The Washington herald., 1916-12-14
Army and Navy News
Best Service Column In City.

Secretary of the Navy Daniels, Chair
man Padgett, and thirteen members OF
the House Committee on Naval Affairs.
are inspecting the old exposition grounds
at jamestown, Va, and adjoining prop
erty with view to establishing a gen.
eral naval base there. The step Is de-
signed to relieve congestion at the Nor
folk Navy Yard.
Experts have recommended the site to
the House Naval Affairs Committee and
have even gone to the extent Of out
lining tentative plans for the proposed
naval base which would be the biggest
on the Atlantic seaboard.
Radical improvement in cable teleg-
raphy as the result of recently concluded
experiments of the Signal Corps OF the
army can be confidently predicted, ac-
cording to the War Department.
Tests on a cable extending from Sitka.
Alaska, to Seattle, Wash. a distance Of
1.OS6 miles, have shown conclusively. it
is stated. that the new receiving instru-
ments which threaten to revolutionize
cabling the world over have proved an
unqualified success.
The improvement, it is said. consists
essentially in the adaptation of the tick
err and audion types Of instrument used
for receiving signals in radio telegraphy.
Until now all ocean cables have been
equipped with visual record receiving ap
paratus using the Siphon recorder instru-
ment invented by Lord Kelvin fifty years
ago.
The actual receiver under the new sys-
tenn is an ordinary telephone. 1t is so
sensitive that only one-twentieth of the
power necessary to operate the recorder
now in use is necessary. This will per-
NIT the operation of ocean cables under
conditions which at present would in
terrupt their use.
Exceptionally generous leave privi-
leges are granted employees of the
Ordnance Department of the Army, ac-
cording to Gen. Crozier. chief of ord
nance, who has made a special report
on the subject.
THE naval appropriation act ap-
proved August 29 last" he says, lex
tends the leave period of fifteen days
with pay. Heretofore granted, to thirty
days for the employees Of this depart
ment. In addition to the statutory
leave thus granted, the employees re-
ceive pay each year. without work, for
seven legal holidays. and for about
eleven Saturday afternoons during the
summer months. Therefore, under the
new act. they will receive pay for
some 421-2 days per year without
work.
daily wage as that of the vicinity for
work Of like character, a government
employees will, therefore. receive about
l6 per cent more pay for the time ac-
tually worked than a private employe
doing work of like character in eight
hour days. since the private employe is
paid only for the time actually worked
II the hours of work of the private
employe are nine hours per day. the
ROvarnnanf will
per cent more pay for the time worked.
The difference makes a very con-
siderable handicap in the labor cost
of the government worker, and affords
some measure of what must be over
come in order to meet the contention
that better output, resulting from
diminished hours of labor and increas-
ed holidays, is sufficient to offset the
handicap"
! At the rate prescribed by the Hay
army act, which authorizes an increase
in the army of 10000 men every year up
until 1920. 10000 men will have to be
obtained in each Of these years in addi-
| ton to the 1900 men who must be OBJ
This Is regarded as almost an impossible
task.
OF course, this gain of 20,0o0 a year
must be net gain. for the expiring enlist
ments, which will amount to many more
than 20,000 a year must also be made up
each year in the meantime.
To obtain this tremendous increase. the
Hay bill held out two main methods of
aid to the war department. One was the
use Of postmasters all over the country,
who are to receive s.. for each recruit
obtained, and the other was the shorten
ing Of the enlistment to two years, with
the provision that a recruit could leave
the army after one year if. In the mean
time, he had proved his ability as a SOL
der. '~
OF these two aids, neither has SO far
proved valuable. Postmasters in October
obtained only fifty-four recruits, a gain
of two over September. The provision
that recruit could leave the army after
one year was suspended by the Secretary
of War so that too many enlistments
would not expire at the same time. 1t is
true, of course, that the power of the
postmasters to obtain recruits has not yet
been fully developed, but present indica-
tions are that little help may be expected
from this source. rs
After more than forty years service
Brig. Gen. James Miller is dead at his
home in Temple. N. H. He died Mon
day. according to Information from the
Office of Adjutant General Mccain. Gen.
eral Miller served throughout the war of
the rebellion and saw service during the
Indian uprisings. He was in Cuba and
Porto Rico. He retired in 1903.
At least 400 marines viii spend Christ
mas at home. The Navy Department has