Evening star., 1913-10-12

Tho officers' committees are perfecting the
details assigned to them, and the men
are doing their part in cleaning up the
armory so that it will be spick ana span
when the President arrives.
| Commander Dempf last week sent ou'
| instructions to every officer and man OF
the battalion to be present on that occa-
sion He also emphasized the necessity
| of their attendance - all of the 'irllls
| lust previous to the event, in order tha'
| all of the many new members of the bat
TALON may perfect themselves in infantry
! drill work, so that they may participate In
| the parade cnd review without any hitch
whatever.
Every new man who has not yet OBJ
| tanned his full equipment has been ordered
| to draw the same from the paymastei
! Immediately. and he must have ready be,
| fore October 22 one blue uniform and
one blue and one white hat. The COM
missioned and chief petty officers viii
wear blue uniforms and white caps.
| Commander Dempf urges every man to
| be present. He declared that when the
President addresses the members Of THE
| organization he wants him to stand up
before battalion. and not few men
in uniform. Members of the battalion
will start out in the battalion's steam
launch Sunday morning. with couple OF
river in an attempt to get the cedar trees
(which will be used in the DECORATIVE
scheme at the battalion headquarters for
the ceremonies.
Bright and early Friday morning a tug
boat from the Washington navy yard
hove to Immediately off the Naval Bat
talon dock and took the L. S. S. Sylvia
| in tow. bound for the Washington navy
ward. There are some repairs to be made
on her engines, which could not be done
bv the local battalion members, because
of the lack of facilities. However, now
that the boat has gone around to the
yard, it is expected that the work Will
be expedited to the extent OF completing
the repairs on the vessel in time to per-
nit of several Weekend cruises before
the very cold weather sets in.
In view of the announcement some
time ago that work at the navy yard was
slack, it is believed that the repairs on
the Sylvia may be completed very soon,
and that the vessel can be back at her
dock within the next week, or al least
before President Wilson makes VISIT to
the battalion. Commander Dempf is de-
sirous of stringing electric lights On the
sylvia much the same as battleships are
decorated on notable occasions, and II Is
hoped that the vessel will be back in time
to permit Commander Dempfs men TO
complete the decorative scheme.
Tho repairs are declared to De Such
as to take very little time where the
ma achinery to do it is at hand
4 x =
Although the embryo officers now
attending the officers school have now
ma ssed from instructions IN navigation
and signaling and other deck duties,
and are now down into the hold to
study the engineering features, the
school of engineering which was to be
inaugurated several weeks ago to train
the enlisted personnel has been delayed
in opening. The engineering part of the
shin is one of the most important, and
men who have been trained in the work
are and should be the only ones left
to handle the intricate machinery
usually found in the holds Of naval ves-
sells.
Commander Dempf proposes to have
his engineer officers become efficient in
handling the deck of ship. as he
realizes that there are times when en-
gineer officers must do this work. .Ofi-
GERS of the regular service are required
to know both, and Commander Dsmpf
wants to see his officers just as. eff
cient as those in the regular navy He