Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1917 — Page 3

HOW BIG ARMIES WERE CREATED BY GREAT BRITAIN

Least Difficulty Found Was Obtaining Men in Early Days ’ _ of the War. PROBLEMS QUICKLY SOLVED -System la Finally Established After Early Blundering and the PresentDay Efficiency of the Troops, in France Is Testimony to the Thoroughness of Their Training. New York. —We received from the office of the general staff an interesting article on the “Organization and Training of the-New Armies of Great Britain” which tells us that the British army that went, opt to Mons in the early days of August, 1914, was probably the best trained army that has ever left England, the Army and Navy Journal states. Nearly all the officers were men who toofc a keen Interest in their profession and who availed themselves of every opportunity to increase their military knowledge and experience. The training of part of the expeditionary force at Aldershot, under the commanders who themselves led it into action, was training such as never had been seen in England. Owing to the stress of circumstances the training of the new armies during the first period was less- complete than that of the armies organized later in the second period, but both armies were characterized by the spirit which puts life Into the instruction in military duties. The practical training in small wars had taught the British soldier the inestimable value of never knowing when he is beaten, the Russians saying that the English never win more than one victory in a war—but that is the last. This and a strong regimental feeling which has always been characteristic of the British army have been preserved in the armies now in the field. Men at First Responded Quickly. This regimental feeling tends to make officers and men one happy family, proud of themselves, jointly anx-

ious to make their regiment a glory to the British army. It cultivates a spirit -of self-reliance, loyalty and kindness, all based upon the strong sense of discipline and community of interest. It is a broadminded and tolerant method which insists on smartness and on duty .... and discipline ana high courage and courtesy, but not on hate. The men who came into the army as recruits were the kind who were ready to respond to the British methods of “* training a volunteer army. The least ■ difficulty found was in obtaining the men in the early days of the war. Recruits, came faster than they could be taken care of and supplied with proper equipment. Some 800,000 troops were housed in hired buildings and other temporary quarters, but within a year huts to hold three-quarters of a million men, with water and light laid on, had been built, besides various enormous depots for stores, remounts, etc. JTJiese huts seemed to spring up in every part of the country; one great bare moorland in the midlands, uninhabited since the dawn of history, had been covered with new roads, railways, pumping establishments, power stations and huts for some 40,000 individuals. Soldiers' Quarters and Food. Within a year the problem of quartering the troops in the chief training centers had been solved. The previous uncomfortable accommodatlPHS Were the cause of bad discipline anti slovenly training. Fortunately a satisfactory system for feeding the troops on a war basis had been elaborated two years before the war. A description of this method is given. At the beginning certain articles of food, especially meat, were so excessive that great waste resulted, also owing much to the ignorance of the soldiers detailed for cooking duties, who served the excellent food provided in a slovenly unappetizing way, and improvement followed the establishment of schools in instruction in cookery and the admonition to commanding officers to lay stress on the variety in the cooking of the food, on cleanliness and on economy. Clothing the recruits was another difficulty experienced at the beginning. Important parts of the equipment such as army boots were for a long time sadly deficient. The enlargement of old plants, the erection of new plants and instruction in the methods of manufac- __ ture was a slow and laborious process. When the war started, England seemed to have been as badly off in matters of supplies as we. They had igss than 800,000 rifles, only half of them tly> latest pattern. The weekly output of rifles in the United Kingdom was under 2,000, which could be Increased somewhat by night shifts, but which at the best was infinitesimal compared with - the needs of the new army. Unfortunately the rifle, though needed in larger - quantities than any other weapon for an army, requires longer time than any other beroTeTts mnnufadtnfP with new plants can be started, owing largely to the number of gauges,of extreme accuracy required in the process; con—sequently the recruits had to _ wait long. t By January, 1915, the flrtft new army had about 400 service rifles per battalion, and the second aboyt 100, and -it was not u n 11! Search, 1915, that these armies were beginning to be fully armed. To provide even a limited amount of drill and musketry practice It was necessary to hand around the service rlfleqin each battalion as

