The Washington times., 1911-03-19
WAR GAME A TEST
FOR SIGNAL CORPS
Service on Border Opportun-
ity to Try Apparatus
and Men.
AEROPLANING MOST
PROMINENT FEATURE
Wireless and Field Telegraph Also
Make Communication
/. Possible.
By John SNURE.

Whether the mobilization Of troops in
Texas prove to be merely for maneu-
Ners or whether it be followed by or
ders to break camp and head for Mex
ico City, there is reason to believe that
the Signal Corps is one of the branches
Of the service that will come out Of the
ordeal with credit.
That IS what Gen. James Allen, chief
signal officer, and the aides about him
expect The present service in Texas
and along the Mexican border gives the
Signal Corps an admirable opportunity
TO put some of its improvements to the
test and the signal officers are max
ing the most of the opportunity.
AeropIanlng, as the most spectacular
feature of signal corps work, is, of
course, getting much attention, and is
hlllng the public eye to a great extent
but there are two other features of
the work of the signal service which
are OF the utmost Importance in con-
nection with the present mobilization
and the patrol of the border. One of
these is the use of the wireless tele-
graph and the other relates to the field
telegraph service.
Wireless Successful.
Great success already has marked the
use of the wireless in Texas. Field
wireless apparatus has been developed
10 great degree of perfection by the
Signal Corps The material for a wire
less station of the larger sort, suitable
for use of the commanding general of
a division or of a larger body of
troops, is transported by four horses
attached to what looks much like an
artillery carriage. The apparatus can
be set up in ten minutes, and reaches
q height Of about ninety feet. One of
these stations was put up at Eagle
Pass, and as an indication of how per
feet II is, wireless dispatches have been
exchanged every night for a consider
able time between it and the station at
Fort Leavenworth, about 500 miles
away. The apparatus at Fort Leaven-
worth is about 200 feet high.
Each signal company has a smaller
wireless outfit.
These small wireless outfits are car
Sied on the back of a pack mule. One
of these, when set up, will carry mes
SageS about thirty miles without diff
Guilty. And it requires only four or five
minutes to put up such a station. With
the use of these wireless stations, the
commander of an army can sit quietly
at. the center of things and Communi-
cate for an indefinite distance.
First Real Test.
This is the first real test the wireless
apparatus has been put through by the
Signal Corps, except at some of the
maneuver camps. If there is hard serv-
ice along the border and across the Rio
Grande there is little question it will
prove invaluable.
Then the work of the field companies
of the Signal Corps will be watched
with the keenest interest, alike by the
Signal Corps officers and by every of
fcer in the army. These are believed to
have reached a high degree of perfec-
tion. II is said that the equipment
used by these companies is better than
that used by any of the armies Of
Europe or Asia. The field companies
are organized to lay field telegraph lines
quickly, and they perform the work eX-
pected of them at a great rate of speed.
This is the first time the field COM
panies of the Signal Corps have got a
chance to see what they could do with
a division Of troops. The army Organi-
zation provides for two of these com
panies TO a division of troops, and the
two companies required are now with
General Carter's organization at San
Antonio. Another field company is at
Yuma and another at Nogales, along the
border. With the field telegraph system
and the wireless, 1t is thought perfect
communication can be kept up between
the commands of any organization.
OF course, If there should be real
fighting and a battle of any proper
tiOns, requiring an extended length Of
front, both these means of communica-
ton would prove invaluable.