Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-16

MATTERS OF interest On and BACK
Of the Firing Line Cleaned from
the Army and Navy Register.
The retirements for age in the army dur
ing 1910 comprise four brigadter generals,
one Of whom is the chief OF engineers. The
complete list follows;
Brigadier General ]. @. d. Knight, Jan
uary "a Colonel Of engineers. who attains
the rank of brigadier general today. No
vember 10, upon the retirement of General
Weston.
Colonel Charles d. Byrne, army medical
corps, January %.
Colonel John w. Pullman. quartermns-
ter's department, February Il.
Colonel valery Hazard, army medical
corps, February IS.
Major Eugene o. Feohet, signal corps,
March "a.
Brigadier General Charles Morton. com.
manding Department Of the Missouri,
March IS.
Lieutenant Colonel william W. Robinson,
jr, quartermaster's department, April q.
Brigadier General w. S. Edgerly, May
p, General Edgerly will be retired Deem
Der %. 1909, upon recommendation OF army
retiring board.
Colonel James w. Pope. q-uartermaster's
department, June 6.
Brigadier General William L. Marshall,
chief Of engineers, June II.
Lieutenant Colonel J. f. Sawyer, quar-
termaster's department, July 3.
Colonel Edward r. Wood. professor
United States Military academy. Septem-
Der II.
Brigadier General Albert H. Myer, COM
manding Department Of Texas. November
H.
Colonel Joseph B, Gjrard, army medical
corps, December %.
Colonel Walter Howe, coast artillery
corps, December 81.
There are multiplying signs Of the econ
m which congress will exercise in its
enactment Of legislation affecting service
interests. The president adheres TO his de-
termination to have the estimates for milf
~tary-naval expenditures reduced approx
mately 10 per cent in all branches Of the
service as compared with the estimates for
the present fiscal year. There was some
chance that this order, issued originally
some months ago, would be modified. II Il
should appear from the records OF the
Treasury depe rtment that the financial
showing of the government had improved.
This is far from being the case. A large
deficit still exists and the new tariff act
has not yielded the increased revenue
which was counted upon. The estimate Of
the financial "sharps' OF the government
is for a monthly deficit Of nearly 5000 900
with a corresponding depression of the
reserve. These fiduciary circumstances
make it absolutely necessary to pare the
appropriations, and 1t is certain that the
estimates will not be exceeded in the ag-
gregate by the congressional allotmcnts
during the next session Of congress.
All OF which tends to the disbursement
Of new and important legislation, especially
that which seeks to relieve the conditions
Of service personnel. While something may
get through, 1t is bound to be Of little
consequence, unless all the indications
which now prevail of the cominE session
are misleading.
The army medical authorities are send
ing our ~anti-typhoid vaccine regularly
from the army medical museum and some
1000 men have been vaccinated. These are
mostly members OF the army hospital
corps and commissioned officers OF the
army medical corps. So far the reports
show that only one case, subjected to this
measure of prevention, has developed ty-
phoid, and this was attributable to the
fact that there was TYPHOID infection be-
fore the vaccine was administered. It will
be at least a year before there will be
compulsory vaccination, II, indeed. such
a step is ever deemed advisable. BY that
time the medical officers will have con-
firmed the experience which ls reported by
the British medical authorities. The lat
est report from that source received by
the surgeon general Of the army gives a
record Of a military body in which u. 2sS
were vaccinated and s,O26 were not vac
cinated. The occurrence OF typhoid among
those v~Rccinsted was Sc per LOCO and
among those not vaccinated 29l per 1000,
or just five times as many In the latter
as In the former class. The mortality
among the vaccinated was s.s per cent and
among those not vacoinated ia per cent.
Congressman Z. w. Roberts Of Mass.
achusetts, a prominent and influential
member of the house naval committee, con-
templates, presenting to his associates on
that committee the proposition Of building
one SO,O0O-ton battleship, instead of two
25,O0O-ton vessels. He is Of the opinion that
II will be Of decided strategic advantage to
have such a vessel and that one vessel of
that displacement. armed with twelve a.
inch guns, which will be possible under
the circumstances, is equal in an offensive
way to two battleships, each with a battery
Of twelve 12-inch guns. The Navy de-
partment, of course. will the
two latter with a willingness to have con-
gress provide for the larger ship. II will
probably be out Of the question to obtain
provision for more than one 80, O0o-ton yes
sci during the next session OF congress, but
Mr.. Roberts believes this would be iusti-
fled in placing the American navy building
program far in advance OF the other ma
tons.
Another aspect of the battleship dis
placement increase which is engaging at
%tention is the width OF the locks Of the
Panama canal, which have been designed
for ITO feet in that dimension. A battle
ship Of 10000 tons displacement will be
close to 1O0-foOt beam; those now being
built are over ninety feet. The increase