AMERICA’S SMALLEST RECRUIT

Private Murdock MacPherson taking the salute at the aviation field, Sheepshead Bay, L. I. He is certainly the embodiment of “young America” with his uniform, soldierly bearing and big, broad smile. ,

the three Fates handed around their solitary eye in the story of Perseus. Many rifles were too worn to shoot with sufficient accuracy for musketry practice and there was no opportunity to cultivate in the soldier a personal pride in his own rifle and the knowledge of its idiosyncrasies. This scarcity of rifles in the early days prolonged the training. In October, 1914, the artillery of one division of the first new army had only, six 18-pounders' altogether Instead of its full complement of 54; another had only a few of the obsolete 15-pounders; in March, 1915, some divisions had only two guns per battery; even in Mayr when the full complerhent of guns had arrived for the first new army dlvisionSj the equipment of dial sights, etc., for indirect laying was still deficient. The second new army was at that date in very much the same state, except that in their case the howitzer brigade had not been delivered. The third end fourth new armies were still worse off. For months the gunners in some divisions had to learn what they could of the mechanism of a rifle without even seeing one. Some enthusiastic officers provided dummy wooden guns at their own expense and obsolete guns were utilized for the same purpose. When some such guns as these’ were available there were no artillery instruments such as dial sights, range finders, directors and so on, without which a modern battery is almost help-less,-except those that could be ImproVRea .tflMua ingenious" Umber gunner. Similarly horses, harness and the proper wagons were hardly ever complete for any battery of the first three armies till on the very eve of their departure over sea. Noncommissioned officers fit to train recruits were sadly lacking. Those having experience could not be spared from their regiments at the front. The most that could be done was to have one experienced man in each unit and this only by employing 200 officers of the Indian army home on leave and retired officers (“dug out” as they were popularly called). Some of these did important service and others were of little value, not being up-to-date and lacking the capacity of making themselves so. The, infantry drill had been altered and the double company substituted for the old single company.; in artillery the changes had been more notable by the introduction and almost exclusive use of indirect laying, which required in artillery officers and noncommissioned officers facilities of rapid observation and calculation; again the cooperation of artillery and airplanes was a closed book to all the old school gunners; the use of telephones and signals had been developed in a manner unknown to quite recent generations of officers. To secure officers required the courses at Woolwich and Sandhurst were reduced and the age limit lowered. A certain number of commissions graduates and ex-warrant and noncommissioned officers were given commissions. There were at the beginning of the war— 22- -senior- officers’ training corps. Some of the best trained men from the senior corps were given regular commissions at once and large numbers received “temporary commissions” for service with the new battalions. A great many senior boys from the cadet corps of the schools were also given temporary commissions. It is an indication of the value of. these O. T. C.’s at a critical junction ;,of the war, that

TIIE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

within the first year of the war the Oxford university O. T. C. provided over 2,300, three of the smaller northern universities’ O. T. C.’s over 1,000 and the Inns of Court O. T. C.’s over 2,500. It was found necessary to give temporary commissions even to university graduates and the senior boys in public schools. Practically all pupils of the public schools applied for commissions as soon as they reached the age limit. Excellent material for junior officers was found among the young men who had gone to the colonies or foreign countries to take up a life of adventure. No young men made better officers than these, for all had taken some risks; they had been on their own responsibility, and generally had men under them and experienced dangers by flood and field. The supply of officers for a technical corps proved surprisingly adequate, the war office selecting according to the recommendations of the heads of the corresponding civil professions. In addition to these the war office has obtained a large staff of specialists for work with the troops, e. g.', bacteriologists, ophthalmologists, aurists, radiologists, dermatologists, experts in tropical diseases, etc. For all practical purposes, most of the infantry subalterns of the new armies had to train themselves during the first five months of the war as best they could in the intervals of training their men. If the officers were untrained, the noncommissioned officers of the new armies were in the main even less trained. This presented a marked contrast to the really good sergeant of the old school with his mingled humor and severity, putting a squad of recruits through their paces, the type of Kipling’s Private Mulvaney. There was some compensation for this, however; the fact that the necessity of doing the noncommissioned officers’ job as well as their own gave the officers greater proficiency and better understanding of their men. An experienced British general writing on the training of some of these new divisions, said that a mass of civilians had been-transformed in less than eight months into an army which had more practical training for war than it had ever been possible to give to troops in England before. There was, he added, a feeling of confidence fn all ranks, due partly to the organizing power of a short-handed staff, but chiefly to the keenness of all ranks to make themselves fit for the front. The experience? here recorded are highly suggestive of bur own experiences and they jndiefite the methods we shall have to follow in creating armies to meet our regular requirements.

