The Washington herald., 1916-01-30
BY r. n. JOHNS.

4
| While there is great deal being
said in the hearings before the mill
tary committees as to the time that Is
| required to produce a soldier IL might
be we'll to take into consideration the
period of training of the first class
powers. Most of the testimony before
the military committees is an express
sion of opinion and not the result
of the experience of nations which
are recognized to be first class mill
| tary powers.
The only experience which the
| United States has had in developing
| effective armies was in the Civil war.
Neither the Spanish American war nor
| the Filipino insurrection, called for
| the use of highly trained and well
organized army. The only real test
for this country was in the Civil
| war and IL is generally agreed that II
or the South had effective forces in
the neld The early battles of the
| Civil war are regarded by military
authorities as nothing more than hghts
| between armed mobs.
! A table complied by oficial reports
show that the same time is employed
by the nations now at war in train
| ing its active army as was required
! to produce an effective force in the
| Civil war Two years is the minimum
| time of service with the colors in the
armies of the belligerent nations.
This is a vital fact that should be
| taken into consideration II Congress
| is to pass legislation for an effective
| land force. It lie understood that the
War College fixed the period of train
| ing with the colors for the Regular
Army at two years, after studying the
| result of the experiments of the great
nations. II this country is ever in
| vaded by any of the nations mention
ed in the report, it will be called
upon to resist a force of troops with
a minimum training of two years. In
France the period of training is uni
formly three years and in Germany
artillery with two years for the other
arms.
The report on the explosion in sub
marine E-2 is held up awaiting the re-
| covery of Chief Electrician Miles Ac-
cording to advice from his physician.
Electrician Miles is on the road to re-
covery and will be able to testify be-
| fore the Court of Inquiry in the near
future. The chief electrician is regarded
as an important witness. Being an ex-
pert it is thought that he will be able
to give the board some very valuable
Information.
An offer of the armor manufa cturers
to furnish confidential information on the
cost OF armor plate was declined yester-
day afternoon by Secretary of the Navy
Daniels. The conditions under which
the armor plate manufacturers offered the
information were not satisfactory to the
Secretary.
The armor manufacturers offered to al
low an expert accountant examineN their
| books with the pledge that the informa
ton was to be communicated only to
| the Secretary. But this plan the armor
manufacturers declared the Secretary
could ascertain just what it cost the
! concerns to manufacture armor plate. 1t
was insisted by the representatives of
the manufacturers that in order to OBJ
tain accurate information on the subject,
the Secretary must be advised of some OF
the trade secrets OF the concerns and
| that these must not be made public.
In declining the offer Secretary Daniels
stated that It was his duty to furnish
information TO Congress II he had such
| information in his office as is offered by
the armor plate manufa cturers Congress
at any time could pass a resolution ask
ing for It and he could not refuse 1t. OF
course " It was sent to Congress II would
eventually be made public.
Among the army arrivals who visit
ed the War Department Yesterday on
business were Capt. Ovenshine. Seventh
Infantry Capt. g. B. CouIy First Cav
airy, and Lieut. L. H. Mckinley, Third
Artillery. aE
Navy officers who registered at the
Navy Department yesterday were Lieut.
D. B. Bearg. u. S. N, a., Passed AS
sistant @. B. Tribble Solace. Lieut. A.
G. Read. aeronautic station; Lieut. A.
S. Hunding, U s. s., Neptune.
Di.trfst signal Corps.
At last the Signal Corps Company.
of the District National Guard, has been
authorized to proceed with the organi-
zation of a battalion. and the recruit
ing OF the new radio company has be-
gun. Several rlen have already enlist
ed in the new company. and great in
terest is being manifested by the ANA
teur radio operators in the District.
Several OF the men in the present wire
company have asked to be transferred
to the Radio Company which transfer
viii be made. Morse teiegraphers will
be recruited for the field wire company,
Capt Terry is working hard on
lreQuisitions for uniforms, electrical ma
I