Evening star., 1918-08-04

Racrnif;no had to do moro than
=, call and that branch
the Navy. Of his service has been
full to overf1owing. The present WEI
has been no exception
The Navy and Marine Corps not
such a great while ago had q total
enlistment of about $1,000, while 1t
now constitutes force of more than
half a million men A recent act
Of Congress authorized an increase
in the enlisted strength and gave
the President power to increase It to
a still greater extent He did this.
Immediately an intensive campaign
for recruits was begun. and to arouse
the Interest Of the entire country the
Navy Department sent to 1900 news
papers, in every city and town,
telegram asking their cooperation
This was enough: the response was
Immediate, generous and patraotlc.
In many cities and towns local com,
mittees voluntarily organized to aid
in recruiting. Enlistments the nrst
month of the call reached 4.474, q new
record for a month. and they quickly
increased, until they reached as high
as q thousand day. In fact. re-
training stations were overcrowded
and temporary quarters for thou
sands were provided In tents BY the
middle of the third month after the
call the enlisted strength reached
1OO. 900. Shortly after that CONFESS
strength of the Navy to 10000 and
the Marine Corps to 10000. TINS
number was quickly recruited, too.
The bureau of navigation OF the
Navy Department. after careful study'
has recommended that the peS p.v
nent enlisted strength Of the navy
be increased to 10000 men: plus
10 600 apprentice seamen, 1000 men
under training in trade schoois anu
600 men for aviation, and tnat 10.
the period of the war the enns6eo eo
strength authorised should be 1sO,ooo
men, plus 1000 apprentice seamen.
IA, 1000 men under training In trade
schools and 10000 men for aviation
Meanwhile the naval reserve 1orce,
which was created by the act OF Con-
gress Of August 2s. 1916. has groWn
from a few hundreds to over $4,000.
nearly as large as the Regular navy
was before the war, and most OF them
are on regular duty. The Hospataai
Corps has grown from 1.6o0 70 '.Oo9'
There are 10000 national naval VOL
unteers and naval militia, and nearLy
( 600 men in the coast guard, which
has been placed under the Navy De-
partment for the period of the war.
The flow of recruits into the navy
at this time is more or less STEADY aho
this enables the department TO pro
| vide for the recruits ABOUT as @ aapy co.
particular classes for, which tnstr r
PREVIOUS training or APTITUDE nes
them. In this way they are getuns Q
hody of picked men. All eniistme.ts
in the Regular Navy have been Los
| the full term OF -FOUR years anu ~
| - hpen rtE1QlY u1hlH.
tained. Since the beginning OF wal
745 vessels or more have been COIL
missioned and manned
!
r~ry nttfe bit Of wheat saved
helps. Every dining table In the
United States bears an
The Wheat important relation
AAS to the freighters leAv-
Problem. ing Atlantic ports with
e.,<oes Of grain in their holds This
:, the absolute conclusion that has
been drawn by experts OF tho Do
| partment of Agriculture who nave
! stndied carefully the wheat situa-
| tion among the entente allies
The DER capita consumption OF
wheat In the United States 10 the
| ,m1;ortant factor in determining now
\ much is available for export Tne per
| capita consumption In the Oniteu
States varies from year to year tns
highest being Is bushels in 1912 al, anu
the lowest ~ bushels in 1915. Tne
hurean of crop estimates Of the de-
| partment has estimated that the nor
| nal consumption in the United states
amounts to So bushels per capita
Estimating the population OF sne
United States this year 20 90 p- ~
Sumption would require 55s.ooo.ooo
bushels Of the 69s.000,oo0 bushels es-
timated to have been available in the
wear ending July /, 1918. The seed 70.
duirements for this year are piaseo
only very small stocks on hand July
i, according to the estimate. there
would have been only 100000
bushels left for export Jufy L II
| wheat is consumed at the rate com
puted for last year. ~ bushels Per Per
\ normal amount, there would be ap-
pro1imately s6.ooo. 900 bushels for sx-
port
| estimates have determined that the
normal consumption of wheat in some
Of the southern state where little
wheat is raised and the people eat
much corn bread was ony bushels
per capita II tho people Of the en-
4 tire United States would substitute
corn and potatoes for wheat to the
extent that some of the southern
| tfon might be lowered to bushels
and then there would be 168. .000. .000
bushels available for export Even
this amount would be considerably
contributed to the allies during the
previoHa ye4fa of the war.
-.
omcials Of the Department Of Com.
merce have, for . long time, been in
terested in the
Inland Waterway dsvslopment OF
our inland wa.
portant stop forward TN the develop
msnt was made by tho proviaioz
through the Emergency Fleet Cor
poration. with tho cooperation and
approval Of the Department Of Com
merce, that neet OF barges and tow.
boats should be constructed for uss
on the upper Mississippi river for car.
rying coal northward and ore south
ward. This was to be effective as q
war measure to relieve tho enormous
pressure upon our overcrowded rail
ways and to insure consumers Of Goa
and the industries requiring ore II
the district affected a satisfactor,
supply Of these necessary materials.
Being very much interested in thil
subject, an expert on the subject OF
inland waterways was called upon By
the department, and he made an ex-
tensive Investigation Of the problem
Of water transportation In the I'm.
terror Of the country. In Shis CON
nection he visited many of tho mors
important trade oenters Of the Ms.