frequently been
made the occasion of crlti-
cism in debates in Congress. Senator
Lodge, among others, having more than
dice pointed TO this as one of the grave
mistakes in the conduct of the Fed
cral Administration.
A striking instance of this lack of
cooperation which has just come to
light IS the failure of the War Depart
ment and the General Staff to avail!
themselves of the maps. invaluable
from military standpoint, which are
annually being produced under the di-
rection of Professor Milton Whitney,
of the Bureau of Soils. So far as can
be ascertaned, the General STAFF has
never even learned that the Bureau of
Soils Is conducting n soil survey of the
entire country and preparing maps
which contain most of the important
features usually shown on military
maps prepared as the result of recon-
noissances.
For the last five years the Bureau
of Soils has maintained approximately
twenty parties of geologists and soil
experts in the field. and the results
of their observations have been en-
bodied in maps which now represent al
most 10000 square miles Of the United
States. The value of this work to the
agricultural interests of the country
has led Congress to appropriate con-
stantly increasing amounts for the car
rying on of the work, and. as the maps
are furnished to all foreign agricultural
institutions, it is probable that Euro
pean military authorities have a better
knowledge today of the topography
and soil conditions of the United States
than have American military officers.
Certain general officers of the army
have long urged that military maps of
all parts Of the country. and especially
of those parts adjacent to the seabOard,
| be prepared by the engineer corps. but
little or no work in that line las been
accomplished by the army. and the
valuable data compiled by the Bureau
of Soils have been persstently ignored.
The soil maps give not only the general
! topography of the country, using the
base maps of the Geological. Survey
for that purpose, but in addition thereto
the M ture of the soil for depth of not
less than three feet. thus indicating the
character of the roads to be met with.
the probable effect which heavy rains
would have on them, etc. Taken In
connection with the maps of the Geo
logical Survey, they furnish practically
all the information necessary from Il
| ,+,,
tage over reconnaissance maps, on
which the military commander usually
is compelled to depend. that they are
prepared by experts who have ample
time 10 devote to their surveys and OBJ
servations and every facility for COM
mittlng the facts to paper.
With such maps, the feasibility of
erecting earthwOrks, intrenchments,
etc, can be determined at glance.
Moreover, the military Quartermaster.
who must make careful calculations as
to the availability of the local roads to
sustain the necessarily heavy traffic en-
tailed by the transportation Of the sup
plies for great army. can easily per-
feet his plans when, with the aid Of
soil map, he can learn whether the
roads over which his heavy wagons
must travel are of earth, clay or stone,
on what sort of base they are con-
structed, the liability to flooding during
heavy rains, etc.
Some military experts who have re-
Gently examined these maps point to
the fact that had the information they
present been available at the beginning
of the Spanish War the War
Department would have been saved
from the error of selecting the site
chosen at Chickamauga for great
military camp, because, from the soil
maps, it would have learned that the
soil was only few feet deep and I'M
derlaid with stratum Of rock which
would inevitably force the drainage
and seepage back to the surface. The
error of placing the Chickamauga camp
on that site has cost the Government
in pensions to those whose health suf-
fered and to the families of those who
died from typhoid fever probably more
than the entire cost of the soil survey
of the United States to date.
The same proposition is doubtless
true of Camp Alger. \ more thorough
knowledge of the topography and
drainage features of that site would
doubtless have led to the selection of
n location more favorable to the health
of the troops quartered there. In this
connection it is noteworthy that the
cost of the soil maps to the Govern
ment does not exceed an average of
S2.S7 a square mile, while their value
o agriculture is regarded by those in
a position to know rs ample to warrant
the expense on that ground alone.
1 In most countries military maps not
widely dissimilar from the maps of the
Bureau of Soils are being prepared un-
der the supervision of the military au-
thorities, and as far back as The early