Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-16
Army and Navy News

when, after the war was begun. but
before the United States was in it.
he advocated the construction of six
battle cruisers and the House voted
none If the vessels had been appro-
priated for then they might have been
well under way before the armistice
was signed; but now that the door
is locked, and peace like dove is
breathing over the lands, the sug-
gestion has been made that Hobson
might send polite paraphrase of the
telegram, who is looney now?'
Speaking more seriously, 1t is on the
face of things absurd that great
legislative body should, when naval
appropriation bill is under considera-
tion, adopt big building program,
with a proviso that it shall not be-
come effective for fifteen months, and
for the construction of which it made
no funds available
Such a course involves a dilemma
either the House is not in earnest
in its expectation that the heet VIII
be built in accordance with its pro-
world that American ship construc-
ton resources are unequal to the
task the government is pretending TO
put upon it.
This haste to enter upon such pro-
gram is singular, in view of the fact
that the ships provided under the old
program are barely in construction
Indeed, if reports from abroad are
correct-and there is strong reason
to believe that they are reliable-it is
- III ha oil
provided under either program VIII
be completed.
1t is said that officers of the high
est rank and ability, as well as those
of lower rank, who have served in the
fleet during the war, the strateglSts
who have studied the lessons that this
war has taught, the cooeiligerents,
who have shared with the British re-
ports of the lighting, are of one opin-
ion-the same opinion expressed by
Rear Admiral Rodmau to the commit
fee-that battle cruisers should be
abandoned, and the battleship of great
speed, perhaps as high as thirty knots,
supplant both the cruiser and the bat
tleship. The great advocate OF the
cruiser, Vice Admiral Sims, so 1t
seems, Is one of the converts to this
hitherto strange doctrine. 1t may
need explanation. but when officers
like Sims, and Rodman and Benson
think that way it is time to revise old
IDEAS. 1nOSS Objects are great iISl,
because they are ready to give way
TO the advance of times, and what
they say must be given consideration.
The War Department is using in a
practical way the camp still rejoicing
in the name of
Utilizing Camp Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor. XIV. That is the
school where the government was
training some $1,000 of the most eff
ficient young men of the country to
become officers in the field artillery;
it had already turned out nearly 1000
officers. who. have been rejecting the
value of the course
Mai. Gen Snow, chief of field ar
tHlery. has laid out course of in
struction. with the approval of the
general staff, for officers, and the
first class, consisting of 300 mem
bers. began its training there for four
months. The authorized plan is for
that period, but IL is the hope that
this time will be greatly extended
Most of the officers were students
after the war began. and their train
ing was as practical as it could be
made, and their subsequent expert
ence has been of great practical
value; but they have not had the
broad, fundamental scientific educa-
ton that every good artiileryman
nfust have before he can advance far
beyond the lower grades of his pro-
fessioa.
The camp has facilities that win
accommodate 1900 men without
crowding, and the little band now
there seems almost lost. but this use
1t the camp grounds is one or the
first efforts to utilize for Army train
ing purposes any Of the camps ano
environments now abandoned, except
for demobilization-
The method of presenting the Army
bill to the House military committee
killed 1t. 1t was offered in camou-
tagged form that was offensive to
both political sides of the committee:
and both said that the House would
defeat it IL il went from the commit
tee in that form. The bill was not an
honest attempt to provide military
system of organization for the de-
tense of the United States: and IL
was taken at its face value as
nnakeshift to bridge over an emer-
gency. When Gen. March told the
committee that il was a good bill he
knew that II was not, except as
bridge over holein the road.
4 x
The result of such temporizing is
that the committee has dropped the
bill with its
cnnvrsss Of gaa provisions for
On Forming Army. eYcellent sys-
tenn of central stan control under
which whatever efficiency the War
Department acquired became pos
sibie, and which was about its only
feature worthy of approval as real
military bill. Instead of the bill the
committee presented in the form of
rider to the Army appropriation bill
q weaker substitute measure worse
in all essential respects. except that
the rider expires by law at the end
of the next fiscal year.
There is dynamite in one OF the
provisions OF the substitute for an
Army bill, and that is for the abolish
nent of all service chevrons. The
white chevron has made trouble and
stirred up hard feeling enough to last
for = time, but thus far It has hit only
about one-half the Army-the bunch
that did not go across All this time
the men who had gold chevrons of
even one stripe have been having a
lot OF satisfaction at the discontinue
eftheir less fortunate friends.
.
Now comes this interesting iegis-
latfon 70 do away with all chevrons,
and that in
The White Chevron wolves the