FEBRUARY 1, 1923

T

HE Army conducted nearly all preliminary explorations in the early days of the country. It constructed The early roads. It built bridges and canals. It alone was able to conduct the arly surveys and make the maps which are so essential in the opening up of a new region. Army engineers initiated most of the accurate methods which are now employed in the geodetic, topographic nd hydrographic surveys of our possessions. The Army was virtually the pioneer of the pioneers. As our citizens moved west over the prairies and through the forests, they travelled routes which were surveyed by Army engineers, constructed by the Army, and protected by military posts. They settled on locations which had been surveyed by the Army, and their titles were established and valid only because of such surveys. In developing the land, the settlers were protected against Indians by troops of the Army. Finally, when the time came to link these outposts to our eastern civilization it was the Army who located and constructed the railroads. Only after the railroads had developed engineers of their own and the country had become safer for travel, did the Army relinquish its tasks and turn elsewhere for its missions. The troops of the line remained on the irontiers. The engineers of the Army began then to develop the great waterways, improving our rivers

and harbors, to supervise public parks, and to construct and administer our public buildings.

Up to 1855 there was scarcely a railroad in this country that was not projected, built, and operated in a large part by the Army. Army engineers located constructed, and managed such well known roads as the Baltimore and Ohio, the Northern Central, the Erie, the Boston and Providence, the N. Y., N. H. & H., and the Boston & Albany.

By THE HONORABLE JOHN W. WEEKS

The Secretary of War's Famous Boston Speech, of which this is a part, is so filled with historic data that it will never grow old.---Ed. Practically all of the trans-continental railroads were projected by the Army. An Army officer built the best locomotive of his time, after his own design. So widespread was his fame that when the Czar of Russia desired to build a railroad from St. Petersburg to Moscow, he chose the American officer for the task. The officer--Lieut. G. W. Whistler died before completing the work, but he passed it to another Army officer to finish. Americans are proud of their railroads. They owe their early development to the Army.

If the listener is interested, he usually asks, "What else do we owe to the Army in early development?"

So I continue. The Army built the Chesapeake and Ohio canal and the Erie canal. The most effective influence in opening up the Middle West was the old Cumberland Pike, running from Cumberland, Maryland, to St. Louis, Missouri. This was built by the Army. Practically every boundary of the United States, and most of the State boundaries, were surveyed and marked by the Army. The

famous Lake Survey was made by the Army. Because of engineering difficulties involved in its construction, the old light-house erected on Minot's Ledge in Boston was one of the most prominent sea-rock light-houses in the world. This, like most of our light-houses, was erected by the Army. The o'd channel of Boston Harbor had a depth of only 18 fect. The Army engineers have increased the depth of this important waterway to 35 feet and widened it from 100 feet to 1200 feet, and similar work has been carried on by them in all harbors and navigable streams of the United States.

"That is all extremely interesting." reply my questioners, "but how about the other 'constructive' accomplishments of the War Department? We thought that the purpose of the War Department was to wage war." This is an almost ineradicable tendency, to believe that the War Department is hoping for war and uninterested in the pursuits of peace.

To answer this I look back first to the construction of the transcontinental railroads and point out that the continual progress of the Army in development work was always followed by elaboration through civilian activities, and that it was the elaboration of what the Army began that gave us what we call our civil zation today. One of the greatest impetus to the expansion of our telegraph system

was given by the Signal Corps of the Army just after the Civil War. As late as 1877 there were more than 3000 miles of telegraph service throughout the South operated by the Signal Corps as an outcome of their service in the war. These wires provided the framework for the bu'lding up of the te'egraph service in the south that exists today, just as the activities of the Army in early pioneer days resulted in settlements which later became great cities, such as Pittsburgh

on the site of Fort Pitt, and Chicago on the site of Fort Dearborn. So we can now look upon the activities of our Signal Corps with realization that they provide us with an enormous addition to our other available means of communication and with full expectation that in our development these means will prove of inestimable value.

"Do you realize." I respond, "that until the middle of the past century the Army was the only public organization fully able to encourage and assist our citizens in their development of this great country?"

"Do you know that the great. Lewis and Clarke expedition that opened up the Northwest was conducted by the Army?"

