Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-30

Il James l.. DSNdllS.
should be opened within two minutes after
/ halt to open same. .s
ITS lines to be so laid as to leave the road
! clear for troops following at a distance OF
| one-half mile more. p
1T should have four carts, aggregatng lot, lot
/ ty miles Of wire available for duty at an
! times with the necessary personnel 70 man
age them, allowing four stations to a cart.
TT should be able to lay one-haf mile OF
wire, open two stations and transmit tWeh-
ty-word message between said stations IN "'e
/ minutes, from standing start -
/ ITS operators should be able TO handle
twenty-five words a minute by buzzer teie-
graph It should erect wireless station IN
1T should establish a heliograph station in
! four minutes.
1T should send and receive by fash using
the Myer code, four words a minute.
/ TT should send and receive by helioEraph
| or acetylene lantern ten words per minute
Its telephones should be in good working
order capable of use UP to distance OF tWeh-
ty miles,
'No commanding officer should ever
| leave a stopping place without first no
| tifving the chief signal officer of that
! fact and ordering as 70 disposition Of
| the nearest station. Yet l have been
/ left high and dry in the middle of an
| enemy-infested plain during maneuVers
/ by a commanding officer who, appar-
emily, knew nothing of the use and,
therefore, was long on the abuse of the
signal corps.
Japanese Learned Lesson
! During the Russia-Japanese war the
Japanese army used a signal corp to an eX-
tent heretofore undreamrd OF. 1t mas Deeh
written that no Japanese commander ever
lost touch with the body of troops as small
as division for over twelve consecutive
hours from the start to the finish Of the var
Normally the commanding general
was from five to seventy miles in the
rear of his troops, being connected
Herewith by buzzer.
His fights were fought as one might
play game of chess-in quiet and Sc
clusion. His tent or house was heavily
guarded to prevent interruption.
THE opposing troops were repre-
sented or a large scale accurate top
| ographical map; wooden blocks indi-
/ eating these troops and being moved
as reports from the front indicated ne
cessity therefor These reports came
in by telephone or telegraph, hence
were instantaneous.
Old Methods Distanced
when one considers that the Jap
anesa army at Mukden was over twen-
ty miles in extent it becomes obvious
that no one man could possibly per-
sonally supcrintend the conduct Of such
a fight by any safe electrical means.
"As modern enlargement and extern
sion of business have necessitated the
use of telephone and telegraph, so
have increased range and rapidity Of
fire of modern weapons brought about
a dispersation of troops on the battle
field that renders these same means of
communication imperative. The wav-
ing sword and champing charger of
commander have given place to the
yellow envelope carried by the man
behind the buzzer.
Owing to the natural scCretiveness
of the Japanese and to the fact that
we have no signal officer detailed in
Manchuria as observer, just what kind
of lines were used by the Japanese is
not certain. However, l have read Of
lance lines and permanent lines, but in
no place of insulated lines laid directly
on the ground. 1t is of the latter that
we expect the best work, and it is un-
doubtedly true that they are a great
advance over the lines employed
against Russia. So may we be eX-
pected in our next war to surpass with
our lines of information those of any
other nation. if we can get the men
needed in time of peace to train for
their work In war"
Fights on~Its Belly
Captain Frederick w. Stopford spoke
upon the subject of THE Army Ration,
Its Proper Preparation and Use" He
said in part;
THE army fights literally and fig
aratively on its belly. The subsistence
of the soldier is therefore of primary
importance; men can neither march,
shoot nor exercise their ordinary facul-
ties unless fed. The matter of trans
portation of rations to an army is a
much more intricate problem than the
assembling of the rations. In the mat
ter Of transportation the subsistence
department is lashed to a tree and en-
tirely in the hands of another supply
department and totally dependent on
its co operation for delivery of the sup
plies.
"The duty of the subsistence depart
ment in our army ends with the pur-
chase of the goods. The commissary
should be charged with the RESPONSE
bility of putting food into the hands of
troops to cook, and until a supply de-
partment, including the present quar-
termasters' department and subsistence
department and adding a transporta-
tion department to it, is created, there
never will be perfect coordination.
1T is a well known fact that the
army ration is not satisfactory to the
national guard when they go into ser
vice. The reason for this is to leave
mothers table with its attendant care
full preparations, it's many delicacies
and usual lack of labor on the part of
man and pass into the grub of the
soldier with it's attendant hardships,
! the duties of kitchen police, assisting
in preparing the food, the serving of
| it from column into your own mess
pan, the cleaning f your mess pan,
are things so new to the national
guardsman that he is filed, even if ex-
actly the same kind of food were
served that he receives at home, with
feeling that he is not properly fed.
The shortage of rations when full is
sues have been made l believe is the
source of more trouble with the ration
than all others combined, and the
waste occurs in the cooking and prep
/ aration.
Social Standing Too Strong
"A mistake is made frequently by
! commanding officers, regular and ma