Meade County news., 1917-08-16
Army and Navy Journal Asserts
That 1t Has No Parallel in
Military History.
ALL CRITICISM is SlLENCED
Service Paper Points Out That Nc
"PoIitical General Has Appeared
to Hinder operations-Praise
for Defense Council.

New York.-That the achievements
of the army and navy Of the United
States in the first three months of the
war "have worked forward with Il
smOothness and an absence of scandal
that have no parallel in our history Of
warfare" is the editorial statement
made by the Army and Navy Journal
in review of the part this country Is
playing in the great struggle.
"In material accomplishments we
have set up" the Journal says, "a rec
ord before the world Of which we may
well be proud. The great outstanding
facts of these three months of war Is
that our military and naval operations
have been conducted solely by army
AMI navy officers, with never n 'polltl-
cal general showing his head above
the horizon. Between the people and
the work Of the navy there has been
drawn, of military necessity, n screen
Of secrecy more effective than any
thing we have ever known before, and
which rebounds to the highest credit
of the press of the country. When that
screen has been lifted now and again
we have seen our fleets of destroyers
operating in British and French wa
ters we have learned Of another fleet
being in the South Atlantic on patrol
duty; we have learned of hundreds of
merchantmen, armed and manned by
navy guns and gunners, fighting u
boats and losing their lives In that ar
duous duty; and finally, we have learn
ed of the navy's superb achievements
in conveying to France the greatest
body Of troops we ever sent to foreign
soil in one expedition, without the loss
of a man.
Great Growth Of the Navy.
"Our navy's personnel has almost
doubled in that time, so that now we
have over 10000 men in the navy
while in the Marine corps we have
29,361, as against the 1926 on April g.
the day the state of war was declared.
The auxiliary patrol fleet manned by
the Fleet Naval reserve is gradually
assuming the form Of really effective
body of young men who are learning
navy traditions more rapidly than
would have been thought possible six
months ago. In addition to its hercu-
lean task of training the great influx
of recruits to the regular service, the
officers of the navy have taken on their
shoulders the added burden of train
ing thousands of young men to be Of
ticers and crews of the great fleet of
merchantmen that the government is
building as a part of the allies strate-
gical plan to conquer the U-boats.
"Even greater than this has been the
army's achievement owing to the sig
nal change that has come to the ma
tons policy regarding a large army
since the entry of the United States
into the war. For on the army has
devolved the task Of increasing the
regulars up to the war strength set by
the national defense act and putting
that army on a war footing, while 1t
has also had to face and carry through
the many problems presented by train
ing the National Guard for duty over
seas, preparing the plans for the first
lselective draft, registration and see
ing they were carried out, the plans
for the working of the draft itself and
for housing, provisioning and equip
ping the 100000 men that are to be
in cantonments some time after the
first of September.
Coincident with this the army has
had to perform the hitherto unheard-of
task of conducting sixteen training
schools for the making of officers and
of three camps for the training of
officers of the medical relief corps.
Under-Officered as every corps is in
the service they have had not only to
struggle along with the routine of the
service but also to handle the problems
of this enormous expansion of the reg
ulars. the National Guard and the ma
tional army that is In the making.
IAnd with all this. the army has sent
70 France General Pershing and his
staff. General Sibert and his expedi-
sionary force; has taken over COM