The

When the American citizen visits our national capital, the first sight to greet his eye is the stately Washington monument, completed under great difficulties by the Army. He next turns to the capitol, of which the wings and dome were built by Army engineers. Army likewise built the old Post Office building, the new Municipal Building, the Government Printing Office, the War College, the Agriculture Building, and the beautiful Library of Congress. Army engineers supervised construction of the new Lincoln Memorial and practically all of the park system in the District of Columbia. They built the Washington Aqueduct and are even developing the playgrounds in our capital city.

were

It was not long after the railroads had bound our country into a unity that was further cemented by reconciliation. after the Civil War, when we faced with the problem of colonization of acquired territories; the problem that is perhaps the severest test of the ideals of any nation. Alaska, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and the Canal Zone-one by one these burdens were thrust upon us. We have done this successfully and the major part of the task has been the work of the Army. When our citizens began their mad rush into the klondike, it was the Army that opened the harbors and built the roads and trails leading to gold. When the gold was discovered-or lost-men remained in this new land, and they were protected from mob rule and lawlessness by the Army. The Army surveyed their lands and policed their frontiers. Their only link with civilization was the cable constructed and operated by the Signal Corps, which also operates 600 miles of telegraph over land. Army engineers projected the railroads which are beginning to open the country to intensive culture. Even today, a large part in the administration of this great territory is played by Army officers. Business

to the extent of over 100 million dollars annually is transacted over the 57 cable and telegraph offices and 17 inland radio stations, all operated by the Signal Corps. Alaska knows the Army as a friend in need. And as it was in Alaska, so also in the other colonies or territories which we have acquired.

The Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and Panama-all have histories of achievement-history in which the progressive forces of civilization have struggled against reaction and decadence. That civilized forces are triumphant is due primarily to the intelligent administration and constructive talents of the American Army. Building up public utilities, eradicating terrible diseases, educating the children, attending even to the spiritual needs, creating the institutions of self-government and protecting these institutions from aggression-in all these has the Army left its seal upon our possessions and protectorates and proven itself once more the Pioneer of the American Pioneers.

Then this question is asked. "You say that the Army is responsible for our colonization-just what is their success?"

In the Philippines, where strife between tribes was almost continuous, we have built roads and railroads and schools as well as churches, and have done more in twenty years to make the Filipinos a united people than was done before in centuries. Do you realize that we have taught practically all of the children to speak one language-the English language! *

In Panama our predecessors were unable to remain. The French enterprise on the Isthmus of Panama was completely blocked by the fact that 75 per cent of employees from France lost their lives from disease within a few months after landing on the Isthmus. In 1901, a group of medical officers, headed by Major Walter Reed determined definitely that yellow fever was transmitted by the mosquito. Within a very few months after this discovery Havana was cleared of the disease that had ravaged it for 150 years. Our greatest achievement in Panama was the conversion of this pestiferous district into a healthy region. Since 1906 one can live in Panama with equal assurance of protection against disease as if living, for example, in Boston. This was the work of the Army. When we took over the administration of Porto Rico, the entire population was affected by "tropical anemia." The Army doctors demonstrated that this disease was a hookworm infection and the measures taken accordingly have redeemed these people from a plague that would forever have hindered their development. There are

many equally striking illustrations of the work of the American Army in improving the health of this country, our dependencies, and indeed, of the entire world.

Our work in Panama is a conspicuous example of what can be accomplished under the worst tropical conditions in sanitation, municipal engineering, and construction. The American occupation has exerted and will continue to exert a powerful influence upon all of the nearby countries in Central and South America. These are stimulated to undertake much needed improvements for which the means are derived from the increased prosperity which the Canal has brought. For the last four months the tolls collected by our Government have exceeded a million dollars per month. Seventy-five lines of vessels serving the great trade areas of the world ply through the waterway. The equipment of the Panama Canal as a base for fueling, supply and repair, is complete. It is, incidentally, a military asset of the greatest importance. Its use increases our ability in defense at least 50 per cent, although its total cost is no more than the cost of ten modern battleships which would be doomed to obsolescence in twenty years.

Americans do not believe in conquest of territory. The average citizen feels, perhaps, that our pioneering days are Over. We cannot admit, however, that we have reached the end of our constructive abilities. There are other methods in which a civilization makes itself an influence for good. We have barely emerged from a war in which we fought for our convictions. It was our purpose to fight not only bravely and with determination, but also fairly and with mercy towards the weak and helpless.