NO FAVORITISM IN DRAFT

Selective Service Act Is Specific and Allows No Latitude to Registration Officials. —j.——— Washington.—A statement has been issued from the office of the provost marshal general of the United States army as follows: The attention of the war department Jias been called to the fact that fear exists in some parts of the country that some members of the county and city registration boards may he Influenced by personal considerations to discriminate between young men who are liable for service, and to make friendship or some other consideration a moving factor in the selection of soldiers for the new army. There is no ground for such a fear. The law is specific and allows no latitude to the offlcialsieither In the matter of registration or in the later matter of exemption from service. In fact, the law is self-executing. Every man within the age limits fixed by the selective-service act must register, and the penalty of the law for evasion of registration will fall, not only on the man who fails to appear, but on any member of a registration board who may be shown to be in collusion with the person who attempts to escape his duty. Further than this, the registration boards never Will act as exemption boards except in certain specific cases as where a young man who has registered shall claim to be employed In a federal. State or local office, and thereby does come within the exemption clause of the statute. In a case like this the facts must be entered officially and attested. The law provides the penalty of imprisonment with no alternative of a fine for any official or any registered man who shall make a false return or connive at such a practice. The safeguards against favoritism or evasion are'ample.— ~ The response to the government’s appeal for volunteer service has been so prompt and general in its distribution that It is assured that in virtually all the districts there will be officials whose sole moving purpose is the patriotic one of seeing to it that the duties of the office are performed in strict accordance with the requirements of the law. So far as the other reasons for ex- v emptlons under the law are concerned, exemptions for men engaged in pursuits in .which their work is more valnable at’home than in the service, the authority will He with a board of higher Jurisdiction. Those who fear that discriminations will. be made on grounds of personal friendship or on other grounds may‘be assured that every precaution will be taken to make it certain that the registration will be conducted with exact Justice and that the democracy of the law will dwell in Its spirit as in its letter.

SHOE QUESTION MOMENTOUS ONE

Difficulty of Securing High Boots Probably Will Affect Length of Skirts. PARIS ABANDONS NARROW TOE American Women Said to Be Last in Civilized World to Cling to Pinched Vamp and Exaggerated French Heel. New York- —The fashion in shoes has been unusually Important for -three years, but now it has taken on renewed vigor. Women and manufacturers are vitally concerned with what to wear, and how high or low it should be. The recent shipment of shark’s skins to this country to supply the deficiency in leather is Interesting. The manufacturers say that the effect of shoes made out of the man-eaters that threatened and frightened us on the New Jersey coast last summer will be good and that women will not complain that leather is no longer to be easily had, because they will be satisfied with the new things. Cloth is also being substituted. Canvas is readily used with a bit of leather In the way of strapping as a sop to an old tradition that shoes must be of certain hides. Brocade, silk, tussah, cotton are all called to the colors to serve the country in" time of "need Leather shoes are mounting in price, naturally, and yet no disposition on the part of the manufacturers to make any other kind of shoes at a low price. All labor is too high for any material reduction to be possible. The difficulty is to get worker and leather, and dire prophecies are made concerning both if the war continues well into the future.

