The Washington herald., 1916-12-07
Army and Navy News
Beat Service Column In City.

The U. s. s. Seattle will remain at Bos-
ton Tor the completion of the present au-
tnorized repairs. according to announce
ment by the Navy Department The YES
sci Will not take part in the December
maneuvers with the fleet.
The following schedule for the U. s. s.
Montana has been approved
At mouth of Potomac River. December
to %; December p, leave for Philadel-
phia; December p to January g. at Phila-
delphia; January T. sail from Philadelphia
Tor Guacanayabo Gulf, Cuba; January 10
until April 9. at Guacanayabo; April 10,
leave for New York. While at Guacana-
yabo Gulf. the Montana will be based on
Guantanamo for supplies. The vessel will
proceed to Cienfuegos, Cuba, for liberty
and recreation February q. 1917, arriving
there on February %, and leaving on Feb
ruary %. Upon completion of expert
mental work. and when opportunity pre-
sents, the Montana will hold target prac-
tice with guns.
BY a special order of the War Depart
ment, Gen. Weaver, acting chief of stan.
mas ordered two assistants to the unit
OF the Reserve Officers Corps at Johns
hopkins University, in Baltimore, to help
Lieut.. {. W. Elliott OF the Thirty-sixth
infantry, who is professor of military
tactics.
The new men will be First Sergt. Will
lam Evans, retired engineer of the
United States Army, who will instruct
the soldier boys in the engineering side
Of the military game. and First Sergt.
Albert Freelander, Of Company B. Thirty
sixth Infantry. Brownsville Tex. Sergt.
freelander, who has been on active serv-
ice in Texas, is now on the way to his
new post Sergt. Evans already has ar
rived.
Results of the Mexican border mobiliza-
ton have demonstrated that the National
Guard system, as remodeled by the Hull
Dill, Is a failure. according to a special re-
port of the Militia Bureau of the War De-
partment. This report has been forward
ed to Secretary Of War Baker, but has
not been made public
The report will show for one thing that,
instead OF proving an incentive to re-
eruiting' 1t has acted as a deterrent. Re-
cruiting fell far below the lowest esti-
mates from the outset, declining to a
point where the army was obliged to
close the recruiting stations in most of
the states, the number Of the men OBJ
tanned not warranting the cost
Pralse for the militiamen who went to
the border and performed their duty 10y
ally and well is to be given In the report,
but mention. however, will be made of
Paso, when 80 men Of the Thirty-second
Michigan Infantry marched through the
camp streets shouting that they wanted
to be ordered back home. The comment
or the regular army officers will be di-
rected against the system and not against
the men.
The House Naval Committee has
made unprecedented progress in its
hearings on the naval estimates and has
completed the details under the bureaus
before the beginning of the second ses-
SION OF Congress" says the Army and
Navy Register. one of the leading SER
vice publication. This has been in part
due to the absence from the committee
hearings of those members who
habitually retard progress by intermin-
able interrogation to no practical, useful
purpose.
New legislation is as vet unknown
in quantity or In quality. 1t may touch
upon the personnel situation by extend
ing promotion by selection to the stan
and to Junior grades OF the line and by
modifying the present law so as to defer
until 1920 the retirement of naval Of
flcers at the age of 81. instead of g.
years The latter proposal has been ad-
vanced in behalf OF the senior captains
Of the line, and the discussion which
Is evoked by the suggestion may lead
to some other amendments of the per-
sonnel provisions in the act Of August g
There will be some attempt to cut
the estimates, as is to be expected,
especially In the direction Of fitting out
the navy yards to do ship construction.
as 1t is one OF the Inconsistencies OF
committee sentiment that the big vessels
authorized by Congress should be built
at government plants instead Of under
contract and that there should be every
possible restriction imposed upon the
allotment Of public funds for the equip
ment of the yards