The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1916-05-18
WARRINGTON oosm.

Washington, May N.-Virile Ameri.
ca seems determined to prepare itself
in military way whether Congress
adopts any elaborate program or not
This observation is called forth by the
extraordinary response to the call for
volunteers for the various citizens
training camps to be held this summer.
Already more than 5000 Americans
have enlisted for the training at Platts.
burg, N. Y. Plattsburg" will be open
five months, in five camps, each ac-
cOmmodating over thousand Crook.
ies.' The camp, Of course, is conduct.
ed by regular army officers, and the dis
cipline and training is exactly what the
recruit gets in the regular service, only
even more of it. In one respect only
does the citizen recruit escape, and that
is in doing guard duty. The camp is
policed and guarded by regular troops.
similar story of success comes from
the organization of the citizens train
ing camp at Fort Oglethorpe, in Geor-
gia. The enlistment officers there are
being flooded with applications, and
the camp promises to be filed to capac
ity during its establishment. The
Plattsburg idea is to be carried out
IN several other sections of the coun,
try this year-at indianapolis, Chicago,
San Francisco and other places. Prob
ably by fall some tweny five or thirty
thousand citizens will understand the
rudiments of soldering and be ready to
serve in the defense Of the United
States should there be a call.
In other ways, too, Washington is re.
ceiving evidences of the interest of the
common people in military training.
The war department is literally
swamped with applications for civil.
ians' rifle clubs. Under the rev ar.
rangement with the National Ride Club
Association, the government furnishes
arms, ammunition and instruction to
citizens rife clubs anywhere. ANY
ten boys or men can organize one Of
these clubs, get charter and receive
the army rifles to practice with. The
government also furnishes liberal SUD.
ply Of ammunition. In large number
of cases the shooting instructors can
give personal instruction, but the var
ious firing manuals issued by the gov
eminent are SO complete in their in.
| struction that any man can carry out
the army principles Of correct shooting.
The result of this spontaneous move.
ment is that America in a relatively
short time is going to have large body
OF men who will understand army dis
cipline, and what is more important.
who will know how to shoot straight.
Lord Kitchener has said that the grea.
lesson OF the present war is that
straight shooting is the prime requisite
in a soldier.
An interesting experiment in civilian
trnu vNvn hnr
ter at Fort Meyer, Va, just across the
Potomac river from Washington. I'm.
der orders from the secretary of war,
the officers at this post have taken in
hand twenty -four Washington newspa
per correspondents with the view of
turning them into trained cavalrvmen
The drills are held every Sunday morn
ing for about three hours, and no othe,
training is required. The drills began
last October and the, are still going on
Thus, some thirty drills have already
been held, representing thirty days OF
easy training. Yet in that time this
platoon has been training in discipline
and target shooting, and is becoming
quite proficient in Workmanship. The
officers are so well pleased with thu
progress of the work that they prom
Use that certain Of these amateur cav
alrymen will be able by next fall tt
pass examinations and become compe
tent officers of volunteers in the event
of war.
Are We Running Out of Nitrogen?
Scientists before the Senate commit
tee investigating the possibilities o.
. nitrogen manufacture in this country
have expressed the opinion that in tel
years the whole world will be gettin.
its nitrogen for fertilizer, explosives
and the arts from the air by the hydro
fixation process, the art of taking nj
trogen from the air by means of waite
power.
Senator Kenyon, of Iowa, asked sci
enlist, an eminent Belgian engineer
who was testifying, if there was no
some danger of taking all this nitrogen
out Of the air.
81 can answer your question, Sena
tor, by illustrating, replied the scien
fist. There are billion and hall
people on earth. This seems like :
large number, yet if Lake Champlain
in New York, were frozen thick, you
could stand the entire population o.
the earth on the ice of that small lake
Have the old people and babies move.
on to the bank, and there would b.
skating room for the rest.
1.-THE gaseous envelope about tn,
earth is about $50 miles thick. Yo,
can take a square mile of the earth =
surface, and resting upon this space, as
suming that you build four walls cleal
up to the top limit of air, there i
enough nitrogen to supply the entire
earth for breathing purposes for Il
whole generation. When you think o!
the hundreds of millions of square miles
of the earth s surface, you can see thai
all of the nitrogen we could possibly
| nv%,,.% .x,o,,lI not ho n Jro, - III.