Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-28
ARMY GOSSIP IN WASHINGTON.
Current Events Cleaned from the
ARM mud No. nnnI.acr

Current Events Cleaned from the
Army and Navy Register.
There will be special interest attached
To the march OF the Twelfth and Nine .
tenth batteries Of field artillery from Fort
Douglas, Utah, to Fort u. A. Russell, wyo.
II is intended that this transfer OF artillery
commands should be effected about March
!, but that was before II was decided to
have the batteries proceed to their new
station by marching. With the new plans
In view 1t will be necessary to delay tho
departure of the batteries from Fort Doug
las for several weeks The trip is notable
as being the first long distance mountain
march OF field battery. The route will in
clude the use OF the old Mormon trail across
Utah and Wyoming.
There continues to be confirmation of the
very favorable impressions entertained by
Amy commssaries regarding the hreless
cooker. The trials of that device of the
dimensions and equipment sufficient TO
provide prepared food for an entire COM
peny, have been going on at Fort Riley
and Captain Murray of the subsistence de-
partment, who takes a personal interest
in the work, reports very satisfactory re-
suits under the varying conditions of place
and weather calculated to test the efficiency
OF the system. The latest experiments
have been conducted with the temperature
of is degrees and the subsistence officer
hopes to have a blizzard on hand before
the end of the season so the cooker may
be operated under the least favorable cir
cumstances of climate. The results con-
tinue to be satisfactory.
The general staff OF the army has fol-
lowed It's we'll defined policy in relation
to the wearing of badges with the uniform
of the service. Last week the general
staff had under consideration the recom-
mendatlon of Judge Advocate General
Davis which was not in favor of the wear
ing Of the insignia OF the Society of
Colonial Wars by officers Of the army
who may be members of that organization.
1t was considered that such a proposition
is contrary to the policy of the War de-
partment TO add to the number of society
badges which officers and enlisted men
are permitted to wear on their uniforms,
1t being very properly considered that there
may be with great profit to personal ap-
pearance a limitation in authorized decora-
ton of this sort. Moreover in this par
tcular instance the general staff remarked
that 1t would be considered inappropriate
to wear on the uniform of the army any
badge that included service under a flag
other than that of the United States.
new feature, or at least new term,
crept into the field equipment of the Ameri-
can soldier the other day when the secre-
tary of war approved of an order, officially
known as G. o. %, War department, Feb
ruary 2, 1906, prescribing the arms and
equipment of soldier in the field. in
the calvaryman. Among the articles men
toned as the authorized or prescribed kit
of the enlisted man of the infantry and
cavalry arms in the field was an Iron
ration" a term which was described more
adequately by the parathetical title
emergency ration" This is the first
time anyone, outside of the general staff
where the order originated, ever heard of
an Iron ration in the United States
army. 1t may be explained only on the
ground that the title has been borrowed,
with quite impartial appreciation of things
European, from the ration or portion of
the Germans, who have a three-day packet
of food for the soldier in the field in time
of emergency, which ration is known as
the ''elserne portion" or the iron ration,
supposed to be so called because it's issue
and use are governed by certain iron-cad
rules naturally attached to the employ
ment of such restricted provisions of the
troops. The United States army is. ap-
parently to have this Iron ration" in
stead of the emergency ration, the compost
ton being unchanged.