Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-10
WORLD WAR RECORDS MENACED
BY FIRETRAPS AND WEATHER
Congress Action Is Asked to
Preserve Invaluable
Documents.
Some Papers, CareIessIy
Scattered About, Already
Destroyed by Flames.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

If the story of American participa-
ton in the greatest war in all history
the heroic record of American youth
who made the supreme sacrifice" and
sleep in Flanders Fields not to be
writ in water" Congress must act
promptly to order that the official docu-
ments be preserved.
Because these records are now scat
tered, stored. in firetrap structures,
rapidly disintegrating, Representative
Andrew of Massachusetts, who served
for four and one-half years during the
World War, has presented a Joint reSo-
luton, on which hearings were held
during the closing days of the Seven
tieth Congress, and which will be urged
with the hearty support of his colleagues
as early as possible in the incoming
Congress.
Some Records Already Destroyed.
At the hearing Col. S. c. Vestal, chief
OF the historical section at the Army
War College, testified that lat one
time there were 248 boxes of these
records in storage at Boiling Field A
large number have already been either
| wholly or partially destroyed by fire.
The Andrew resolution provides for
assembling, inventory, classification and
publication of the official records and
maps relating to the participation of
the military and naval forces of the
United States in the World War.
In opening the hearing Representa-
tive Andrew stated that I'VE all agree
that our part in the World War was
an extraordinary chapter in the his
tory of this country and of the world,
that the record of it ought to be pre-
served for posterity, and that the doc
uments pertaining to 1t ought to be
available to historians"
Tells Of Deterioration.
He emphasized that it is nearly IL
years since the war ended; that orders,
reports and other documents were for
the most part on wood pulp paper
which is deteriorating and disintegrat-
ing; that they were written or typed
in ink that is rapidly fading and be-
coming illegible: that many of these
priceless documents are in temporary
buildings subject to destruction by fire,
and some have already been lost
through fire; even where they are &C
cesSible to students they are loose
sheets of paper in manila folders and
being destroyed by frequent handling.
Representative Andrew has learned
that a great many of the important
records are not in the hands of the
Government, but that when the war
ended colonies, generals and other off,
GERS took home with them as souvenirs
records that should be in the Govern
ment archives, and which, if not COL
lected now, will never be available.
Three Courses Suggested.
He suggested three stages of the
work ordered in his resolution-first,
the assembling, cataloguing and filing
of the material which is now being
done in the Office of the adjutant gen.
eral of the Army. If documents are
not returned to the Government upon
request, the Department of Justice
would be authorized to force their
being surrendered.
Second-Determinati of what ma
terial shall be printed and how it shall
be classified and arranged for printing.
He called attention that through lack
Of systematic plan the Civil War rec
ords appeared in Al volumes up to 1877,
and then all the work of those Is years
was Scrapped and it took another IL
years, without much of plan," to
complete the Civil War records.
Third-The Secretaries of War and
Navy shall name the agencies in their
respective departments to prepare these
documents lot puDlcatlOn.
Then, in the final stage, the joint
committee on printing, with the Sec
retaries Of War and Navy, will decide
the form and size of the publications
and how these sets shall be distributed.
Veterans Take Action.
Because these documents have not
been published by the Government. vet
Grams of two of the divisions that par
ticipated in the war have already
collected money by subscription and
have arranged for the publication
of the records of their divisions
The End Division has been engaged
in this work for some time, and
two officers who served with the End
Division were witnesses at the hearing
on the Andrew resolution-Capt. John
w. Thomson, jr., of the Marine Corps,
who wrote, Fix Bayonets," and Capt.
Mattfeldt Of the Army, who described
the present lamentable conditions of
the records and of being forced to wet
them to bring out the writing, and then
had to examine them with microscope.
The veterans of the 1st Division are
doing the same sort of work-to collect
rN,1h1ich fIa let ~Ie