Evening star., 1931-11-29

native village street under constant
| enemy fire. Their performance, be-
sides contributing effectively to military
science. was of great utility In other
ways, for their experience in flying over
unmspped tropical country was helpful
, to the commercial lines which now
traverse Central America.
There is also another aspect OF the
accomplishments OF Marine aviatorS
which should be mentioned. Nowhere
| is the menace of malaria greater than
| it is in Nicaragua. Indeed, some doc
| tors have given Nicaragua the unen-
viable distinction of being at the head
of the list of malarial countries. Ma
laria, as is generally known, disappears
when the mosquitoes which cause 1t
| have been eliminated. In the Panama
Canal Zone, for example, the Army
Medical Corps, with the United States
! Government behind 1t, has given an
almost unique example OF malarlal con-
troll through the construction OF drain
! age pipes and canals.
This system could not be adopted in
Nicaragua. The area Of the country
| (Which is about the size OF New York
| State) is too great to 5e completely
covered with pipes and drains. More
over, there were no funds available for
| the purpose. Yet every day the Amer
lean garrison on the edge of Lake Mama
| qua was being reduced by malaria.
Something had to be done. Marines are
good improvisors, and so it was finally
| suggested that some fine road dust be
mixed with Paris green, that this COM
pound be scattered from an airplane
flying up and down the swampy edges
| of the lake. The experiment was sue
cessful and the number of malarial
cases was speedily reduced.
Pool and En- Route.
| Marine aviation has caused this dis
cussion to wander away from the ques-
ton of where the Marines are located.
We have already accounted for about
| 5000 in the United States, 1000 on for
eign station, 1000 with the fleets and
1000 with aviation units. There re-
mains the last category, described Off
cially as pool and en- route which,
according to the strength report, ac-
counted for 2,313 men-more than those
on ships or in aviation and consider
ably more than one-ninth of the entire
corps.
Thus, large proportion of the Ma
rlneS were either travelling to or from
post or were in pool fitting out for
another tour of duty. This is due to
the many places and many different du-
Ties winch the corps must perform. In
deed, this number indicates that the
| e11ectlve strength OF the Marines was
then well below the $4,000 figure to
which 1t is now rapidly being reduced
| by order OF the President. If to the
pool and en- route" total be added the
number of Marines who are serving as
cooks or telegraph operators or in other
non-military capacities the number Of
effective rifles would appear smaller
still.
We customarily regard the Marines
as small and highly trained expedi-
tionary force ready to move at short
notice. Although this is perfectly COR
rect, 1t Is only an incomplete descrip-
ton of what the corps does. Circum-
stances have forced duties on the Ma
rines which are not and never have
been formally admitted, but which none
the less are very real
Had to Preserve Order.
Some OF these duties, perhaps, can be
best understood by recalling that 30
odd years ago the United States sur
prised itself and the rest Of the world
by becoming a colonial power. Soon
thereafter it built the Panama Cnal.
And. needless to say. neither of these
! (ContinRed on Fourth Page)