Omaha daily bee., 1906-12-04

Current Events Cleaned from the
Army and Navy Rentster.

such vehicles. II Is expected that the bal
loon viii soon be ready for shipment al
though It Is destined to arrive too late for
use I'm the mobilization maneuvcrs of the
army and militia this year This is not
! important however, since the experimental
work with the balloon may Just as easily
and probably be conducted at Fort Wood.
| Omaha or Bcnecia, or any place in the
! field. There is a preference for California.
where the weather general. v is Of the sort
which does not interfere with military bal
looming. The War department is in pos
session Of much information in regard to
the work Of the Frenchmen and the Ger
mans, who have Of late been devoting much
time TO this subject. There is no fund in
this country from which could be borne the
cost Of experimental work in this line. but
with such limited means as the army pos
sesses for the investigation and trial the
new balloon will be used.
There has been much trouble from time to
time respecting the traffic in army uni
forms and equipment in cities near the
large army posts and hitherto all efforts
to discourage this have been frustrated
A gratifying exception is afforded by the
decision Of the United States court at To-
peka, Kan, which decision Is likely TO have
wholesome effect. The War department
this week was advised that the trials of
Patrick Burns and Joe Miller, both citl-
gems Of Leavenworth, Kan. for receiving
clothing in pledge, has resulted in a fine
in each case Of 81 200 and costs. Both men
pleaded guilty, and the United States at
torney reports that no dilatorv motion of
defense was offered and a very salutary
effect was expected upon these and other
dealers in and about Leavenworth, an ex-
tensive trade in this line having been hlth-
erto carried on by these defendants.
There seems to be some difficulty in OBJ
tanning dental surgeons for the army The
examination of candidates recently held at
West Point resulted in the reporting before
the examining board of only four of those
who had been authorized to appear. OF
these four, three were physically disquali-
fed and one withdrew from the examina-
ton. Nothing has been heard of the ex-
animation held at the same time in San
Francisco. The failure to obtain qualified
candidates is perhaps due to the fact that
the invitation sent out stated that there
were no vacancies in the position OF dental
surgeon in the army and that those who
passed would merely be placed in the eligi
BILE list, which is of course, not a definite
or entirely satisfactory result.
The army signal corps is finishing its
work in assembling eight sets Of portable
wireless telegraph outfits, two of which
will he sent to Fort Leavenworth, Kan,
for use in the signal corps school at that
post The other sets will be sent to Cuba
and will be used in the field, being made
the subject of special report, with view
to determine to what extent they should be
used in the army hereafter II would prob
ably be unsafe to predict that the portable
wireless will entirely supplant visual sig
mailing, but it is certain the former will
materially lessen the need of the latter in
military communications. The new porta-
BILE set, including the battery weighs less
than 800 pounds, and is SO arranged that it
may b. easily packed on the back of
mule and carried anywhere. Its expected
efficiency is about 200 miles, which distance
could, of course, be increased by adding
to the weight of the apparatus. The signal
corps portable wireless is of a different de-
sign from the wireless sets which are used
at the coast defense posts.
The surgeon general of the army will
make another effort this year to have the
training of enlisted meE of the army with
the idea of introducing individual instruc-
ton instead of general athletic work. The
idea contemplates the application to the
enlisted force of the army of the same
system Of physical culture which exists at
the Military academy with such profitable
results At most army posts the athletic
work is of a perfunctory sort and, at best,
does not take into consideration individual
needs. man raised as a blacksmith and
with the abnormal development Of his hi
ceps stands in no need of arm exercise and
yet he is apt to get that quite as much as
a less well developed man. 1t is considered
that the athletic work throughout the
army should be more directly and indi-
vidually applied, and 1t is along such line
that the surgeon general proposes TO i'm
prove a system of training in gymnastics in
the military service.
A serious situation appears to have been
pointed out by Major General Leonard
Ny,,d a., q raport IN the intarfaranpa with