The French lengthened their skirts for spring and summer to meet the difficulty of procuring high boots, they said, and, therefore, the American woman Is considering well the questions which are put before her by the shoemakers and the dressmakers. The Shoe and the Skirt. There is no separating the two issues, it would seem, for a woman who has been usedto wearing the very short skirt will certainly be hampered if she can no longer find the shoes to meet the situation. If the substitution of other materials than leather does not meet wlth her approval, and she thinks the new kind are ugly, then she will lengthen her frocks and be in the first fashion.

As so many questions were asked concerning the situation, and as it was evident that Paris was the source of both fashions, that is, the lengthened gown and the new types of shoes, I sent there for. the best information to be had, so that women who read could make up their minds as to their own course through expert knowledge. No matter how good our workmanship in shoes in this country, we may have to go to France for ideas, just as in other days France came to us for the short vamp, the Cuban heel,

-STMm frock of voile. The color is chestnut, the skirt is plain, and the bodice is embroidered in small flowers. The belt is of blue velvet ribbon.

the reliable sole, the lacing in front. And today France and the United States are working together to, meet the situation created by the deficiency of shoe materials, and Fryqch .skill has created some excellent results. Our long medieval vamp, with its consequent lengthening of the foot and the curious pinching effect at the toes, is roundly rejected by Paris for the sensible reason that her women are walking now, as they have no carriages of automobiles. 4 France claims that the pinched vamp is not for the pedestrian, and she gave up the style that she indulged in for po long and at which Americans laughed; now our American women ate the only ones on the civilized parts

of the planet who Indulge In ft*' medieval toe balanced on an exaggerated French heel. What Paris is doing today and how she has met the difficulties presented is clearly and interestingly told in the story which follows: The last Installment of American shoes for spring arrived during the winter, and the French article cut after the latest throb of the American market is now being placed in the windows here. —— Long Vamp Disappears. It is faithful in all main points to its model, but the long vamp so loved

In this house gown of blue and silver the satin skirt Is draped with chiffon, with yoke and bodice of silver and blue stripefe beaten flat. Belt of violet velvet. Sleeves of blue chiffon.

in France up to a dozen years ago has disappeared, probably forever,.for French women, always wide awake to anything that heightens or detracts from their good points, have learned that the long vamp not only adds inches to the foot, but is uncomfortable unless the shoe be two sizes too large. Every American model that came to Paris a year ago showed the extremely long, narrow shoe, but Paris -bootmakers shortened the vamp when copying it for their trade. The shoe that Is a la mode today and will be for the summer is the half-short vamp with arch under the foot, and the Cuban heel, if a boot, then it will be the black with colored top bordered in the patent leather around the lacings at the top, and the seam at the back will be covered. The top part is of cloth or covert, and the color beige, gray or white. If the shoe is low, it will be of the new kind of patent leather with a long tongue that extends above the instep and posed over the toes will be a wide black buckle —steel, if for afternoon, imitation black enamel if for morning. These two styles are the best, but there are a hundred variations.

For evening the smartest thing is the strapped yellow slipper of brocaded silk (generally yellow and white) or else the slipper is laced across with ribbons, then wound about the leg above the ankle, filet fashion. Some of the best bootmakers show the little old-fashioned slipper, cut low with just one strip over or above the Instep. This is for afternoon and evening wear, for It is equally pretty in black calf and white satin. Over the toes is a tiny chou of satin or leather. This model is extremely simple, in keeping with the new clothes and it will be in fashion for a long time. The toe of all footgear is neither round nor pointed; just n healthful sculptural cut. The heel for evening slippers is high and curved, but half an inch shorter than the original Louis XVI, which means that heels are quite moderate and simple. Paris Gives Up Buttons. It took Parlsiennes a long time to give up their dearly beloved buttoned shoe, but once relinquished they have taken to the laced article with enthusiasm. For elegance they admit the buttoned model is the best, but the other article now appears so feminine to them that it is sure to remain. ~ Frenchwomen of the old school cling to buttons on shoes, and dealers and makers have ceased trying to persuade them that the laced shoe is better than the other. When buttons are used here ttfey are half size and fastidious women who can afford it have the buttons of ent jet. The delicate shades of gray, pink, biscuit and beige for low shoes appear in the windows. The beige and gray will sell well because of their harmonizing tone. The tan and russet; too, look very encouraging, and women will be investing in this shoe on the first bright day. With the russet and tan the heel Is Cuban, and the newest low shoe is rather high over the instep and laced. The tie variety does not appear to be fashionable, though thdre are many women who prefer narrow ribbon to laces in their shoes. All leather is though in many cases this is due to the finish. Gun metal has never taken here, probably because it is hard to keep clean in the constant rain and slush. (Copyright, 1917, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

