Evening star., 1918-12-29
HHE old Indian method of signaling
by smoke has been revived in
the present war. only the civil

ICED armies have carried the
game much further. When the United
States entered the war 1t possessed some
chemicals that would produce great col
umns Of smoke, but the supply was
small and the chemicals were made in
Germany" The French and English
were using smokes, but America went
back to the cunning of the aborigines-
only 1t sought something much better.
The Navy wanted something that would
give vari-colored clouds Of smoke, that
would burn in the water, and by combi-
nations it could give signals at long
distance.
While these smoke columns are used
for communications, their greatest value
Is in connection with bomb-dropping
from airplanes and hydroplanes. The
bomber can seldom see where his mis-
sile strikes, and, If he can, the speed Of
his machine quickly carries him away
from the place and column of smoke,
visible by day and by night, too, as 1t
enables him to return to the scene OF
his first trial and to correct his aim In
case the first bomb missed the mark: A
good smoke device attached to falling
bomb leaves a tail thirty feet or more
behind 1t as guide to the bomber In a
following machine, who from his posi-
tion usually cannot see when the first
bomb Is dropped or where 1t strikes.
Both the Army and the Navy stood In
need OF these smokes and both applied
development, under Maj. A. NJ. Zim-
norman. recently consulting engineer of
a manufacturing concern in Chicago.
and he In turn put the problem up to
Capt. E. M. Weisberger. when the war
broke ,,r out a research chemist in civilian
months ago, and today the Army and
Navy have all the smoke they can use.
1t Is In eight separate colors or shades
distinct from anything the -other nations
were using. The colors run from pale
pea green's and rose pinks to deep dark
blues and unset reds. Up to the time
the armistice was signed the Germans
had not succeeded in initiating any Of
these colors and were unable to give
false signals to American vessels.
X
TN January, 1918, under pressure Of
Teutonic superiority on the west
ern front and acknowledged confusion
In its military organiza ton, the War
Department realized that reorgan-
ization was inevitable and it decided
to create a general staff with power
to establish a new order of things
within. The two main divisions to
be created were supply and military
operations, and the War Department
made Maj. Gen. G. w. Goethals act
Ing quartermaster general of the
Army with instruction to create
tot l., I
created the division of purchase, stor-
age and traffic, better known in the
Army as 'P. S. and t." which it must
pc always remembered Is a part of
the general staff of the Army, and
Gen. Goethals, director Of P. S. and T.,
reports rel. directly to the chief of staff.
with those facts clear it will be easier
TO see the gradual development of the
supply division branch of the staff,
and 1t is the staff that saved the War
Department.
The experience of Gen. Goethals as
an organizer, coupled with his reputa-
tion as the canal builder. made his
appointment quite acceptable, for all
familiar with the complex methods of
securing Army supplies up to Febru-
ary, 1918. know the absolute necessity
OF change to some scientific method
OF purchasing and distributing sup
pies for the troops of the American
forces both in the United States and
IN FRANCE. Procurement was at a
standstill and distribution had almost
come to an ed
The following month Gen. March re-
turned from France and was made
chief of staff. He determined that
the Army must be more than doubled
IN numbers, and that decision made
the supply problem more than four
times as difficult as it had been, As
soon as ne took control he began the
organization of the division Of mill
tary operations, which up to that time
nad no existence in the United States
Army. Gen. March proceeded so grad
uaiiy, but positively, that few officers
and very few civilians, even to the
present day, have realized that q
complete change in Army administra-
ton has been effected from a bureau
cratic to central direction, both as
to Army supply and Army military
operations.
There are three phases in the task
OF supply, for each of which there
should be subdivision in the supply
organization. They are purchase.
which includes procurement (the as
certainment of the supplies to be pur-
chased); storage and traffic, or trans
portation. Purchase is q highly spe-
cialized task, to be undertaken only
BY men and organizations experienced
IN commodities and not in such tech
nical divisions as engineering, sig
not divided functionally. but into
strata of commodities, and there
fore purchasing agencies should be
selected to deal with commodity and
not functional sections of the mar
ketS. For example, there should ha