The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-18
Sham Battle Carried on by
French Army Generals
From Headquarters Far From
the Scene of Action.
THROUGH MAPS AND PHONES
They Are Able to Keep in
Touch With the Field.
Reports Are Brought in by Men
With AerOplanes.

Paris, Oct. 1S.-An excellent idea
of what a modern land battle is like
was obtained during the French army
maneuvers, when General Nicholas
Chomer, commanding the $4,000 men
of the Southern army, did not see a
regiment during the five days nor on
the final day of the battle did he hear
a gun.
The generals headquarters on the
last day were in a pleasant ways1de
tavern, 2 ) miles behind the firing
lines. which extended about the same
length. A large scale map of the re-
gion was spread upon a table, a row
of telephones like that in a New York
brokers' office was on a wall in the
dining room, the tables of the field
telegraphers were on the other side
of the room, and wireless instruments
cracked in an outbuilding. on the
meadow adjoining military aeroplanes
arrived and departed, adjutants TAX
ing the reports of aviatorS-
Three colonies of the staff collated
the telephone, Geographic and wire
less reports and the airmen's obserTa-
lions, moving colored broad headed
pins on the map, thus indicating from
moment TO moment the relative posi-
tions of their own and the enemy S
troops
General Chomer studied the map
attentively. Now and then he gave an
order concerning the movement of his
troops or discussed with his chief-of-
staff the significance of the informa-
ton received.
General Paul Pau. the commander
in-chief of the rival Northern army,
under much the same circumstances,
sat some so miles away, sending his
brigadeS and divisions into action,
with no more of the tumult of war
than is heard during a cable chess
match.
Visitors to the prefecture of the
department of the Seine are always
handled with gloves for, accord
ing to peculiar and ancient custom,
permission to enter the projects room
cannot be obtained unless the caller
wears gloves.
As soon as a gloveless person en-
tiers the reception room, the usher
remarks: Your gloves, please?" If
the visitor replies that he has no
gloves, the official says: Then I will
find you some" He keeps a large box
filled with gloves of every size and
shade, from which he provides the
visitor with a new pair, for which he
is expected to pay the equivalent of
so cents.
The budget of the project of the
Seine for 1914 is estimated at an
equivalent of sS5,S00,00O, or $500
900 more than this year. Among the
suggestions for raising the revenue is
that a special tax shall be placed on
foreign residents living in Paris, based
on the rental OF their houses or apart
mentS. The American colony is very
strong in Paris, and if this recommen-
dation We're adopted. II would affect
two or three thousand families.
The success of Roland Cfarros's re-
cent daring flight across the Mediter-
ranean sea has caused the postpone
ment of a play which was shortly to
open in one of the Partisan theaters.
The whole plot of the piece apparent
~ hinged on the impossibility of fly
ing from France to North Africa,
which is now shown to be easy. The
Atlantic ocean, il is stated. is to be
substituted for the Mediterranean,
but this will entail the arrangement
of so much Of the play that it will not
be ready for some time.
Wireless telegraphy has enabled the !
French and American authorities to
determine within the one-hundredth /
padt of a second the difference in time /.
between Paris and Washington, but /
experiments are still in progress for |
the purpose of eliminating all errors. /
The French government has sent a :
commission to Washington to renew !
Jointly with the American officers at /
Arlington the exchange of wireless !
signals with the EiffeI tower 1t is
composed of Martial Simonin an
astronomer of the Observatory of 4
Paris: Capt. A. Carrier of the Colonial /
infantry. and Naval Lieutenant Gig /
non. Prof. Henri Abraham of the .
Sorbonne sailed later to join the par
ty. with the object of studying with /
Photographic registration wireless +
signals and experiments in the velocity /
in the propagation of wireless waves ,
Later in the year the first party re-
turns to Paris, and will be replaced by /
ElOi Niennet, an astronomer Of the /
Observatory of Paris. and p. Auverny. !
an ensign of the navy, who have been /
working in the Eiffel tower
The American navy department at /
the same time will send an astronomer
from the naval observatory in Wash !
ington and one or more officers. with (
the same objects. to Paris.
The officers of both navies will thus
work first on one side and then on the [
other, so as TO eliminate as far as pos
sible the errors arising from the per
sonal equation. The astronomical in /
strumentS used in the observations /
will also be employed first on one side |
and then on the other to correct such
slight variations as may be due to !
mechanical imperfection