Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-05-23

Utah has in It's National Guard
an organization composed OF
IL % men which. in regard to the
class of work required of il
4. somewhat unique as n military or
TAXATION when viewed by the lay
r.n whose knowledge of military at
,,t,s Is unusually restricted TO what he
,,ans when soldiers are on parade
| :, what he may read in magazines and
,,rspapers. Ordinarily the civilian
Kinks that all soldiers must use rifles
r,on lannon's or take part in the spec
,,o,lar scenes of battle. Ordinarily
+, does not know that there are other
men called upon to perform service
,,tlnr equal rank in Importance, but
,hich has little of the glamor of actual
,onbat. There are soldiers who have
4, do little but draw maps others to
,ad freight on trains and ships in the
.rylcc of quartermaster and commits
,ry departments, others to build roads
,rd bridges. Then there are the men
rho seldom fire a shot during an en-
IN, war, but who keep up the commu-
picatons by means of telegraph lines
,clephone lines, Photograph stations. flag
cations and in other ways perform ser
vices that seldom find their way into
tbe accounts of war, but without
which victory would have been almost
impossible
IS DOING FIELD WORK.
The Signal Corps of the National
Guard of Utah is preparing for just
such work and is adequately equipped
10 serve wherever needed. Among the
Innovations recently undertaken i'm this
organization is the establishment of
telegraph school whore its members are
taught to man telegraph wires, con-
struct and maintain lines and enter the
field of elementary telegraph engineer
inc. Telephony is also given much at
tention and elaborate equipment is on
hand for this work. In the recent
government inspection conducted by the
war department to ascertain the eff
cheney of various state military organ
:zatons, this Utah organization was
present with showing of 100 per cent.
Enlisted men in the organization. after
having studied telegraph only two
months, transmitted Geographic mes
sages TO the apparent satisfaction of
the inspecting officer Its equipment
is valued at more than $4,000 and ac-
tive work in the field is being undertake
en- partly in preparations for the big
camp to be held in Wyoming i'm August
and also to be prepared to render such
service as might be required OF 1t in
time Of need
4 PLAN FOR PEACE
Concerned in no remote degree in |
The program for universal peace, Is the |
movement In the war department to in |
crease the available number Of trained |
men for use in war should II come. |
This is specially true as 1t concerns !
land forces. II is admitted to be utter |
y beyoud question that the stronger |
ne arned forces of a nation the more |
unlikely is war. There is no decided |
increment in the direction of increasing |
me SIZE of the standing army, but ev-
cry Effort is being lent to an increase in
the strength of the reserve in numbers
and efficiency. Under the operation OF
the act usually referred TO as the
Dick bill, an act to promote the eff.
cheney of the militia, the government
is leaving no stone unturned TO accom-
plish its purpose.
RADICAL CHANGES.
An army Of the military service that
for many years. both in the regular
and in the National
Guard, has suffered from neglect is
now particularly in the eye of the
war department. This is the signal
corps, Nearly every state has in its
national guard organization n de-
iachment OF signal troops. The in
has been along lines great
y at the option Of the signal officers
In immediate control of the detach-
ments This is n plan that is UNDER
going radical changes. The general
government has for many years had
IN operation at Fort Leavenworth,
Kan, school where signalling is
given much attention. The import