The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1917-02-09

The above total does not include
the men Of the insular possessions, ex-
cept Hawaii. These could produce an
other 1000. 600 men Of military age.
France is said now to have one per-
son out Of every six In her population
serving In the army or navy. II the
United States and her insular posses
sions ever made such an effort. taking
the present population as 112,OOO,OOO,
the president would have at his dis
posal no less than 1S.666, ,666 men.
This is probably more men than
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria
and Turkey together have the field
today.
Unapproaehed Industrial Power.
II the unorganized manhood strength
Of the United States is imposing, the
industrial capacity of the nation Is
even more impressive.
With less than one-tenth of the
worlds population, we make nearly
One-third of all the things produced.
In iron and steel, for instance, we
turn out more than Great Britain and
Germany, the two next largest produ-
GERS, do together.
Some observers have estimated the
present industrial capacity OF the
United States at as much as all the
rest of the world put together. Whlle
this is perhaps an overestimate, large
scale production has been carried TO
such a fine point here that no nation
can approach us in the total produced
per worker.
The average American produces
more per hour of labor than the cltl-
zen of any other nation. We rely on
mechanical power three times more
per man than does Great Britain, four
times more than Germany ana hVe
times more than France.
The committee on industrial pre-
paredness of the naval consulting
board is lust about completing an in
ventory of the nations war resources
While the organization which was to
result from this inventory has only
Just been started, the work OF investi-
CATION done indicates In the clearest
manner the factory strength of this
country.
Coffin chairman of the committee,
stated that there are more than 3oVO
manufacturing concerns in the united
States which can render important
service in the event of war. No plant
is included in this list whose annual
output Is less than 100000.
The inventory is in the hands OF the
great engineering societies OF the
country which have had committees
at work in every state.
Marine Corps.
The United States marine corps Is
independent Of both the army and the
navy and its small strength should
perhaps be added to that of the two
main services when estimating the TO-
tai organized belligerent power of the
nation. The authorized strength OF
the corps is 1922 officers and men OF
all ciassiflcations, and the ranks are
nearly full.
Various schemes for army reserve
bodies were Incorporated In the ma
tional defense act Of last year. but
these provisions have not been in force
long enough to produce results OF I'M
portance. For instance, of 5O,OOo re-
serve officers provided for, total OF
less than 500 has been commissioned.
OrQanization OF the Army.
The commander In chief of the army
Gas of the navy also) Is the president
of the United States.
His representative, who carries Out
his wishes, Is the secretary of war
Newton d. Baker.
The directing force of the army is
the general staff. Maj. Gen. Hugh L.
Scott Is now chief Of staff and his as
sistant is Maj. Gen. Tasker ii. Bliss
Grouped about them in Washington
are army experts of various ranks
who are supposed to do the thinking
about general problems for the whole
army.
Should the United States send mill
tary expedition abroad, the commander
would undoubtedly be one of the sever
active major generals. These are Civ
en- below, with their present assign
| ments and headquarters:
Leonard Wood, eastern department
Governors island, N. Y.
J. Franklin Bell, western depart
ment, San Francisco, Cal.
Thomas ii. Barry, central depart
| ment, Chicago, Ill.
Frederick Funston, southern depart
ment, Fort Sam Houston, Tex.
Hugh l.. Scott, chief of staff, gen
eral staff, Washington, d. G.
Tasker H. Bliss, general, staff, Wash
ingtOn, D. G.
John ]. Pershing, Eighth brigade
Columbus, N. NJ.