Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04

searching Tor news ~ SS%s$;%$ 80
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ume of business ;. -
that passes over Iieut. II. g. Dowdall
the many desks in
the department. This is no small jOl
%hen it is remembered that the ofiicia
letters that are signed by the Score
tary of War and the Assistant Score
tary of War alone average approx
mately 200 daily. Lieut. DoWdall was
especially adapted for this work witt
his Is years Of experience behind him
as a practical newspaper man on
daily papers in the West prior to the
World War. lie was the lowest rank
Ing officer assigned to duty with the
general staff. and his work in the
press relations section, which was
greatly appreciated by the local news
Satherers. will be missed.
Lieut.. Dowdall has gone to New
York City, where he will be engaged
In the recruiting activities. The fact
that New York has dropped from first
place, its usual position in the recruit
Ing column, to sixth place indicates
that Gotham is in need of a recruiting
officer capable of recouping her lost
recruiting prestige. That Lieut.. Dow
dali is exceptionally we'll qualified for
his new duties Is borne out by the
fact that during the years 1919 and
1920. when the War Department was
making extensive efforts to stem the
tide of depleted ranks of the Regular
Army following the close of the war,
he was among those selected for the
Rrduous duty of building up the en-
listed personnel Of the regular estab'
lishment.
Decision was made by the War De.
partment at this time to make a thor
ough study of recruiting and the work
Of processing" a recruit, not through
the eyes of an official inspector. but
through the eyes of a recruit, and In
this instance the recruit was Lieut.
Dowdall. For four months this officer
travelled throughout the country, al
ways an eager applicant for enlist
ment, and 80 times. in as many differ
ent States, he was accepted for enlist
ment and shipped out to the various
recruit depotS and there stayed for
several days experiencing the menta
and physical examinations and the
various other processing stunts tC
which all recruits are subjected. Not
a single recruit depot did he miss in
the whole country, and at no time was
his identity discovered.
There Is on file in the office of the
adtutant general of the Army reports
Of his experiences a few of which were
published at that time in an Army
publication, but always his identity
was concealed. The published reports
were given under the title of The
Show Down" hence he became known
TO the recruiting service as The
Show Down Man." a name which has
followed him since that time.
The desire has been expressed by
the chief signal officer of the Army
e 40 civ iyh
cancies which now exist in that
branch in the grade of major be filled
by having officers of that grade de-
tailed from the other branches of the
service to the Army Signal Corps.
There are 81 majors in the Signal
Corps at the present time, two OF
whom are members Of the Philippine
Scouts Under the present plans,
those officers who may be detailed to
the Signal Corps will be ordered to
the Signal School at Fort Monmouth,
". j.. where they will undergo a short
course Of instruction in general Sig
nal Corps work prior to their assign
ment to permanent stations.
One hundred enlisted men, as the
result of the recent passage of the
act amending the national defense act
which will permit the Secretary OF
lions enlisted men of the regular
establishment in the same manner
that commissioned officers now are de-
tailed, will begin their actual instruc-
ton this coming September. The law
preScribeS that not to exceed one-half
of | per cent of the enlisted men of
the Army shall be detailed to suitable
institutions. Though the regulations
governing the detail of such students
have not as yet been prepared, it ap-
pears that it will be the policy Of the
War Department TO select from
among the enlisted personnel those
men who have already completed
their college work to the end of the
Junior year.
Great interest was taken in this
project by Assistant Secretary Of War
MacNider, who was attracted by that
provision which would provide for the
training Of personnel to carry out the
duties the supervision of which, by
law, is charged to that official 1t is
contemplated, under the present plans,
that the enlisted men detailed to the
various educational institutions will
he required to spend nine months
at some Army station where inten-
Sive training in Army procurement
problems could be given them. AS
the experience gained during the
World War gradually disappears
with the advancing years, some step
should be taken to replace it by
educated men, and 1t is believed that
the method of capitaliZing the educa-
ton of enlisted men is the first for
ward step which has been taken by
the department in this direction.
Fear has been expressed in GER
tain quarters that there may be
some difficulty in finding enough en-
listed men in the regular establish
ment who possess the requisite pre-
liminary education which will per-
nit of details to the educational in
situations selected by the War De-
partment, and to overcome any such
contingency. special efforts will be
made to enlist suitably qualified men
for this purpose. Special advantages
as these, il is pointed out in the de-
partment, should attract better
type OF men to enter the enlisted
ranks of the Regular Army.
NAVY.
The rife team from Marine Bar
racks at Quantico, Va, with a record
score of 1886, won the Elliott Trophy
match at the Quantico range last
week, which concluded one of the most
successful annual rife and pistol
competitions which have ever been
held at that place. The marines from
Marine Barracks, Naval Academy,