Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-04-04
ay ay from the expedition led those in
pursuit of it straight &c a spri1g.
Pershing Won His Way.

Much has been written ana printed
aBout Brig. Gen. John ]. Pershing,
United States army, the commander in
chief OF the punitive expedition sent
across the border into Mexico to round
up Francisco Villa and his followers.
Many of the things which he has ac-
complished as a soldier have been
printed, but there are some things
which seem to have been overlooked
by the record searchers.
No one seems to have given as yet
the exact circumstances connected
with Pershings coup in the Philip
pines, by which he won his star as
brigadier general He was captain OF
cavalry, and he happened to be near
the Lake Lanao country with his
troop at time when there were no
officers of superior rank present, al
though there was a considerable body
of troops in the immediate vicinity.
In the section of the country in
which Pershing was stationed there
was some cavalry, some infantry, and
if memory is all right, some field ar
tillerymen. There were troops enough
there of the different branches to
form, when combined, a miniature bril-
gade. There were the elements pres
ent necessary for mixed brigade, but
there were not troops enough to make
it proper in a military sense to call
the assemblage brigade.
However, it was a brigade in form,
and Pershing happened to be a senior
captain present. In the absence or
majors, lieutenant colonies and col
| onels he therefore became the COM
handing officer of what, for courtesys
sake, was called a brigade. He took
his troops, cavalrymen, infantrymen
and artillerymen into the Lake Lanao
district and there fought hard fight
and cleaned up what was a very dirty
situation, or at least so one might ex-
press it from military point OF view
Following this exploit, Theodore
Roosevelt, who was then president of
the United States, mentioned Perish
ings name in message to congress,
saying that he wished that he could
promote the captain to majority or
lieutenant colOnelcv, in order to
show appreciation of his fine service
in the Philippines.
The law is such that the president
I of the United States cannot promote
an officer except to the grade of brig
| adler general. When the opportunity
came, Roosevelt promoted Captain
Pershing and made him Brigadier Gen
eral Pershing.
Controversy over Submarines,
A controversy still is waging in ma
val circles and in legislative circles
concerning the usefulness Of sub
marines. AS has been pointed out be-
fore in Washington dispatches, there
is a wide difference of opinion among
the members Of the senate naval COM
mittee over this submarine matter.
The chairman of the committee it is
said favors submarines at the expense
of dreadnaughts, while most of the
members take issue with the chairman
and favor dreadnaughts at the ex-
pense of submarines.
For year and five months now this
submarine matter has been causing
disputes in congress and in the Ameri
can navy. In september, 1914, Ger
man submarine, the U-9, performed a
feat which astOnished navy men all
over the world The U9 went long
distance from its base and sunk three
second-line enemy cruisers. At that
time it was said that upon the report
of the captain Of the U9 when it final
ly was turned in might depend the fu-
lures of the navies of the world.
Some time ago, after the exploit of
the U-9, it was reported on seemingly
good authority that one of the under
the-sea boats had made a voyage from
the vicinity of the North sea to the
Bosporus without replenishing it's
fuel This feat was so much more eX-
traordinary than the voyage of the u
9 that naval officers in America began
to believe that dreadnaughts were to
be done away with for ali time and
that the future navies would consist
principally of speedy battleship cruis-
ers and Of an enormous number of
submarines.
Then all at once there came stories
that the British navy authorities had
found means which were effective to
offset the attacks of submarines and
moreover to cut short the career of
the under-the-sea boats before they
could get in their deadly work. Then
the American authorities, naval and
legislative, had to study the subject all
over again. They tried hard to get the
truth concerning the British reports as
they tried hard to get the truth con-
corning the reports which came from
Germany, The stories have been so
conflicting that the camps are about
equally divided today between the
submarine advocates and the dread
naught advocates.
Many Experiments Made.
All sorts of experiments have been
made by the naval authorities OF the
world to protect warships from under
the-sea torpedo attacks. No one
! knows definitely, as has been intimat-
ed in the foregoing, whether some
thing absolutely adequate to the work
of protection has been secured. There
are some naval authorities who say
that inventive genius seemingly has
not reached the stage where it can
produce a perfect protection for a big
warship without so handicapping its
movements as to make its means of
defense destroy its usefulness in
OffenSe.
Congress today is uncertain in pre-
pairing its program for an increase in
the navy as to whether or not it is
wiser TO build little ships or big ships.
| The question may not be answered
definitely for some years. and in the