Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1916-04-05
aN ay from the expedition led those in
pursuit OF it straight 10 spring.
Pershinq Won His Way.


Many of the things which he has &C
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 Pershing's 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 wi'en there were no
officers of superior rank present, al
though there was 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. miniature bril-
gade. There were the elements pres
ent necessary for a mixed brigade. but
there were not troops enough TO make
| it proper in a military sense TO call
the assemblage brigade.
However. it was brigade in form,
and Pershing happened to be a senior
| captain present. In the absence of
majors. lieutenant colonies and col
onels he therefore became the COM
manding officer of what. for courtesy's
sake, was called 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 a military point OF view.
Following this exploit, Theodore
Roosevelt, who was then president OF
the United States. mentioned Perish
ing's 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
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 Cen
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 wide difference of opinion among
the members of the senate naval com
| mittee over this submarine matter.
| The chairman of the committee il is
said favors submarines at the expense
| Of dreadnaughts. while most of the
members take issue with the chairman
and favor dreaSnaughts 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, a Ger
man submarine, the U-9, performed a
! feat which astonished navy men all
over the world The U-9 went long
distance from it's base and sunk three
second-line enemy cruisers. At that
time it was said that upon the report
of the captain of the U-9 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 its
fuel. This feaS was so much more ex-
| traordinary than the voyage of the u
that naval officers in America began
to believe that dreadnaughts were to
be done away with for all time and
that the future navies would consist
principally of speedy battleship cruis-
ers and of an enormous number of
submarines.
Then ali 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 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