Evening star., 1918-03-31

WoI1o-Wloe struggle IN "oASA sAe
United States IL now tax
generaJ ing q part. the people OF
the country should know
QUAIL. considerably more about
the establishment of the Army than
what is generally known. For instance.
few people know anything about the
organization Of tho general staff OF the
Army. and still fewer know that the
general staff is Of comparatively recent
organization.
Before the creation Of the general
stan some fourteen years ago the ad-
jutant general OF the Army performed,
in relation to the Secretary Of War,
the functions which in other armies
fall to a chief Of stanf. There was no
general staff and no body Of officers
performing the duties Of general
staff. The Army was commanded
good deal like a regiment. the Secre-
tary OF War being the colonel and the
adjutant general his adjutant.
Our very small standing Army, hard
ly larger than one division. with its
strictly local problems and duties
which made of 1t little More than a
national constabulary, permitted such
an arrangement to continue with
at least tolerable results In time of
peace, but it provided no preparation
for war and could not be made to work
in war, as the events Of 1898 abundantly
proved.
The congressional acts of 1903 and
1904, recognizing the necessity of mod
ernizing and improving the organs OF
command, created chief of stan at
the head of a body called the general
staff. abolished the office Of the ad-
jutant general and turned his former
functions over to this chief of stan.
The adjutant generals Office continued
to be the repository of records and the
organ for transmitting the orders and
other decisions of the Secretary of
War to the Army, but it ceased to be
an organ of command, its chief ceased
to represent the Secretary of War. act
In his name. and by his authority Sc
cure the execution of his commands.
To emphasize this change. the title as
we'll as the Office Of "adjutant general
military secretary" employed to destg-
nate the new Office which handled the
papers Of the War Department, but had
nothing to do with the decisions con-
tained in them. 1t was justly esteemed
that In view of the great prestige and
Importance which formerly had at
tached to the adjutant generals Office
1t was no longer appropriate that this
term should apply to an office perform
ing functions of a purely clerical ma
ture.
Later, in an act of 1907. a clause re-
vived the title "adjutant general" but
did not restore the former duties of the
office. These continued substantially
what the former act made them, but in
1916 Congress passed a law directly
addressed to the duties of the chief Of
staff and the adjutant general and
hence affecting the mutual relations of
their Offices.
This act made it possible for the
Secretary of War, had he decided upon
such an Interpretation, to make the
adjutant general his organ of command
for all business concerning the mobile
Army. and the chief of coast artillery
his organ Of command for all concern
ing that branch of the service, thus
eliminating the chief of staff from COM
manding or being an organ of COM
mand. and restricting him to duties of
supervision and coordination" These
duties. in the absence of direct or DEL
egated power to command the mobile
Army and the coast artillery (that is,
the whole line), might readily have
become vague and finally nominal only
4 +
Officials of the forest service, who
with the forest lire situa-
Forest ton, estimate that in 1917 for
est fires burned over 962, 900
acres of national forest lands
and caused loss Of s1,35s, 500 to Uncle
Sans government in timber, forage
and young growth. While this loss. is
larger than for several years past. the
forestry officials say that, considering
the unusually dangerous conditions. it
was remarkably light. Protracted
drought and periods of high winds
made the conditions. they declare, vir
tually the same as in 1910, when many
persons were burned to death and
S25.000.0o0 worth of timber was de-
stroyed on the national forests alone.
In addition to the actual loss in tim
Der and forage, the fires of last year
entailed extra expenditures by the
government Of $1,121.451. This, it IS
pointed out, means that to hold the
fires down large numbers of men have
to be withdrawn from productive work
and much money spent for supplies.
At a time like the present. when it
is necessary to practice the utmost,
service officials are emphasizing the
criminal wastefulness Of forest fires
that can be prevented from starting,
1t is said that of the. 1914 fires
WHICH were oil INC ildttoiioti
forests all but 2.132 set by lightning
were caused by human agencies and
rould have been prevented. There
were 952 incendtary fires. which oc-
Cured for the most part in Oregon,
California and Arkansas. Careless
campers We're responsible for 1,2SS.
Railroads. partly through failure to
comply with the law and use proper
spark arresters. set 1908. The re-
niainder were caused by various forms
r a
tiers and other users of the national
forests.
One of the most important functions
of the bureau of standards with respect
.4 to electricity and allied
Electrical subjects is the estab-
lishment and mainte-
Standards. nance of the funda-
mental standards upon which all meas
urements in these fields are based, in
Guiding cooperation with similar in
stitutions in other countries SO as to
secure international uniformity. This
includes the intercomparison of stand
ards and extensive research in methods
of measurement and the development
and Improvement of subsidiary and de-
rived standards. These standards are
utilized and the results of the re-
searches are Immediately applied in the
testing OF reference standards and in