Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-03-29

French's quarters are not far away. |
the center of bustling activity in con- |
nection with the new air defenses |
Just what these are, is not being |
made known, except in the guarded !
announcements of Lord Kitchener to |
parliament, as the theory of the war |
officials is that surprise is an essen |
tial element in the effectiveness of a |
warweapon. SO that about all that
is known is that Field Marshal French |
is working with Sir Percy scott, the |
naval expert, in an extensive scheme /
of land and coast defenses and warn |
ings, with rapidly increasing air-dc- |
Tense guns around London and in all |
exposed parts of England.
But while these main figures of tho |
war office are most before the public, /
there is also vast organization car |
rying on the innumerable day-to-day |
branches of military work The |
the adjutant general, the quartermas-
ter general and the civil and finance |
departments, with most of the ord |
nance branch now transferred to the |
ministry of munitions. Under these !
main heads there are some 800 divi- |
sions, taking in the whole range Of |
military activities The war council |
is, In effect, made up of the heads of !
these main divisions. seven in all, |
with Lord Kitchener as president Of |
the council, and General Robertson, |
chief of staff; Adjutant General Scla-
ter. Quartermaster General Cowans, |
Major General Won Donop, Parlia |
mentary Secretary Tenant and FL !
nancial Secretary Foster as the other !
members of the war council. The |
general staff, with General Robert /!
son al its head, makes the scientific
studies of military defense, assem-
bles all the valuable intelligence on
different campaigns, furnishes the
experts, and has charge Of the mill
tary nter-communication by tele-
graph and signalling. Unlike the
American system, the British army
medical service is under the adjutant
general. The extensive purchase Of
American horses, harness and sup
plies has come under the direction of
Quartermaster General Cowans, who
has general charge of food, clothing
and supplies. land and water trans
portation of troops, supplying horses,
etc.
Development of Ordnance.
The recent transfer of ordnance
from the war office to the ministry
development of ordnance, particular
ly artillery, since it first came into
use. 1t was not until 1883 that Eng
land established an ordnance officer,
the war office records showing that
Rauf Bigod was the first master of
ordnance That was the time the
Germans We're first using these
strange engines called artillery,
throwing enormous stones. SO the
English appointed a master of ord
nance and soon after Ferdinand OF
Spain also got some of these new en-
gines of warfare and with them sue
ceeded at last in battering down the
walls of Grenada and driving the
Moors out of Spain. From that time /
on artillery was a main factor in set
Ting wars and in England such men |
as the Duke of Marlborough, Lord |
CORVALLIS, Lord Hoe, and the Duke |
of wellington were masters of ord I
nance. 1t is a curious fact that after
Lord CORVALLIS surrender at York
town, he returned to England and be- |
came the master general of ordnance.
This matter of big guns has been
growing ever since, until this war
made ii such a factor that a new cab
met minister took it over as a separ-
ate department.
A visit to the registry branch of the
war office gave an idea of the inn
mensity of the work going on, for
this branch receives everything COM
ing in and distributes the business to
all branches. over 100000 letters
are received every week, and of these
an average of 10000 go through the
formality of registering. once regis
tered, a communication is an official
record of the government, eventually
under the control of the master of
the rolls. The mere registering OF 1
this vast influx of 10000 pieces OF 4
war business is a prodgious
work Ten youths were at a long Ia
BILE engaged solely in Sitting open the
envelopes. Fourteen sacks OF war
business had come in the first morn
ing mail, and this was only the start
Room after room is filled with men
and women workers, registering these
communications and getting them
started to the 120 branches. war
addressed personally
to Lord Kitchener or any other Off
cial is delivered direct, but unless per-
addressed 1t is part of the
war office business, and goes TO one
Of the 120 branches, according to
the subject treated. There Is no
time for high sounding titles, and so
every branch and every official IS
known by group of letters, and eV-
cry officer in the service has num-
Der. This registry branch under the
direction of one of the veteran mem
bers of Sir Reginald Brade's staff,
Mr.. Pedley, is a model of efficiency
in the handling of the avalanche OF
documents which the war turns loose
on every branch OF the war office
Going down in the sub-basement, be-
low the level of the Thames one could
see the bewiIdering vistas of docu-
ments, stretching for long distances