Evening star., 1920-03-21
Teaching Soldier. Agriculture.

/ ACuChAnS SOIUlcT8 Agriculture
Extension of the Army's vocational
| ture and animal husbandry is to be
| put into partial operation at once. An
| Army school that will teach enlisted
| men how TO raise cows. pigs and
| chickens and train them in the gen.
eral duties of farm management will
be started at Charleston. s. c., under
the direction of DR.. E. M. Ranck. de-
velopment expert in animal hus-
bandry, who will act in the capacity
Of civilian adviser to the commanding
general Of the Southern Department.
1t is expected that appropriations
will be available in the near future
for extending this agricultural train
ing to Camps Bragg. North Carolina:
Jackson. South Carolina; Gordon.
Georgia; Pike, Arkansas; Benning,
Georgia, and Lee. Petersburg. Va. DR..
Ranck says that even the soldiers
who are not taking this vocational
course are deeply interested in it
and encouraging the agricultural stu
dents, because Of the great improve
| ment it effects in the company mess
| live stock will be purchased for the
school by experts and each camp Will
have a small herd of good dairy cat
! tie, pure bred hogs. sheep. beef cat
tle chickens and stands of bees. The
soldier who undertakes this study will
practical work. DR.. Ranck says that
it is difficult for the average man
to conceive the snappy soldier or the
drill ground interested in pigs. But
that this study is of deep interest to
many soldiers is evidenced by the en-
thusiasm which prevailed at a "hog-
killing" in a middle western camp
few weeks ago. The soldier mad
taken the hogs as shoats rev
months before and under the instruc-
fnI nd 10
them. When the lard stage was
reached the pigs were butchered, cut
up and salted. The next special course
will cover sheep raising.
Army and Navy I'm Olympic Games.
Members of the United States Army
will compete for representation on the
American team to take part IN the
OLYMPIC games at Antwerp. Belgium,
beginning August is. Eliminating
contests in boxing, swimming. wres-
tling and track and field events will
be held at every Army post. camp
and station in this country. to be
meets Will be followed by depart
mental meets. to be completed by
June Is. Those qualifying in the de-
partmental meets will take part in
the Army championship meet about
July /, after which the pick of the
service will be given special training
for the Olympic try-outs. which will
be held about July II. Competition
is open to all officers and enlisted men
of the Army. The entire service also
pete for participation on the rifle
shooting. pistol shooting. fencing and
horsemanship teams. Maj. Gen. Will
liam NJ. Wright. assistant chief Of
staff. and Maj. Eliot v. Graves. in
charge of Army athletics. have been
in offandQnNa nj at maatinR of the
Olympic games committee in New
York city.
The United States Navy also will be
represented by it's best athletes in
is manifested throughout the service
in the selection of the candidates for
the various competitions. The bureau
of navigation is in charge Of naval
participation. with the exception of
rifle shooting. Rear Admiral Wash
ington, chief Of the bureau, has pre-
sented the matter to the heads of all
branches of the service. including the
Marine Corps. The Navy plans in
clude swimming, rowing: fencing.
athletics and shooting. Training for
the swimming, boxing and wrestling
competitors will be conducted at the
training station, Great Lakes. Ill.
Adjustment OF War Contracts.
Announcement is made by the War
Department that it is rapidly closing
out its biggest business problem left
as legacy from the world war, and
that the department claims board
will complete its work by June 80
next. Adjustment of the many con-
tracts for munitions and supplies re-
naming uncompleted when hostili-
ties ceased presented many difficult
ties and caused the creation of the
claims board. There were nearly
10000 such claims. OF that number
about $4,000 have been adjusted in a
manner acceptable to the contractors
and with full protection to the in
terests Of the United States. Other
claims have been withdrawn SO that
there remain about $500 to be ad-
justed. Secretary Baker has ar
ranged for closing out that work and
disbanding the organization by the
end Of June. In order to handle the
enormous volume Of work 1t was nee
essary to establish forty-two local
boards and agencies in various parts
of the country. About 1900 per-
sons were employed to assist the de-
partment In the work. including
about eighty officers of the Army. In
summarizing the work Of the claims
board, Secretary Baker said
'"The amounts of money involved give
but an inadequate idea Of the magnitude
of the task or the extraordinary re-
suits obtained. To complete the
"a, 900 contracts which have been set
tied would have cost the United
States nearly two and one-half billion
dollars, yet the adjustment on these
contracts has been made for $304. .000,-
900. or about - per cent of the total
cost If completed. In other words.
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