Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-07

gress is carried out. the Engineer Corps
will be the bu:iest set of men in the gov
eminent service.
The work of the quartermaster's de-
partment, carrying with it the task of
quartering and
Has Supervision equipping the reg
Of "a Cemeteries ular army at all
National Guard during encampment sea-
sons, requires the expenditure of from
s3o,cO,OOO to 100000 a year. 1t has
eighteen ocean-going steamers, or trans
ports. number of mine planters and
enough other vessels of various descrip-
lions to equip small navy. 1t spends
ABOUT $4,000 year for newspapers and
magazines for the troops in the army. 1t
has supervision of the eighty-four ma
tional cemeteries in the United States,
where $4,000 soldiers are buried.
The commissary department issues 3d.
OO,OO0 rauonS a year, costing approx
mately p cents each. It has q full
equipment of fireless cookers, and has
established school for bakers a. d cooks.
Here the men who are to prepare the
food of the army are initiated into the
mysteries of the arts of baking and cook
ing For an army of 100000 men there is
required for each days rations fifty tons
potatoes and forty tons of other food, so
that the task of the commissary general
is not a small one. Experience has
taught that the feeding of an army is
one of the first essentials to its efficiency
in the field, and the War Department is
striving to be prepared to furnish the
best of commissary service in case of
war.
The Office Of the adjutant general is
one of the busiest in the department.
Although recent
Duties of the legislation has
Adjutant General ,aut general Of
the military duties formerly pertaining
to his Office, it has left him much to do.
He has charge Of the recruiting service.
Last year there were 126 recruiting sta
tons open for business, and 134,OOO ap-
plications for enlistment in the army were
received. OF these about 10000 were &C
cepted. OF the $4,000 applicants, 125,OOO
were attracted by advertising in one form
or another. The adjutant general also
keeps card index system, in which is
recorded full data about the army service
and the men who constitute it. That this
data is complete is shown by the fact
that there are 100000 military cards
and 100000 medical cards. These are
being added to at the rate Of more than
half a million a year.
The Signal Corps Of the army makes
use of every possible advance in science
and invention in its efforts to render
efficient service in case Of war. 1t en-
ploys wireless telegraphy, wireless tele-
phony and aeronautics. 1t is a great
believer in the adaptability of airships
in the solution of the problems of war.
They can be used to gain Information
about harbors and Notifications of other
countries, to patrol and guard the from
tiers, for purposes OF reconnaissance, for
carrying dispatches, signaling to wireless
stations, directing the fire of friendly
artillery and drawing that of hostile guns,
stores. railways and other communica-
tons, making night attacks with bombs,
destroying submarines and locating
mines. Experiments are now being made
looking to the mounting of light artillery
in automobiles for the purpose of repell-
ing attacks Of aerial fleets.
The medical department of the army
is one of the most useful of the War
Dep a rtment's
VVOU "VAA 0VAC ~ - V iieS III
by Army Surgeons. Manv Of the
most valuable lessons learned by medical
science in the past twenty years have
come from it. Maj. Walter Reed, to
whom the world owes an inestimable
debt for his demonstration of the mosqui-
to theory of yellow fever, made that dis
covery while connected with the service.
The rise of vaccination for the preven-
ton of typhoid fever is to be credited
to the army surgeon. SO thoroughly
have the theories of sanitation been
mastered that there are now less than
one-thirteenth as many admissions to
the army and navy hospitals on account
of malaria as there were thirteen years
ago.
The division of militia affairs has
charge of the organization of the Ma
tional Guard Of the United States. 1t is
the present plan of the government to
divide the country into eight militia dis
district and smaller posts in each state.
These districts will have both regular
and militia forces in them SO organized
as to correspond to eight army corps.
These troops will be so equipped as to
be ready to answer the call for troops
at the shortest possible notice, and will
furnish the nucleus around which will
be built up eight full-strength corps in
the event of war Through a system Of
annual maneuvers, 1t is the intention of
the department to convert the militia
into a thoroughly organized fighting
force.
GOVERNMENT All
WORK. v. DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE.