The Washington herald., 1916-12-01
Army and Navy News
Best Service Column IN Cit,

Thirty obstructions were removed
from the path Of navigation in the last
year by the United States Coast Guard.
according to the annual report, there
and many lives. The cost of the work
for the fiscal year was $5,215,711.
The report states that the task OF
the Coast Guard, so far as assisting
vessels In distress Is concerned, has
been lighter because OF the withdrawsl
OF all seaworthy vessels for use in the
foreign trade. Neutrality duty assign
ed to the Coast Guard cutters has
added work in another quarter, how
ever. and the report urges that an ex-
ira cutter be provided especially for
neutrality duty on each coast.
The report also states that an aux
iliary aviation corps, to be used in
sighting. wrecks. in carrying hausers
aboard distressed vessels, and for 9TH
er general life-saving purposes. should
be provided by Congress. New cutters
are asked to replace the worn out ones
at several of the stations.
Secretary of the Navy Daniels has
written to Alan r. i1awley. president
of the Aero Club of America, in reply
to an inquiry concerning an organiza-
ton with recruiting headquarters in
New York for the Aviation Section
of the United States Volunteer Naval
Reserve" The letter follows:
Under date of November IS, this
department submitted to the Attorney
General of the United States certain
correspondence which has been re-
ceived from the commandant of the
New York Navy Yard concerning the
alleged unlawful wearing of the uni
form of the United States Navy by
certain persons at 1855 Broadway, New
York City.
THE organization referred to in
your letter appears to have no connec-
tion with the Navy. and is believed to
be the same as that brought to the at
! tention of the Department of Justice
regarding the alleged unlawful use OF
the uniform of the United States
Navy"
Louis Ledyard Kales, an aviator who
offered to aid the organization by
teaching men to fly. is quoted as say
I ing that the Navy Department former
! ly had lauded the idea as a splendid
addition to the general preparedness
campaign.
| No action has yet been taken by the
Navy Department with respect to the
plant authorized at the last session Of
Congress. An appropriation not to ex-
ceed 1850. 900 has been made for the pro-
ject. 1t has been proposed to erect the
plant adjacent to the proposed armor
plant, and the delay selecting a site for
the latter factory has likewise delayed
the selection of a location for the for
mer plant
II 1t is decided that the armor plant
shall not be built. regardless of the nu-
merous hearings on suitable sites that
have been held, 1t will be a comparatively
simple matter to locate the projectile
plant. of which there Is great need and
over the completion of which much valu-
able time already has been lost In the
cost OF this plant, the increases in the
cost OF material and labor will require a
material revision of the original esti-
mates.
Announcement by the Geological Survey
that the nitrate deposits in this country
are practically worthless for commercial
or military utilization renders 1t neces-
sary for the government to depend upon
the nitrate supply of Chile for the raw
product from which to obtain nitric acid
for the manufacture Of its powder OF
else to erect nitric-acid plants for the
fixation of atmospheric nitrogen.
The military-naval authorities have
however, anticipated this failure OF the
domestic supply and the difficulty and
expense OF production by arranging fol-
the purchase and shipment from Chile
of nitrate. The army ordnance Officers
are arranging for the transportation Of
$500 pounds of sodium nitrate from Chile
to be brought in government vessels and
stored at the Picatinny and Rock Island
lArSenalS