Omaha daily bee., 1917-04-04
A Call for Marines
d IaL.
Bp Frederic ]. Hdsktn

Washington, April 1.-The president has
signed an executive order raising the strength
OF the Marine Corps to the emergency limit. The
total strength of the corps under the new order
will be l7400 men,. The increase comes on the
heels OF another increase authorized only few
months ago providing for an addition of 255 Off
GERS and s,034 men. The authorized strength Of
the Marine Corps has been raised more rapidly
in proportion to its total strength than that OF
either the army or the regular navy. Largely
on this account, the Marine Corps is still short
about 1000 men, although recruiting has been
brisk since the first increase was authorized.
The most important war duties of>the Marine
Corps today are matters that have only come up
in the last twenty years. Before the war with
Spain in 1898 the duties of the corps were lin
tied to supplying marine detachments to the
larger warshps of the navy, and to policing and
guarding navy yards. Since then the Marine
Corps has acquired two new lines of duty of
greater Importance.
To the Marine Corps has been assigned the
general task of establishing and maintaining ad-
vance bases for the feet in time of war. And to
the Marine Corps has fallen the task Of policing
all the small disorderly countries Of the Carib-
bean and the American tropics, so that no Euro
pean power may have cause to challenge the
Monroe Doctrine on the grounds that the lives.
and property of its nationals are not being re-
spected in the western hemisphere.
The advance base work OF the Marine Corps
Is Of first importance in naval war. The tremen-
dous weight which naval experts attach to the
naval base Is shown clearly enough to the veriest
layman by the eagerness with which governments
struggle for some insignificant patch OF barren
coast which happens to be properly located for
naval base purposes. A base is necessity for
navy which is expected to maintain itself in any
particular waters for any length of time. When
nation owns such base, It is carefully equipped
and fortified. When a nation does not own such
a base and happens to need 1t in war time the
territory in question has to be seized equipped
and fortified in quick time. This work in the
United States navy is in the hands of the Marine
Corps.
Men of the corps nowadays are regularly trained
in what is known as advance base work. The
corps is fully prepared to take the necessary terri
tory II it IS enemy property to throw up emer-
gency Notifications, to mount and handle shore
batteries and searchlights, to mine the waters,
and to establish radio communication with the
feet and the Navy department. Once in posses
sion OF such a base, feet is in a position to
cruise off it indefinitely. Supplies are brought to
it on transports under convey, and the warships
put in to repair, to take on fresh supplies and to
receive new instructions under the protection OF
shore batteries.
In any time except that Of serious war the
marines are the busiest branch OF the American
fighting services. This is due to the fact tnat the
duty Of policing the western hemisphere falls to
them In the last year, while American attention
was fixed on the European crisis, the marines
have been carrying on several small wars, and
have lost number of men and officers, dead and
wounded. There Is brigade of marines today
in Haiti and another brigade in Santo Domingo.
The legation guard of 100 marines is still sta
toned in Nicaragua, and the American legation
in Picking, China has guard of ESQ marines.
The marines have the status of sailors, and
the equipment and training of soldiers. Thus we
are able to send ashore efficient landing parties of
| fighting men to quell disorder, and even to fight
| whole wars and take over governments without
| having our motives questioned by the important
| powers of Latin America or Europe.
| As result OF their varied duties, the Marine
| Corps is an organization of very varied training
| They are very modest about it. Any Marine Corps
officer will tell you that the only thing the Marine
Corps is proud. of is the fact that it can do any
thing. The men get preliminary training in
| infantry work, idcluding field artillery and ma
chine gun handling. They are put through courses
in the mounting and use Of field wireless, portable
searchlights and heliographs They are taught
graph lines to plant land mines and submarine
| mines, to handle torpedoes to build roads and
bridges, to land big guns from ships and set them
| up on land. They were the first American troops
to use the automobile in field work; they will
| form cavalry companies wherever they can get
anything to ride, from donkey up, and on occa-
sion they have repaired and run a railroad. They
| are also being used in aviation work, and on many
Of the war vessels the ant-aircraft guns, used for
bringing down hostile aeroplanes, are manned
| by marines.
The recent large additions to the strength Of
the corps were rendered mperatively necessary
| by the expansion of the navy and the present
emergency 1t will not be long until the marines
are recruited up to the full measure of their
newy-authorized strength