The Washington herald., 1915-10-17
NEWS OF ARMY, NAVY AND MARINE CORPS

of officers and with much less expense.
for it is pointed out, the travel in
volved in bringing officers to the places
Of the test rides is a heavy one. 1t has
been suggested that the War Depart
ment adopt some such plan as that of
the Navy Department and require army
, officers to indulge regularly in physical
exercise with. perhaps. monthly
, hike or some other form Of activity
which will be its equivalent.
Information has come from the super
| intendent Of the Military Academy to
| the War Department of the desertion
from the detachment of engineers at
West Point of five enlisted men, who, it
is learned have Joined the military force
in Canada. 1t has been suggested that
this purpose.
There is no evidence that any effort
has been made to recruit men for Can
ada other than the letters from the de-
serters addressed to their former COM
rades at West Point. One such letter
has been forwarded to Washington and
; reports that those who have Joined the
! Canadian forces receive $50 month.
with an additional $50 if a man is mar
ried; that if the soldier is not killed in
the war, the government will give him
cludes with the postscript:
Tell the gang it's o. X
There is nothing to show that the Ca
madam government has anything to do
with this appeal. Canada. of course has
right to offer liberal inducements to
recruits. and SO long as such induce
ments are general and not offered spe-
cially to soldiers in our army this gov
crnment would have no cause for dip
\ 10, tir NJ. int
United States army took advantage of
these inducements.
Desertion. like other military ofenses
is regarded as a political offense, and
political offenders are. as rule not
eNtraditable. In many eXtradition trea-
ties military dcserters are expressly ex-
cluded. There is no mention OF such
Offenders in the eNtradition treaties be-
tween the United States and Great Brit
ain. Whatever steps are taken to pre-
vent further desertions. of the charactc
described should be taken by the United
States within its own territory. such as
increased efforts to prevent soldiers
from leaving their posts under circum-
stances which would permit them to
reach the Canadian boundary without
being apprehended or to effect their i'm
mediate apprehension after their unau-
thoriZed absence is discovered.
Reports from the surgeons of the
various military departments continue
to furnish confirmatory information
regarding the efficacy of vaccination
against typhoid in the army. For the
present it has been determined that en-
listed men shall be vaccinated once in
four years. while commissioned officers
will be vaccinated every five years
two courses of treatment being con-
sidered sufficient. after which the in
dividual is considered immune to ty-
phoid. The frequency and continuance
OF vaccination against typhoid. how
ever, is matter which can not be
finally determined without further ex-
perience and observation. 1t may be
decided that it is advisable to continue
the vaccination beyond the two
courses.
Last year there were seven typhoid
cases in the army. resulting in three
deaths. being those who had not been
vaccinated. or those who had typhoid.
despite the vaccination, two in num-
bcr. it was found that the treatment
had been administered two years prior
to the attack. Despite this admirable
showing. there are occasional evil
denccs of opposition to this protection
against typhoid. The statistics and the
practical results are. of course. over
whelminSly in favor of the continu-
ance of the system. and the antagonism
which has persisted is not likely to be
treated with great respect by the nedi
cal officers under the existing circum
stances.
Target competitions between teams
Of eight men from various Marine
Corps posts on the east coast will be
held at the rifle range at Winthrop.
Md, during the week commencing No
vember l.