The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-05-13
BY L. WILLIAM THAVIS.

Never before in the history of this
country was so large a body of troops
modified at one point in so short a
time as was taken in establishing the
maneuver camp at San Antonio,
Texas. Orders for the movement of
the troops were issued from the War
Department during the afternoon of
March 6. The Seventeenth Infantry,
stationed at Fort Mcpherson, Ga, was
the first organization to receive its or
ders at $3.50 that night. BY p. M,
March 16, just ten days later, an army
numbering practically 10000 was en-
camped about the Texas city.
That such a seemingly impossible
feat as this could be accomplished in
so short a period is due, according to
General Leonard Wood, chief-of-staff
of the army, to the theoretical train
ing. which army officers now receive
at the war college in Washington and
also to the practical training they
have had in the movement of troops
to and from the Philippines.
When this country declared war
with Spain, practically two months
had elapsed before a body of troops
of any appreciable size had been mo-
bilized at any one point, and this was
done only after the greatest confusion
and turmoil. The recent movement of
troops was accomplished without the
slightest bit of excitement; and thir-
ty-six hours after the determination
was reached to mobilize a whole army
division in Texas, the officials of the
War Department were sitting tran
gully at their desks watching with
quiet interest the workings of the
magnificent machinery that had been
so carefully built up to respond to
just such an emergency as the pres
ent.
There was good reason for this, for
every detail of the movement had
been worked out with the greatest
perfection long in advance, and there
was not an officer concerned who had
not taken part in other movements of
of less scale. The management of
the United States army is no longer
a matter of guess-work, but highly
scientific undertaking.
At the War College in Washington,
the mobilization of just such bodies of
troops as those now encamped about
San Antonio is one of the chief stud
les of the course. Even the smallest
detail in connection with such an I'M
dertaking is not overlooked. Plans
are prepared for the mobilization of
forces about practically every large
city in the country Every particle
of information that might be needed
in the preparation of these plans is
at hand at the War College, so that
nothing need be left to guesswork.
When once one of these mobilization
plans has been completed by the Of
ficers under instruction at the insti-
tuition and approved by those in au-
thority, it is filed away for future
reference. Included in the work of
the War College there is the collec-
ton, arrangement and publication OF
historical, statistical and geographi-
cal information; war maps, American
and foreign; general information re-
garding foreign armies and fortresses;
and collation. and discussion of all OBJ
tainable data relating to strategical,
tactical and logistic features of future
military operations and formation OF
complete working plans for passing
from state of peace to state of war.
With such an arrangement, every pos
sible bit of assistance is given the
army officers when the time comes to
order troops into the field,
When once there has been issued
such an order as the one that brought
10000 troops to San Antonio, the
greatest amount of work then falls on
the commissary and quartermaster de-
partments. At the San Antonio camp,
the problem of feeding 10000 men is
no easy task, although carried on in
this particular instance under the
most favorable conditions. In estimat-
ing the amount of food necessary to
feed an army, the unit of measure
used is known as a ration, or that
amount of food required by one man
for one day One army ration costs
the government about 23A cents at
the nresent time. Several wears ago