The Washington herald., 1918-04-18
Army and Navy News

- -
Clergymen are patriotic. This
fact is made clear by the War De-
partment's recent announcement
that far more ministers have ap-
piled for service as chaplains than
the needs of the army require. and
for this reason no more applications
will be accepted.
1t is Capt. Frank w. Hoover. Of
the Engineer Pay Corps now. The
recent assistant superintendent of
the State. War and Navy Building
has been awarded a commission OF
this rank, and will serve as military
assistant to Col. C. s. Ridley, engi-
neer officer in charge of public
buildings and grounds. Capt. Hoo
yer is a Washingtonian by birth.
and holds degrees from Georgetown
and George Washington universi-
ties.
Three aviators. Lieut. Roland ].
Winterton. of South Boston, Mass;
Lieut.. Leo John Nugent. of Wash
burn. Iowa, and Cadet Forest Dean
Jones. of Worcester, Mass; were
killed, and Cadet Maurice was seri-
ously injured In two airplane ac-
cidents at Ellington Field, Houston,
Tex, yesterday afternoon.
A third accident occurred late in
the evening. but there were no IA
talities.
"such Action Would Be Inexcus-
able" says the New York Times in
discussing alleged defects in mill
| for -
follows:
''over in France there is a young
American soldier whose home Cd
dress can be indicated with sSn-
cient definiteness by stating III the
fashion SO loved by those most
naive of mortals, the military CEN
sors, that it is AN Atlantic port
ITO this young man the immediate
members OF his family have taken
pains. ever since he sailed away, to
send. or rather to post, three let.
ters every week. He, in turn, ever
since his arrival on the other side,
has mailed one letter each week to
one or another member of his
| family.
Now. it is a fact that of all these
letters, only one in a month or six
! weeks has reached its destination
at either end Of the line of COM
munication. and both this fact and
the approach TO something like
| regularity in IL were a puzzle to
the family in question until there
arrived from France another young
American who is a friend of the SOL
dier still abroad. and he gave the.
or at any rate an, explanation of
the mystery.
He said that the censor in France,
being unable TO read all of tho great
number of letters passing through
his hands. simply destroyed the ma
jority of them, but in doing this he
had a systematic kept a chart and
passed upon one letter a month for
each soldier!
Though this statement was made
in perfect sincerity-though the
maker undoubtedly believed II. that
is-to accept il as true Is 6ifficult.
and one cannot but hope that 1t is
false. To conduct the censorship I'm
that manner would be outrageous
would be nothing less than criminal.
and certainly it would be quite
without excuse. II the oficers de-
tailed to act as censors cannot do
the amount OF work imposed upon
them, two remedies for that situa-
tion are conceivable. both legiti-
mate. One, and the better IL prac-
ticabIe, is to increase the number
OF those officers. The other. to be
adopted in case OF actual need. is
to make public announcement of the
situation with respect to mail and
of the necessity to limit family
correspondence to one letter a
month each way.
That would be a hardship. but we
are all getting used to hardships.
these days. and they are not resent
ed IL their endurance helps in the
conduct of the war. But to let peo-
hple go on writing such letters as
these. only to be destroyed-that is,
or would be, intolerable.
Private Thomas +. Atchison. Head
quarters Company. of the Thirty
seventh United States Infantry, has
been killed by q sniper's bullet from
the Mexican side of the river while
on patrol duty near Zapata, it was
announced yesterday. His home was
in Portland, Ore.
Troop train after troop train pull
ing into Camp Dix station yesterday
AFTERNOON unlodueH oSIaShLlShIS VA
infantrymen and machine Gunners
transferred from Camp Upton to I'LL
gaps in the Seventy eighth Division
here. Spurred on by the promise Of
danger AID thrills. 60 OF the best
college I.,d school 10y athletes amons
the soldiers in Camp Dix have vol
unteered for the Mercury squads"
an organiza tion of the liason depart
ment in which soldiers run back
the messages from the front line
trenches to division headquarters.
The running is generally across shell