Evening star., 1937-02-06
An earthquake shakes California:

An earthquake shakes California; a
hurricane sweeps over the islands Of
the Caribbean; a typhoon raviShes the
Philippines. Thousands die; millions
in property are lost. No fighting here,
except disease, death and suffering.
Hospital ships of mercy, loaded to ca
pacity with medical supplies, are soon
shooting through the skies to the scene
of disaster. Doctors, nurses, interneS
accompany the planes to the devas-
tated regions. bringing aid, hope and
cheer to the dying, manned and home
less.
Like the great flood which has been
raging down middle America, there
swept over the Philippines about
month ago the worst deluge in the
history Of the islands. Over 81 vii
lagos were wiped out; families rem
dered homeless and destitute Of food.
The Army stepped in. Air service re-
lief was ordered. Over valley so
miles wide and 100 miles long flyers
wended their way, making survey OF
conditions, carrying food and other
necessities to the stricken $4,000 people
dwelling there. Cagayan Valley re-
joiced.
Or it may be the Navajo Indians,
caught in a blizzard on the bleak up
lands of Arizona as they search for
their favorite pinon nut among the
pine forests there. Starving and freez-
ing, all roads cut off by binding snow,
they look to the skies for Army planes,
flying to their rescue with bundles OF
food and clothing until other succor
can get through to them.
All the missions of the Army in
peacet1me are not missions of mercy
The Army, from the beginning OF the
history of the Government, has played
an important part in developing
America.
W1HEN the Louisiana Purchase was
w made" says Lieut.. Ray w.
Clifton, Air Corps, who likes to delve
into the activities Of the service in
other days, very little was known OF
the land. Capt. Meriwether Lewis and
Lieut.. William Clark were sent with
4 sergeants, % privates and some
Indian guides on the Lewis and Clark
expedition to explore this new terri
tory and to bring back the knowledge
Of its resources. The information OBJ
tanned was of such great value to the
pioneers that Congress rewarded all
the men with grants of land and
double pay.
Soldiers OF the Army went along
with the pioneers into this new ter
ritory, surveyed the land, blazed trails,
built roads and protected the settlers
from the Indians.
practically every boundary Of the
United States and most of the State
boundaries were surveyed and marked
by the Army engineers. They helped
construct the Chesapeake g. Ohio and
the Erie Canals. Many Of our lakes
have been surveyed : :, them. Light
houses were built by the engineers to
aid navigation. They have always
been active in flood prevention, in
the improvement of rivers and har-
bors and in the protection and pres
ervation Of navigable waters for which
are spent certain portion OF the
funds which are appropriated by Con-
gress for the War Department.
THE Army engineers have built
many public buildings in Washing
ton, such as the Washington Monu-
ment, the Library of Congress. the
old Post Office Building, the Govern
ment Printing Office. the new Munich
pal Building, the War College, the
wings and dome of the United States
Capitol and the old Agricultural
Building. They supervised the con-
struction of the Lincoln Memorial
and most of the park system Of the
District of Columbia.
Many of the early railroads, such
as the Boston g. Albany, New York,
New Haven & Hartford, the Northern
Central, the Baltimore & Ohio and
others were located, constructed and
managed for a time by the Army
engineers. Later they assisted in build
ing the transcontinental railroads.
At the request of the Car of Russia,
an Army officer was sent to build q
railroad from Petrograd to Moscow.
~THE Army stimulated the begin
nings of the standardization Of the
manufacture of machinery and the
! use Of interchangeable parts. The r.
Neulx ars that nowadays one can get d