Middletown transcript., 1917-06-30

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to start with, and already hundreds of
young men are being selected for the
work and put into training. For a
long time Admiral Peary has been urg-
ing the building up of powerful air
service for our army and navy, and
Brigadier General SQuier has done oil
an active officer is permitted to do to
forward such plan, and now the gov
eminent realizes that an immense fleet
Of airplanes is the quickest effective
aid it can give to its allies In Eu-
rope.
The aviation bill contemplates the
establishment of "a training camps and
instruction in many technical schools;
the construction of about 1000 planes
a month at the end of six months, with
the number constantly increasing until
it reaches 5000 month; the building
at first mainly of training and obser-
walton machines and later Of larger
number of battle planes.
To fill up the ranks Of the regular
army, President Wilson issued call
for 10000 volunteers between the ages
of eighteen and forty years. Through
out the army the recruiting officers
especially emphasized the fact that
men who registered are welcome as
volunteers and will have some advan-
tages over those who wait to be
drafted.
Registration slackers began getting
what is coming to them last week.
Their days of grace having expired
and chucked into Jail. Several of them
already have been given prison SEN
fences. Though the number of arrests
may seem large, it really is insignif
cant when compared with the total
registration.
War department officials seem to be
having q hard time settling on the
plans for the training camps for the
National army. Over and over again
the specifications are changed, and not
much Roadway is being made. Instead
of leaving the details to the regular
army officers. who are experts in that
line, the council Of national defense
has taken a hand and put experts" of
its own choosing in charge of various
parts of the work, and the result so
far has been confusion and delay. The
council has been doing great work in
many ways, but this looks like a case
of too many cooks. The whole mat
ter of getting the conscriptive army
and the National Guard into training
only emphasizes the wisdom Of a uni
versal service policy and law.
Submarines Very Active.
Germany'S submarines put in an
other busy week, many reports of the
sinking of allied and neutral vessels
coming in. Among the ships sent down
was the American OIL tank steamship
John D. Archbold, five Of whose crew
were lost The vessel was armed and
carried a gun crew from an American
warship. but the gunners had not been
supplied with range finders by the
navy department.
Vice Admiral Sims. during the tenn
porary absence Of the British COM
mander in chief, was appointed to take
general charge of the operations Of the
allied naval forces in Irish waters,
where the U-boats find most of their
victims. The giving of this great re-
sponsibility to the American admiral
shows the confidence the allies have
in his ability and wisdom.
Two feats of the American destroy
ers in British waters were told dur
ing the week One Of these vessels
came upon submarine and promptly
rammed it. probably sending 1t to the
bottom. Two others, responding to
wireless calls, rescued so survivors of
two British ships that were torpedoed
100 miles away. the farthest point west
in the Atlantic the U-boats have oper-
ated since the ruthless campaign be-
gan.
There was violent fighting in France
throughout the week, but neither side
made important gains. The Germans
won first-line trenches from the Brit
ish east of Monchy-le-Prieux and from
the French east of Vauxaillon, but
later were driven back again with
heavy losses. The Canadian troops
captured some positions in front of
Lecs, paving the way for drive on
that center of the coal fields.
Toward the end of the week the
Germans yielded to the heavy pressure
of the British in the territory domi-
mated by the Messines ridge and aban-
doned the ground they had held on the
western side of the bend of the Lys