Evening star., 1918-03-17

The Marine Corps, like the Navy. has
met successfully the many difficult sit
uati ons which
War Work of the have confronted it
as the result of
Marine Corps. its sudden expan-
sion due to the war. The entire corps
has been sheltered either in buildings
or under canvas, and has been clothed.
equipped. trained. organized for war,
and has thus far carried out every mis-
sion assigned to it in an efficient man
neE.
1t is interesting to note In connection
with Uncle Sans soldiers Of the sea, as
the marines are called, that it was not
especially hard to recruit, owing to the
popularity of this branch of the serv-
ice The organization, however, of the
recruiting service of the corps was well
adapted to the great recruiting cam
paign which became necessary after
the declaration of war, and no change
was made other than an increase of
the personnel and in the number of re-
cruiting Stations-the number of re-
cruiting divisions and districts remain
the recruiting service succeed in OBJ
tanning sufficient men to bring the corps
up to full strength in remarkably
short period of time. but. what is of
even greater Importance, the character
of the recruits joining the corps was
exceptionally high.
Upon enlistment all Marine Corps re-
cruits are transferred to recruit de-
pots, where they undergo course OF
training before being distributed to the
sudden inCYpq
the number of recruits at the various
depotS when war was declared natur-
ally brought great strain on their or
ganizations, but the situation was sue
cessfully handled and the newly en-
listed men were cared for and received
the usual recruit training, including
complete course of instruction on the
rife range. before being transferred to
duty.
When war was declared it became
necessary to take steps to provide for
the housing of the largely increased
number of enlisted men. Facilities at
the two recruit depots at Paris Island,
S. c., and Mare Island. Cal. were suffi-
cient for only about 1000 and $50 men,
respectively. Cantonments for 1000
men were constructed at Paris Island,
and larger number of men can now
be accommodated at Quantico Va. The
Marine Corps has, therefore, been able
to take care of all of the recruits that
have been accepted and needed. There
has been little or no complaint about
the work of this small but efficient and
highly useful body of troops.
Some of the most interesting work
reau of fisheries during
Introducinp the past couple of years
has been that of trying
to educate the American
public to eat certain kinds of fish that
up to recently were considered good
for nothing but to destroy. Some of
the latest work along this line has
grayfish.
The destructiveness of the grayfish
and the extent to which it has inter
fered with established fisheries caused
the fishermen to look upon it with such
aversion that it wis only by the exer-
else of much persuasion that they
could be induced to catch the fish or
even to bring ashore those caught in
cidentally with apparatus set for other
fishes. An early feature of the cam
paign was the complete change in the
hshermen's attitude after they had be-
come fully informed as to the bureaus
plans, and New Englanders were
treated to the sight-of seeing the fish
ermen of those parts going out espe-
ciany for grayffsh and selling their
catch at remunerative prices for food.
Although the cannerfes took all the
grayfish they could obtain. when the
fish withdrew from New England
waters for the winter the seasons pack
was not as large as desired by the
Gamers or contemplated by the bureau
in its publicity campaign. and in the
1~ts fty,rr L.
evident that the demand far surpassed
the supply. The canned fish met with
very ready sale. and long before the
winter was over the entire pack was
disposed of. and orders continued to
arrive from all parts of the country
The goods proved to be not only one of
the best canned products on the
market. but also one of the most
economical to the consumer, who could
buy at retail for 10 cents can con-
tanning fourteen ounces net weight of
fish.
The limited quantity of grayfsh
which the Gamers found 1t possible to
pack on the Atlantic coast having be-
come exhausted. arrangements were
made for the inauguration of grayfish
canning on Puget sound, where the
fish are found in numbers in winter as
well as in summer The salmon can
neries of Washington are idle in win
Ter, ana lHe owners showed muCh IN
terest in the project presented to them
of being able to keep their plants open
when they had formerly been unpro-
ductive. One cannery began operations
almost Immediately. since which time
three or four others have Joined it, an
nouncng their intention to experiment
with the fish with the view of entering
the business If the industrial condi-
tions warranted it. The entire pro-
spective pack of the first concern was
contracted for, and it is stated that
one packer was obliged to refuse an
order of 10000 cans on account of the
scarcity of cans. number Of orders
for export were received, but were
declined by the Gamers in Difference
to the bureaus desire first to satisfy
the heavy domestic demand.
The office of home economics OF the
Department of Agriculture has con-
Quoted experiments in feeding canned
grayfish to human beings. and has
found that 92.S per cent of the protein
is digested, as compared with 945 per
cent in the highest grade of Columbia
river salmon. 93.1 per cent in fresh
mackerel and 91.9 per cent in fresh
butterfish
The war is the outstanding fact for
education, as for every other depart
ment of life
Bureau of Education at this time.
. With the en-