An Increase In Pockets.

Pockets are one of the details which are assuming added importance. They have become increasingly familiar during the last few months, figuring on redlngote and gown.

HOME TOWN HELPS

SOME~bIROS ARE NEGLECTED Familiar Robin and Friendly Chickadee Almost Forgotten by the Bird- .. house Builders. In the last five years we have heard and read a good deal about birdhouse building. Bluebird, wren and martiM ought now to be well provided for by all bird lovers. Other birds have also been mentioned along with the box nesting idea, as the flicker and the» crested fly-catcher, though these fellows undoubtedly much prefer natural holes,in trees, which the woodpecker generally makes for himself and tho fly-catcher selects with great care« There are exceptions, of course; flickers have-been known to select hole* previously excavated and even those made by man, and we. have bad the crested fly-catcher take up quarters in a deserted Bluebird box of hol-low-limb appearance that was nailed to the trunk of a tree. Some birds, however, have been almost forgotten and one of these is our old, familiar, friendly robin, while another is less familiar, but not less friendly, the cheery chickadee. Robins generally build their nests in vines, on densely-follaged tree limbs, times on porch pillar top or roof beam.. But if they are offered a rather open and roofed box set on a pole and

A House for the Chickadee.

shielded from cats they are very apt to set up housekeeping therein. The ideal robin box is merely a floor with cleats, two .opposite sides and a gabled roof, two sides, therefore, being Open, and this set on a pole from ten to twenty feet In air will tempt the birds most surely. Dimensions inside should bo about 10 by 10 by 6 Inches.

DIRTY STREETS AND GERMS

<• Diseases of the Respiratory Organs Are Directly Attributable to UnWashed Pavements. Read any metropolitan paper on Sunday and note the tabulated causes of deaths during the preceding week. Diseases of the respiratory organs lead all the rest. To a city engineer the significance of this fact should be apparent, Grip, colds in general, pneumonia, tuberculosis and all the respiratory diseases have their origin in germs. These germs, for the most part, come from expectorated matter that falls upon streets, there to dry and be blown about with the dust that every gust of wind or motorcar sends upon its deadly journey, says a writer in Engineering and Contracting. To apply water effectively in cleaning pavements, It is essential that the surface be smooth well crowned. This condition is not perfectly fulfilled in 10 per cent of the streets in America, at a safe guess, and it is not even approximately fulfilled in 30 per cent of the streets. In brief, more than two-thirds of the streets in American cities need resurfacing if a marked reduction In respiratory diseases is to be effected. This does not mean, of course, that every city is in need of any suchi overhauling, but it does mean that the average city needs it, and it needs it badly.

Protecting Tree Wounds.

No covering of a tree wound anywise hasten the healing process or help form a callus. Its sole office is one of protection from decay, Insects, etc., while' the stub Is gradually* being covered by new growth. Dressings should be reapplied whenever the wood becomes exposed to keep out infection until entirely calloused over,, for If decay or other germs, or insects once get a lodgment, even if the* "WifOT Wirety brats tion may work until the tree, dies or becomes hollow. The callus is formed by the cambium tissue or inner bark that lies between bark and wood. old wood itself takes no part in the healing process,, but on the contrary dies and is therefore a menace to the life of the tree. So cut branches as to. leave no stub and then use white lead, red lead, oil, grafting wax, creosote, tar, asphalt dr any material which completely covers and excludes air ani water.*