The Washington herald., 1916-12-27
Army and Navy News
Best seEvice Column in CITY.

War Department ofiicials yesterday re-
ceiyed detailed reports Of the success Of
me nrst Christmas spent on the Mexican
border by the mobilized army of regulars
and Guardsmen
High mass in the camp of the Thirty
! second Michigan Infantry ushered In the
Yuletide for thousands of militiamen In
the El Paso district. Chaplain Patrick
Dunigan officiated, attended by the
Michigan regiment and many enlisted
men and civilians from the army camps
and from Ell Paso.
kilograms from the governors Of the
! States represented in this district were
received for the militiamen and regular
/ army soldiers.
; soldier In the district. There were
Christmas trees in the camps of the
various units comprising the provisional
border division and Christmas services
and celebrations held throughout the
division.
Band concerts were held I'm all the
| camps, and polo games. football and
| other sports were participated in by Of
ficers and men.
All but the most necessary duties were
suspended throughout the division by
order of Brig. Gen. George Bell, jr., and
the men are enjoying q week Of rest from
drills and routine duties.
In addition to the individual Christmas
| boxes from relatives and friends Of the
| nilitiamen, many cities and towns rep
| resented by soldiers on this part of the
border sent Christmas boxes containing
nuts, candles, cake, oranges and other
Yuietide dainties.
have been made happy due to the efforts
of Chaplain q. c. StuIl, Of the Eleventh
Infantry.
At Texas City, and during the early
stay of the troops at Douglas, the tent
provided by the quartermaster general OF
the army was made use Of to entertain
the men This continued until Novem-
Der of last year, when through the kind
ness of Brig. Gen. T. F. Davis, then
chaplain of the Eleventh Infantry was
given authority to draw plans and make
estimates of the building that would
house the men during the inclement
weather Of the winter and early spring
On December 10 the building was opened
and there were approximately $500 men
seated. There has been no night sinoe
that the average attendance has been
less than 1,50o. while on special occa-
stons between 5000 and 1000 men have
been inside and outside taking part in
the entertainment.
The building is 17s feet long. % feet
wide, and has seating capacity Of
$500. 1t is used for a recreation build
ing during the day and oficers school
and noncommissioned officers school, for
readins and writing. and for the sundry
other functions that compose camp life
Thirty enlisted men, drawn from three
lregiments-the Eleventh, Eighteenth an6
lTwenty-second Infantry-performed every
part of the work, and the total cost, in
Icluding the building Of two fireplaces
holding S-foot logs. was less than 81. 800
During the summer months the seats
are removed from the interior and put
on the outside. SO that the cool OF the
evening can be enjoyed by the men while
they take part in the entertainment and
look at the pictures nightly thrown on
the screen.
The shortage of officers In both the
line and star OF the navy will be mate
rally lessened by the bill passed last
year permitting. the commissioned per
sonnel to be automatically increased from
time to time to meet the demands II
the growing navy. In addition, during
the next ten years, thirty acting en-
signs for the performance of engineering
duties only may be appointed from civil
| life each year, and an additional mid
shipman for each Senator and Congress
man provided. which will increase the
number of students at the Naval Acad-
emy to approximately 80 per cent