The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-11-10
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON

NJ EW YORK. = This department
! y fiushes a swarm of rumors
about drastic changes in our naval
building plans, said to have been in
R~;t;.h D;.c.t.-. duced by new
problems of de-
Bring Check on tense against
- N.Y. M planes and subs
~ ''0' 'sA'S as disclosed by
British disasters.
So far as we can learn, there are
impending some possible changes in
personnel, and a general check and
overhauling of work on new ships to
date, but nothing revolutionary. 1t
is indicated that there will be in
tensive studies and training in CO.
ordination of ships, planes and sub.
marines.
At the highest peak Of Ameri.
can naval construction in peace.
time history, Rear Admiral Al
exander Hamilton Van KeureD
is made chief of the bureau OF
construction and repair. That
puts him right in the wheel.
house of the navy efficiency
drive, as this is the acid-testing
bureau for fighting ships, and ii
bears the responsibility for their
being sound and fit, structurally
and in design. Defects have
been found, and are being reme-
died in several 10,00O-tOn cruis-
ers.
Admiral Van Keuren, navy tech
nician for SO years, is one of the
most highly rated specialists in ma
val construction. He smokes a drop
stem pipe, carries on easily and in
formally, and marshals engineering
data with precise mastery of de-
tail. His previous post has been
that of industrial manager at the
Philadelphia navy yard. He is a
dependable safeguard against pitted
or pithy armor plate, such as we
heard of years ago. He is native
of Michigan, graduated from Annap-
oils in 1908. His predecessor in the
bureau, Rear Admiral w. G. Du
Bose, becomes commander of the
new model basin at Carderock, Md.
MAJ. GEN. DANIEL VAN VOOR-
1Vl HIS, assigned to the supreme
command in the Panama Canal
Zone, is an officer up from the ranks
Our Gold Guard who has been beer,
No.u Gets Canal many critically
w. important as
lone 20 Voec" signm in
the past-among them the guardian
ship of the bulk of the nations ST.
DOC, 100000 gold reserve, at Fort
Knox, KY. The fact of his selection
is evidence of the crucial impor-
lance of the canal defenses, in the
eyes of the high command.
From GAINESVILLE, Ohio, he en-
listed in the Tenth Pennsylvania
infantry in 1898 and won a COM
mission as second lieutenant in
the Philippine insurrecti0n. He
is the army specialist in mech
anized defense and attack, and
lust now the canal is a cOncen-
tration of swift mechanizati0n.
In the World war, he was chief
of-staff at Brest, and holds the
DISTINGUISHED Service medal,
the Navy Cross, the Silver Star
and the Legion of Honor decOra-
tiOnS.
n
TN HIS new book, "The Defense OF
L Britain Capt. Liddell Hart, the
British military expert, says, "Our
chief risk of losing war lies in try
Britain's Danger m ,ng % H Wsn e ere
Is in Trying to eral finding is
Win, Says Hart s mar ca moaef be
supported in the style to which il
has been accustomed, and observes
that "War will only be ended when
the power-lusting nations recognize
it's futility. The growing power Of
modern defense is bringing that
prospect in sight"
In his preceding book, Europe
in Arms" published in August, 1887,
he thought there was hope of ending
war in the limitations of the mill
tary mind. Fat-headed generals
would cling to gaudy mass attack
and make war so stupid and ridicu.
lous that anybody surviving would
Just forget it. But the trouble with
a war expert is that you can't bottle
him up, and other nations in the
past have used him as military