The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-09-26

gan and Captain Daniels, it ought to be said that
these two officers have given Of their best and are
still remaining in the service, despite the calls or
their business in civil life, to forward the project
which has as its essential element military plus a
nigh grade of civilian vocational education for the
youth of America who may become officers or en-
listed men Of The United States army,
Last June l was ut West Point, where l wit
messed the presentation of diplomas to $50 young
second lieutenants of the army who after II two
years course at the academy had been sent to
Camp Humphreys for vocational training. They
returned to West Point for the purpose of receiv.
ing their diplomas. so it will be seen that this
school at Belvoir-on-the-Po Potomac has been in
operation for some time.
Even IN its preparatory stages this school not
only has instructed young officers Of the army. but
hundreds Of enlisted men. They work in machine
shops, in lumber camps, for the peninsula Is heav-
lily wooded; in carpentry, in printing, in map max
ing, in b~lacksmithing, in railway construction and
railway operation, in electricity, and in fact in
all branches of industry which are serviceable in
civil life as in the army. The completion of the
school as outlined will give to an officer, regular.
reserve or National Guard, and to the enlisted man
that roundabout vocational education which it
will be difficult to get elsewhere.
Here is every necessary manufactured product
of the war time. Everything that engineering in
genuity has ~pIadnced is here, one might say, as II
kind OF educational sample. Camp Humphreys is
a storehouse of the material necessary for instruc-
ton along nearly every line of military and
civilian effort.
Appropriations are needed to carry the work at
Camp Humphreys to conclusion. Congress has
been asked for money and the probability is that
it will be forthcoming. No one knows today
whether the United States is to have any form Of
universal military training or not, but il the de-
cision shall be in its favor young men who from
year to year enter their %country's service for field
training will be given an opportunity to benefit by
a training at this Potomac school.
The students who thus far have been under in
struction at Camp Humphreys. officers and enlist
ed men alike, have started at the beginning Of
things. The West Point classes went into the
machine and carpenter shops, laid tracks, did sec
tion-hand work and all the other things necessary
TO give them a practical knowledge of the things
useful to them i'm their soldier profession or later
in any profession or trade or business which they
might enter on return to civil life. 1t has been
a school Of hard work, Of regular living, with a
sufficient amount of recreation, and with things
so well balanced generally as to promote the
normal working and 'recreating" lives Of men.
There are broad-guage and narrOw-gauge rail
roads In operation at Camp Humphreys. There
are many army trucks, armOred trains, signal,
searchlight. and flash range apparatus; forestry
study, numbering, bridge laying, and all other fa-
cilities for training on q broad scale.
The very character Of the terrain and the ample
timber supply at Camp Humphreys will allow the
DEVELOPMENT of field Notifications on Il large scale
and under varied conditions. Roads already avail
able. from f%oOtpaths TO modern great highways.
furnish the fields for the practical study of com.
municatiOn which forms such an important part
of the duties of engineering troops in the field.
Five miles of standard gauge railroad and 20
miles Of narrOw-gauge or combat railroads, to-
rether with warehouses and depots cover in all
their operations the functions Of the service OF
supply.
Adequate areas for target practice and for the
use of gas are already developed. The water
supply is plentiful and of excellent quality. The
climate is healthful, and mild enough to make field
work practicable during the entire year. An area
ten miles square is large enough for maneuvering
large bodies Of troops and Is sufficiently varied I'm
character to cover the wide range Of field condi.
lions. including fiat, open country, rolling ground.
wooded areas, valleys and ravines.
Camp Humphreys will be an engineer school, a
term which is used to embrace all the phases of
engineering training. There will be an institution
for post graduates Of the military academy and
Of civil institutions to prepare them for the work
of the corps Of engineers. The course will require
tvo yeurs and will cover many subjects which can
no arouped under these heads: Military, military
engineering. civil engineering, electrical and me-
chanical engineering.
There will be a cadet school for the Dmpletion
of training of cadets who have not completed the
ful course at the military academy; a school for
reserve and National Guard officers a school for
line officers; q correspondence school for reserve
and National Guard officers, covering the duties
NJ engineer officers Of the various branches of the
reserve and National Guard. Naturally a large