Evening star., 1918-02-03
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT is DOING

the Army, and, WhetneF
War Wortr ~ the criticism be merited
or not. there is no ques-
Nssy'" tion that all are OF the
opinion that the Navy has been ready
from the word "go.' AS has been repeat
edly pointed out, the work Of preparing
the Navy for war service Is immeasur-
ably easier than that of preparing the
Army, but this should not detract from
the good work done by the many navai
officers who have certainly been work
and the Jackies as ready for fight as
possible.
Officials Of the bureau of ordnance,
Navy Department. point with well de-
of the ordnance work that has been &C
complished during the years preced-
ing the actual declaration of war
against Germany. Its policies. the pa
ttent and painstaking work Of its per-
sonnel, the accumulation of ordnance
material. the integrity of its designs,
and the actual readiness of every de-
tall are producing results now worthy
of the beet traditions of the naval serv-
ice. Not only is this so, but the present
incumbents of the bureau accord to
their predecessors full measure OF
praise for the splendid work that they
did before the war. The activities,
quite naturally, of this bureau were
of diplomatic relations with Germany
and again when war was declared with
that nation.
one of the things which have, up to
ular bureau Of the Navy Department is
the lack of sufficient trained sea off,
GERS to handle the war work. This Is
considered one of the most serious
problems now confronting it. The line
officers given postgraduate courses in
ordnance, in order to At them for ord
nance work in emergencies like the
present. are required at sea, with the
result that the bureau has not been q BILE
to secure their services and ia thus
without one of it's most valuable assets
and one that had been provided for in
It's peace organization and work Off
GERS of the reserve, the Naval Militia
and the Naval Volunteer Corps have
insufficient number. The shortage is
felt at the bureau. the proving ground,
the naval gun factory, and the torpedo
station. and will. unless corrected. be
the fleet.
OF course, the matter of guns has
been of first Importance at the bureau
The past year has seen an upprece-
dented demand for guns from three to
nVe inches IN caiber. demand entirely
beyond the capacity of existing manu-
facturing establishments to produce
Al the outbreak of the war all spare
guns from six-inch 45-catiber to three
pounder. inclusive. for which mounts
we're available. were grouped into re-
serve batteries and either tentatively
or finally assigned to merchant ships.
Omciais of the bureau realized that
there was q shortage of these guns,
ana at the time the war broke out it
was manufacturing approximately 900
guns to form into additional reserve
batteries However, the peculiar con-
ditions OF this war have required ap-
proximately 5000 guns for this pur-
pose 1t Immediately developed that
was entirely inadequate to meet the
demands of the Army or the Navy, to
say nothing of the requirements OF
both. 1t therefore became necessary
to initiate new plants into the manu-
facture OF both guns and gun forginKs.
This. OF course. has been part of the
work of the ordnance bureau, and 1t
has been well done. according to those
who are In touch with this part of
Uncle Sans service and are able to
make the statement with authority
81
Some of the most interesting work that
is being done by the War Department to-
day is that Of
Developing the Army's experts in the
New Aviation Plans chis, % .,en,, ~ .e os'
hcer Of the Army who have general super
vision over all matters pertaining to avia-'
ton To develop the new air program OF
the Army 1t has been necessary to en-
tirely reorganixe this particular division.
Its personnel has been enormously in
creased. as. indeed, it had to be to cope
with the much greater problem which
has been thrust upon 1t. This division
ment Of airnlanes: the selection. training
and commissioning Of officers OF the avia-
ton section; the recruiting and organ
izing of its enlisted personnel for duty
tors and the conduct and operation Of
aviation schools and stations
In connection with this section it is in
teresting to note that in 1912 Congress
allowed an appropriation of $l25.o0o
for the development of this division
and its aeroplane work, while the pres
ent appropriation Is more than $4,000
900. The figures show that prior to
March 81. 1916. when the urgent de-
fciency appropriation for the year
had been appropriated by Congress for
aviation purposes over a period of five
years
The records OF the War Department
show that on July l, 1915, only twenty
three officers Of the Regular Army had
completed their training in aviation and
were serving on duty with the aviation
section of the Signal Corps. Twenty
six other officers were under instruc-
tion at that same date. small num-
her of firms were making airplanes or
airplane engines. With one or more
practically none of these
were producing more than an occa-
sional machine. and most Of the product
had been contracted for by foreign gov
ernments. At that same time five off,
GERS were in Washington charged with
the duty Of overseeing the expansion
Of the aviation Eection of the Signal
Corps.
The problem this year, therefore, was
the problem of preparing a general plan
Of development. of securing the CO.
operation Of the aeronautic industry
and insuring its expansion and of solv-
ing the innumerable scientific and en-
gineering problems which must be met
to send men and machines into the air
to reconnoiter and to fight over uE-
mapped country.
1t is admitted by those in charge of
this work that many weeks were re-
quired to remove the obstacles In the
way Of obtaining suitable sairplanes and
engines in large quantities.
and even now the output is not nearly
as large as had been hoped
Specifications were prepared of va
rious types of machines by a board of
trained officers, assisted by
engineers from civil life;
the facilities Of the bureau Of stand
ards were used for the testing of va
rious materials. and devices of all sorts
which might increase the military eff
fciencN OF the aviator received trial.
The national defense act. authorizing
the organization of an Officers Reserve
Corps and an Enlisted Reserve Corps,
ia ha hos Pow ;,;,,