Williams news., 1917-11-22
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WashingtOn.-Of the novel units which are being organized for the first time in the military history of the United States, probably the company of "camOu1eurS" now in training at Camp American University will create the greatest popular interest; partly because it is composed of the leading artists, SculptorS and architects in the country, but more from the unique task which the "camouf1eurS" have set themselves. Camouf1age is not a new military term developed by the war. On the contrary, it is an old slang word of the French stage, intended to be descriptive of the makeup of the actors. In its military sense, in which 1t is now popularly known, the term refers to the art of so concealing or disgusting an object that the enemy cannot recognize it for what it is. A peaceful rock is discovered when too late to be a death-dealing gun. A mound of earth heaped above trench shows no sign of human occupancy, when the incautious enemy learns to his cost that the seeming mound was a row of invisible helmets with a rifle man behind each. A hedge conceals a regiment, and the onrushing German finds death lurking behind the cleverly contrived nest of shrubbery whose se- cret even his airplanes and his cameras had failed to reveal.
 It is not surprising that the fasci- nation of outwitting the enemy by means of brush, color and ingenious design should appeal to the artistic sense of our painters, sculptors and engineers. It was this appeal which caused Barry Faulkner, the artist, and Sherry B. Fry, the sculptor, on an evening some months ago, to call to- gether in New York as many of their artist friends as they could assemble with the idea of organizing and offer ing to the government the services of the artists of America to aid the American troops in France to ambush the Germans. Camouf1age, by the way, is only another name for ambush. It was first employed by the American Indian; perhaps not consciously, but with such instinctive naturalness, that the Indian of history always appears to have been merged with the rock and the forest in which he fought. Opin- ion is divided as to whether the h. dian realized the effectiveness of hts own scheme of costume colors. How ever that may be, ambush always has been more than half the art of the fighting Indian, and the modern ca mOufage was his natural resort. When the white man came with the shotgun the Indian at first had the advantage, for he so blended with the landscape that the superior marksman could not distinguish him, and the bow and ar row won many bloody triumphs over the gun. In the day of the short-range musket with which our early armies were equipped the necessity of con- cealment was as great as in the days of the pioneer, and the woodsmen who who picked off the British in 1872 had learned better than expose themselves to the enemy in red coats. Then came the long-range rife, and the art of concealment and disguise became less serviceable. With the invention of the eirplane, however, the need of inge- nious devices for hiding troops and equipment from the enemy again be- came vital, and the French developed it until it ranks with the best of their military achievements.
 It was knowledge of this need and of the new problems injected into the science of war by the airplane that drew these artists together in New York. Nineteen responded to the first