The San Francisco call., 1906-09-30

survival OF the ntteSI our ngating men
have nothing to fail back on bat the
Philippines or desultors activities in
cuba or the chronic disturbances of
Central and South America.
As : source of trouble even the tsiif-
pinos are coming to fail rs IN tic
opinion Of American Regular army mea
this. indeed. is the c'fief value. IF not
the only one. Of Uncle Sans. possessioa
Of the Philippine Islands. IN o,her
words. the Islands Iaale an IDEAL
stamping grou1G Tor xoung officers
ish and OF guerriii1 Rpshv-'1-cl l-,pr for
possible emergencies of the future
southwarsi.
Now that such irrepressihIe e4fn-
paigners as -Howling wilderness
Smith Governor Curry and Leonard
Wood have tskoa al tae ginger out of
garrison duty in the Philippines. no al
Tentative Is left but active field M
neuvers on so extensive 4 scale as held
this year in seven siluitaneous camps
Of instruction. like the one around
American Lake near Tacoma
American lake lying some twelve
miles southwsrd Of Tacoma and three
or four miles east Of 7ugat Sound is
the largest Of a chain Of lakes COM
prising Lakes stGilaeooal. G~aveliy. Sc
quailltcheW and 4 Ilumher of smaller
lakes. TOO deep 70 be foeded ard too
wide for pontooninSs theysform nat
ural barrier for opposiag bodies Of
troops, which Il is desirable to keep
apart. until the given moment for con-
tact required by so1le mane eGver prob-
lem. The country round about is suf-
ficiently open though largely OYER
grown with heavy fir tinbof to per-
mit rapid military noy eHaents within
the territory set apart for Inaneuvering
which covered an area Of ten or twelve
square miles. approximately Thus the
opposing bodies Of troops in brown and
in blue this autumn were sometimes
many as ten miles apart Though
there are no hills higher than 500 feet
suitable for long range artillery tactics
tho ground is sufficiently diversified
with light and heavy timber. lakes.
creeks. swamps and occasional railroad
cuts, with comparatively few farms and
fences, to make an almost ideal r-neu-
vering ground for troops not exceeding
a full division.
Fifteen thousand men, In fact was
the maximum OF men ever assembled
at one time this year around American
Lake. This included all arms OF the
regular service and OF the National
Guard Thus there were represented
of infantry regiments the Third, Sew
enth, Fourteenth, Twentieth, Twenty
second, Oregon First Separate Bat
ldllt,tls y iiiIG OIeHOl.- second w aSnlnE-
ton, Second Montana and Second Idaho:
of cavalry, the Second and Fourteenth
Regulars, with Troop Of the WASH
ington National Guard of artillery. the
First, Elevsnth and Seventeenth hat
teries of Field Artillery. the First Bat
TALON Of United States Engineers Pio-
neer and. Signal Corps detachments of
the regulars and Washington Signal
Corps, full hospital and medical corps.
with full brigade quartermasters and
commissariat train.
Small Army in Camp.
There were enough troops. in word.
TO supply all the ingredients of a mod
ern army on march or in bivouac, and
incidentally to cover al the roads with
dust. The quartermaster's wagons
alone would have been enough to ac-
complish that.
Almost all the various commands
made long practice marches to Camp
Tacoma from their respective quarters
at Vancouver Barracks. the Presidio
or from their National Guard armories
in Oregon. Idaho or Montana Before
them went the engineers to plat and
map out the camp grounds. the medical
corps TO make sure of such problems
as drainage, pure drinking water and
other matters OF sanitation, as well as
the Quartermaster's Department to
prepare for the arrival and proper feed