Evening star., 1925-10-25

tional Guard organizations through
the country to determine the concen-
sus of opinion. Gen. Stephan has
written to this paper informing 1t that
! officers of the local militia desiring the
present military uniform total 81. and
: those desiring a change with the roll
collar similar to that adopted for the
officers of the Air Service number II.
Some results have been obtained as
a result of the action of the officers
of the National Guard in instituting
an investigation as to the reasons that
some members of the Guard who are
employees of st. Elizabeth's Asy-
lum were Disseminated upon when
they returned from camp last August.
The reported conditions there in the
matter of alleged discrimination
against members of the Guard have
been under investigation by officers. to
determine whether there was a viola
ton of law which provided that Gov
ernmenr employees should be excused
from their civilian employment for
the purpose of taking military train
ing in the field and without affecting
their efficiency records in any manner.
Complain ints were filed with the Guard
by members, and they We're from some
other departments as we'll as the asy
lum. *
However. Lieut.. James r. Quade,
Company E. 121st Engineers, has re-
ported to headquarters that Private
Craddock at St. Elizabeth'S has been
reinstated at St. EliZabeths and paid
to date. This is only one of the cases,
| and the investigation will continue
until il is finally determined whether
the other men were dismissed because
of their relation with the National
Guard.
| Such fine work was done by mem
bers of the local National Guard in
aiding in police and traffic direction
work at the speedway races at Laurel
! last Summer, that the men were in
vited to do the same work yesterday
at the race track. 1t was made plain,
| however, in an order from head
quarters that the members of the
Guard were acting entirely for them
selves and the speedway officials.
| THE service rendered" says an
| order. ''is entirely volunteer on the
| part of the individual rendering 1t and
| al responsibility in connection there
| with is accepted by the individual
concerned and the speedway author
| ties. The National Guard of the
District of Columbia accepts no res
| possibility whatever in this connec-
! lion, by merely offering the oppor-
! unity to guardsmen to view the races.
| Duty will be within and outside of the
| race track proper but all men volun-
| teering will be permitted to view the
races from the interior of the track,
hose on duty outside being called
| in for the purpose.
Capt. Sidney Morgan was in charge
| of the arrangements for the movement
| of the men to and from the track.
| They left the armory yesterday at
| 7:30 Am.
| Efforts are being made by Capt.
| Clay Anderson, L. S. Army Engineer
| Corps, to make the drills of the local
| guardsmen SO interesting that the
men will want to come each night
so as not to miss any of the sub
| jects. He has outlined a schedule
| that will so relieve the monotony of
the usual drill, as to keep up the
| continued interest of the men. De-
| tailed schedules of lectures by the
officers have been prepared and have
| been put into effect.
Capt. Anderson says that it appears
| that the repetitions of the identical
| engineer drills sixteen times in the
course of a year will fail to hold the
sustained interest of the men. These
drills will be punctuated by talks on
the technique and tactics of bridging.
field Notifications and use of obstruc-
tionS. He says that the delivery of
these talks will be put over much
easier by working up, in most cases,
| of sketches on blackboards or large
sheets Of paper. He has issued de-
tails of sketches to be used by the
Guard officers in explaining their talks.
| For the first night the schedule
| calls for trestle bridge subjects. in
| Guiding conditions under which a
| treStle bridge should be used, as fol-
| lows: in dry vines, or draws at points
where the water is shallow and bentS
| will not be be washed out; at points
where materials can be secured (posts
may be cut in adjacent woods: at
I craters, If a detour cannot be quick
er built or If the crater cannot be
| filled quicker.
| In connection with this would be
explanations of the simple methods
of testing quickly the bearing power
of soil; knowing the approximate
bearing power of the soil and loads
| to be carried, how to determine the
footing areas: building from both ends
| to hasten completion: cutting bents in
! advance: the importance of planning
all details in advance; grading down
| of approaches on four per cent grade
| to reduce amount of bridge work.
After telling how to build them,
then there will be lectures on how to
get rid of them in the advance of an
enemy, and why, for instance, that
they must be blown up by INT
| instead of burning. 1t will be explain.
| ed that one must wait until the last
man and vehicle of the force are over
and that pursuit may be so close there
| would not be time to burn. Instruc-
| tions will be issued in the methods of
| placing charges for destruction, and
how to compute the number of blocks
| of INT for a particular job.
After two nights of lectures the
| officers and men will get a problem
bridge, 120 feet long and averaging
twelve feet high, must be built
| across a draw on good firm material.
| The. materials will be delivered on
| the job as needed. one platoon and
one tool wagon available for the job.
| Have each member of the company
| independently show his organization
/, for the job. Have each member esti-
mate the time required for the job
| and show how the result was arrived
| at. Have each squad, working as a
group, make up a complete bill of
/ material for the structure described
| above. The officer conducting the in
! struction must previously prepare the
| proper bill of material.
After this will come a discussion of
reasons for standardizing bridges, that
Is. the using of standard dimension
stuff, standard spacing of bents, etc.
a discussion of the maximum safe
load that may be carried on a stand
ard structure and a sketch illustra-
tion of the manner in which trestle
bridges found in captured areas may
| be most quickly and satisfactorily
| strengthened when the stringers and
vertical posts are lacking in strength