The Washington herald., 1915-12-17
BY r.. u. JOHNS.

With ten new members. the HOus.. Com
mittee on Military Affairs held its first
meeting yesterday. The committee is rr-
garded as an exceptionally strong one.
including among its members former Gov
| 4. q. Shellenberger. Of Nebraska and
| the Democratic nominee for the Senate
in Tennessee, Representative h. l.. Me
! EeIIar.
Aside from selecting subcommittee no
action was taken at yesterdays meet
| ing. II was agreed not to open the hear
ings until after the holiday recess, when
| tn" Secretary of War will be asked to
| submit the names Of the officers who will
be authorized to appear before the COM
mittee to represent the War Department.
Chairman Hay and the members of the
| lcommittee indicated a desire to have an
Extended hearing on the entire question
of national defense. The advocates OF
different propositions for increasing the
strength of the army and National Guard
will be given an opportunity to present
| their views.
1t is evident from the RENAL Ks
dropped by the members of the COM
mittee that there will be more op-
| position to the proposed continental
| army than aHy other recommendation
| of the administration program. This
will come from two sources. The ad-
| opposed to the continental army be-
cause they fear that il will interfere
with the development of the organized
| militia. Those who believe that the
| country must depend largely on the
regular army insist that men cannot
| be induced to enlist in force or
ganized on the plans for the continen-
| tai army. Even Chairman Hay has
not much confidence in the proposed
Y AL I...-.
porter Of the administration h" will
favor II when IL comes to report out
a bill. In order to report out the con-
| tinenta1 army scheme II will he neces-
| sary for Mr.. Hay to muster the entire
| Democratic strength, which II is fear
ed he cannot do unless there is a
change in the sentiment of the COM
| mittee.
The following are the subcommittee
appointed at Yesterdays melting:
| No. One-Army organization and appro-
priations. observation-disclosures. Hay.
| Dent. Fields. Farley, Kahn and Anthony.
/ No. observation-disclosures. Mcclellan.
Quin. Nichols. Greene, Tilson. and
Crago.
No. Three-Military academy. battle
| fields. monuments. medals. etc.-Messrs.
| McKellar. Quin. Farley, Mckenzie, An
| thony. and Hull
NO fOur-SOidters homes. and national
cemeteries-Messrs. Quin. Gordon. Mich
| oils. Olney End. NORM. Anthony and
Crago.
No. Five-Voluntary muster bounty and
| pay-Messrs. Littlepage. Shallenberger.
| NICHOLS. Farley, NORM, Crago and Nc
Kenzie.
No. Six-Arsenals. barracks and mill
| tary observation-disclosures. Shallenberger.
Caldwell. Wise. Only End. Norm, Crago
| and Hull.
No. Seven-Retirements. restorations
and reliefs-Messrs. Gordon, Olney End.
Wise. Caldwell. Mckenzie. Green and
Tilson.
No. Eight-Desertions- Ffeldds,
Quin. Caldwell, Wise, Shallenberger, Nc
Kenzie. Norm. Crago and Hull.
One OF the most brilliant achievements
of the Marine Corps. according to official
reports which were received at the Navy
Department yesterday. was the capture
of Fort Riviere, an old stone fortifica-
tion In Northern Haiti. built by the
French. when the island was . colonial