Evening star., 1917-09-09
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

uuAl luE uUIE
The various Navy units now existing
in addition to those of the regular
| Navy are the Naval
The American Reserve force. the
Naval Force. Marine Corps Reserve,
the Naval Militia and the coast guard.
The total enlisted strength of the Navy
is about $4,000 men. Since the dec
laration Of war about $4,000 mon have
enlisted. The number of enlisted men
since March 1. In addition to this
large number. about $4,000 enlisted in
the Naval Reserve force and 10000
national naval volunteers, which is the
federalized naval militia.
! Besides the men for duty in the sea-
man branch the Navy needs men for
service in special branches. such as
artihcers. yeomen. electricians. the
commissary. Hospital Corps and so on
ito be selected on a basis of previous
experience and of special aptitude.
| To provide for the many new re-
fcruits. large number of new train
!
| these new training camps for naval
\ recruits and reserves is being rapidly
| rushed to completion. Several large
camps have already been completed and
others wiz De finished in the near fu-
| ture. Including camps for the Ma
rine Corps: quarters will be provided
| for more than $4,000 men, and the ap-
proximate cost will be 100000
All members of the Naval Reserve
| force. except the Naval Auxiliary Re-
! serve. must be citizens of the United
States. Members of the Naval Aux
lliary Reserve must be citizens of the
United states or its insular possessions
Members of the Naval Reserve force
tive service in time of peace, but they
may be assigned to duty at their own
request. However, they are obligated
to serve through war or national
emergency. and no members of the
Naval Reserve force are eligible for
confirmation in rank or rating until
the completion Of not less than three
months active service
me meet naval reserve Is the reserve
composed entirely of ex-service of
ncers and men whose last service with
the Navy terminated honorably Of
ncers and men are enrolled in the rank
or rating last held in the Navy Active
service pay. in this branch of the
navy. is In addition to the regular re-
tanner pay and is the full pay of the
corresponding rank in the Navy of the
same length Of naval service
satisfactory reports from the various
states. telling of more boys going on
the farms and making good
Boys on there and of farmers SO
pleased that in some cases
they are voluntarily raising
bOvS' ind 70 ;y,
gree the progress that the United States
Boys Working Reserve of the Depart
ment of Labor is making. This success
is attributed by officials to the fine
spirit and enthusiasm which the state
directors and other leaders are showing
and to the care with which they are
selecting the boys whom they are send
ing to the farms.
numerous indications of the hearty
and patriotic manner in which the boys
are going into this farm work are be-
ing shown in the correspondence re-
ce1ved at headquarters here.
To show what this farm work may
mean in the way of profit to the boys
themselves. one of the officials cited the
following case: Eighty boys in Ari-
Zona in Ave weeks of work at choppins
ana thinning cotton have earned $500
out of which they paid 81, 500 for board,
leaving them a net earning of $4,000 |
These boys thinned and hoed nearly
] 900 acres of land to the great salts |
their own camps. in charge of their own |
of1cers, who were teachers in a high
school. with some agricultural expert |
ence. The camp discipline. which was |
on a strictly military basis, is reported
to have been excellent. The demand |
for boys was greater than the supply, |
and at least 500 more boys could have |,
been placed at this one destination |
alone Many similar cases are in the |
files of the Washington headquarters of |
the organization.
Abnormal conditions prevailed in the |
iron industry during the first half of |
this year, mainly on
Iron Industry account of the war in
cI. Europe. At the be-
oonoAsaoAs' ginning of the year, |
when pig iron was being made at an
daily, the blast furnaces were operated |
at slightly reduced capacity. according |
to experts of the geological survey. |
This rate dropped to less than $4,000 |
tons daily in February, but in March |
the rate rose to 105 900 tons daily and |
In April and May it stood at more than
l 10000 tons. compared with the maxi
mum rate or ll3,0OO tons IN october,
1916.
The prospective blast-furnace capacity
seems not to have kept pace with the
demand. however. as is indicated by
the enormous increase in price, es-
pecially since the United States en-
tered the war.
The total output of coke and anthra-
cite pig iron in the first five months of |
this year was about 15.SOO.0OO gross
tons, compared with about 16175,00O |
tons during the corresponding period |
OF 1916, a decrease of about per cent. I
The quantity of iron ore from mines !
in the Lake Superior region shipped (,
from upper lake ports from January !
to June of this year was about $780,
300 gross tons, compared with slightly |
more than 100000 tons for the corre-
spending Ave months of last year a |
decrease of about 100000 tons. or more
than 35 per cent. This apparently
large decrease in ore shipments from (
the principal producing region was not
due, officials say, to inability to mine
ore. but largely to the belated opening
Of lake traffic because of ice blockades
and to many ore-carrying boats having
been put out of commission through ac-
ridents.
Plans are being made by committees
Of the Council of National Defense to
increase shipments of iron ore, coal and
coke during the remainder of the sea