"American Relief" has acquired as much significance as a slogan of American progress, as once attached to the cry of "Westward Ho!" The average citizen knows and loves Mr. Hoover for his part in American relief in Europe. Does the average citizen know that, except for the titular head of the organization and a few clerical assistants, the American Relief in Europe was the Army and its individuals? Five Colonels of the Regular Army acted as Mr. Hoover's principal assistants either in Paris or at the head of more important missions such as those which were sent into Poland and Armenia. There was a military personnel of 320 officers and 464 enlisted men who constituted the missions and agencies which distributed American relief. In addition there was a vast amount of work such as providing convoys and courier serv (Continued on Page Sixteen)

N developing its all around service
with men and boys throughout the
country, the Y. M. C. A. naturally in-
ludes in its plans the men of our coun-
ry's armed forces. Y. M. C. A. work
with men of the Army is not a new thing,
having begun in fact as long ago as
This Association also
the Civil War.
carried on a relatively extensive work
during the brief Spanish-American War.
The interest of officers and men in plans
and service developed by the Y. M. C.
A. through the Spanish-American War
period led to requests that continuous at-
tention be given by the Association to
work with men in uniform. As a result
the Army and Navy De-
partment of the Interna-
tional Committee of the Y.
M. C. A. was organized in
1898 and has promoted con-
tinuously a unique type of
work based on the condi-
tions and needs of the men
of the Service.

General Pershing said
recently in a public address:
"The early appearance of
the Y. M. C. A. with the
Army was in the days when
the soldier was rarely in the
minds of our people." Af-
ter a number of years of
experience with the regular
Army, the Association was
granted by act of Congress
the right to erect permanent
Army Y. M. C. A. build-
ings
military reserva-
tions subject to revocable
licenses. Through the gen-
erosity of public spirited
citizens buildings were thus
secured for Fort Hancock,
Fort Slocum,
Fort Jay,
Fort
Monroe, Fort Leavenworth and
Fort William McKinley, P. I., as well
the Presidio of San Francisco.
During the period preceding the World
War the Association operated also in
granted quarters or rented quarters at or

as

at

on

near a posts.

was

Y. M. C. A.

COBLENZ, GERMANY

reservation was established, and enjoined officers to render the fullest practicable assistance in the maintenance and extension of the Association's work. The extent of the war work is indicated by the fact that there were engaged in it as secretaries in addition to the many thousands who rendered volunteer service, 25,926 persons, of whom 5.145 were In the home camps there served 12,971, and overseas, 12,955.

women.

The magnitude of the war work needs no comment. Speaking of that overseas, General Pershing said in a public address: "About nine-tenths of the welfare work that was carried on in the A. E. F.

same time a number of units were housed in tents and others based on motor truck equipment which included motion picture machine, phonograph, organ, stationery, writing matter, etc., accompanied by a secretary whose desire was to meet the needs of the men whatever the needs were and whereever the men might be.

When our country entered the World War the Association was called upon to meet quickly heavy demands made upon By Executive it at home and abroad. order which later became War Department General Order No. 57, May 9, 1917, the Association was given a definite status as a valuable adjunct and asset to the service. This order referred to the acts of Congress of May 31, 1902, and of June 13, 1911, in wihch precedent for the presence of the Association on the

was carried on under the direction of the Y. M. C. A." The organization is proud to stand upon its record during that period. This is reviewed in a very interesting way in Mayo's Miss Katherine book, "That Damn Y" and is fully covered in the two"Service volume history

with Fighting Men," just issued.

Following

the World

War the very extensive voluntary civilian welfare operations carried on by variFederal ous agencies reservations were taken over

on

to be officially operated un-
der the War and Navy De-
partments; in this process,
however, specific exception
was made of the Army As-
sociations which had been
on reservations
operating
in buildings erected by spe-
cial permission and with pri-
vate funds in the period be-
There are at
fore the war.

present 15 such Associations operating
within Federal reservations under this
exemption and with a defined and offi-
cially recognized status.

The present service of the Y. M. C. A. with men of the Army alone (leaving out all consideration of that through a number of very large branches such as those in Boston, Newport, San Diego, San Francisco, Honolulu, Cristobal, Balboa and Manila, where service is rendered both soldiers and sailors), is carried on not only in the buildings mentioned on military reservations, but also in a number of Association buildings or clubhouses in communities adjacent to military posts such as San Antonio, Texas, and Tientsin, China. In San Antonio, for example, the Army Y. M. C. A. owns and occupies a fine structure which (Continued on Page Twelve)

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