Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-23
NATIONAL DEFENSE
PROBLEMS.
III.-Lessons of the War
Commissary.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

The old adage that it is an ill wind
which fails to blow good to some one
has seldom been better illustrated than
in the case of the European war and
the lessons which it has taught the
military services of the United States
Prior to the commencement of the
conflict abroad this country, ill COM
mon with other world powers, realized
that, its military equipment was not
exactly up-to-date, so far as efficiency
and preparedness went. Wars have to
be fought in order to prepare for war.
and there had been no conflict of any
size since the Russo-Japanese war, the
lessons of which became anti lated
and obsolete within the decade which
followed. The entire world realized
that it's military and naval arma-
| ments needed the stimulus Of actual
warfare to perfect them, but none of
the powers desired to be the teachers
all wished to be pupils in the School Of
Mars
Then the European war broke and the
United States was left in the enviable
position of being the largest scholar,
taking course in the making of war
from a faculty of experienced profess
sors practically without cost The
world was being fought and all Uncle
Sam had to do to benefit by the expert
ence of nations that were spending mil
lions of dollars a day in the field was
to send few military experts abroad
to study the new weapons of war and
| their application in modern campaigns
Always on the lookout for any oppor-
tunity for benefiting the hundred mil
lion persons who
Sends Experts owe allegiance to
to Seat of War. stripes, the gov
eminent dispatched small corps Of
military experts to the seat of war
soon after the first declaration of hos
tilities. and the reports of these officers
have Injured the United States against
lack of preparation in military matters
for years to come.
So when President Wilson called upon
his military experts for recommends
lions, with the idea in mind of asking
Congress to give him a larger army and
navy, those experts had the latest in
formation at their finger tips.
Holding first place among the lessons
they had learned is the modern method
of feeding an army in time of war, a
meInOd winch mas vast III
provements within the last three
decades.
1t was formerly the custom to furnish
soldiers in the field with their rations
in an uncooked state. The troops pre-
pared their food over campfires, using
their own utensile for the purpose. But
campfires are no longer lighted-they
provide entirely too good target TOR
the enemy's long-range artillery and
bomb dropping aircraft The camp
fire of the civil war period has passed
into history, together with the tented
cities which housed the sleeping troops.
Nowadays the soldiers light their way
with electric flashlights and. sleep in
the trenches.
AS it is hardly practica BILE to cook
ones food over pocket f1ashlight,
some other meth ID had to be substi-
tuted for preparing the rations of the
troops. The modern field kitchen, an
enormous cooking range on wheels.
capable of preparing the food for hun
dreds of soldiers, was the improve
mentment finally adopted abroad, and
the result has exceeded all expecta-
lions.