Royal Canadian Mounted Police Most of the people who have read of the daring and the esprit de corps of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police know little of the service or of the requirements for enlistmert therein. The stipulations for membership require that applicants be between the ages of 18 and 40, active, able-bodied, of thoroughly sound constitution, sober and steady. They must be able to read and write either the English or French language, have sound knowledge of the care and management of horses and be able to ride. They must produce certificates of exemplary character from reliable persons. Married men will not be accepted. The minimum height is 5 feet 8 inches, the minimum chest measurement 35 inches, and the maximum weight 175 pounds. The first enlistment is for three years, reenlistments for one or three years. Pay ranges from that of a constable with one year's service at $2.00 per day to that of sergeants major and staff sergeants at from $3.25 to $3.75 per day, with rations, quarters and uniform supplied. Blacksmiths, horseshoers, carpenters and other mechanics are allowed extra pay. Naturalization Time Limit Near World War veterans, discharged from the service through honorable discharge, who desire to be naturalized under the Act of Congress authorizing their naturalization without complying with many of the usual requirements therefor, such as a declaration of intention, proof of five years' residence in the United States, payment of the customary $4.00 filing fee, and the usual 90 day wait from the date of filing petition to the date of final hearing, must apply to the nearest United States Naturalization Examiner before March 3, 1924. Washington, D. C.-Army aviators cooperating with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, have been conducting tests for the past several months in the vicinity of Tallulah, La., the results of which show that the dusting of cotton from the air in a campaign against the boll weevil is feasible and successful. The tests were conducted on more than 1,000 farms throughout the cotton belt. As a result of proper dusting of the fields with calcium arsenate 96 per cent of the farmers were able to control the weevil so as to make the crop profitable. In a comparison made on adjacent plantations, the ones dusted with calcium arsenate showed an increase of 750 pounds per acre of seed cotton over fields not treated. Army aviators dispelled the idea, which was prevalent when the arsenate was dusted on the plants by sprayers, that it was necessary to do the work at night, when the moisture on the leaves would cause the dust particles to stick. Dust applied by the airplanes in the daytime, it was found, stuck to the plants, and a pound of the material went much further than when applied by other means when the leaves were damp. Investigation has led scientists to believe that the better effect with the plane is gained because the particles of powder are highly charged with positive electricity, while the plants carry a negative charge. Opposite charges attracting, the charged dust settling toward the earth or blown that way by the swift currents of air by the plane is drawn into close contact with the plant and held there. moon, And the trade winds blowing free, If you would but send us of your wealth, Down to latitude nine, A sting of frost and the ring of a skate And a whiff of a mountain pine. Army Trims Navy in Hawaii By defeating the Navy, 16-14, the Army has won the annual service football championship of the Hawaiian Islands. Over 12,000 soldiers and sailors and civilians were present at the game, which was played on December 22 at Moiliili Field, Honolulu. The game was accredited to be the finest of the year in the Islands and to be one of the most spectacular and hard fought contests in Hawaiian sporting history. The first quarter opened with a series of brilliant open field plays on the part of the Navy, which was met with an equally strong defense by the Army. In the second quarter the Navy was still on the offensive; the Navy star fullback, a former Carlisle player, made a fortyyard run for the first score of the game. Taking the offensive from the Navy and playing with machine-like precision, the Army swept down the field for a tying goal, and the first half ended with the score 7-7.: The Army's second touchdown was won by a series of fierce line smashes and short runs off end, but Army failed to kick goal after scoring. Playing the same tactics the Army worked into position and scored a field goal from the Navy's forty yard line. The Navy then opened its attack and scored a second touchdown with the use of brilliant forward passing, raising the score to 16-14 in favor of the Army. A desperate attack on the part of the sailors to save the game failed, the score remaining unchanged at the end. One of the outstanding features of the game was the original and striking stunts staged by the Army. The most interesting one was the writing of the letters "A-R-M-Y" in milehigh letters of smoke over the field by Lieutenant W. C. Goldsborough from the Air Station at Luke Field. This was the first exhibition of, sky writing in the Hawaiian Islands and created a distinct impression. Handbook on National Defense The U. S. Infantry Association has just published a pamphlet entitled "National Defense," which should prove invaluable for all officers and men on duty in civilian communities. The booklet is a compilation of opinions on national defense taken from statements and speeches of the foremost men of this country and from the editorials of the leading newspapers and magazines of the United States. A thorough knowledge of the policy of national defense is necessary for the military as a whole, and especially for those on duty with the Organized Reserves, R. O. T. C. units and the National Guard. With the help of this pamphlet, which costs only sixty cents, the ideas of the leading minds of America in regard to this great question can be referred to in case of a sudden invitation to address a Rotary or Kiwanis Club, or to present the Army side of any question before local Chambers of Commerce or other civilian institutions. There is a wealth of material in it, and its chapters on "By-Products of Preparedness Benefiting Individuals," "The Future Need of National Defense," and "The National Defense Act" will be handy in view of the approaching campaign C. M. T. C. for the 1924 "Woodfill in the Movies" Under the heading "Woodfill in the Movies," the Fifth Corps News of January 12th carries a pertinent editorial on the publicity obtained for the Army on the occasion of the retirement of Sgt. Woodfill, whom General Pershing designated as the outstanding hero of the World War. The editorial is so much to the point that it is quoted here in full: "Few recent incidents have brought the Army more favorable publicity than the retirement of Sergeant Samuel Woodfill at Fort Benjamin Harrison. At least four news reels have pictures running in almost every movie house in America, while photo pages and rotogravure sections all over the country have recounted the deeds of this hero, with the story of the completion of his thirty years of honorable service to the United States. "There was nothing staged about the retirement of Woodfill. As a matter of fact few people knew anything about it, until the Fifth Corps News unearthed the story and it fell into the hands of the Chief of Infantry at Washington and our own story was used as an Associated Press dispatch. Then came the newspaper correspondents and photographers and movie camera-men galore. Fort Harrison, was besieged with reporters for journals both great and small. Be that as it may, the retirement of Woodfill was a good story and it was very well handled There is about one such story a year in every army post in the country and it's up to the post commanders to see that the Army gets the benefit of the publicity possibilities thus offered." The italics in the last paragraph are ours. ARMY BLEACHERS AT ARMY-NAVY FOOTBALL GAME FOR SERVICE CHAMPIONSHIP OF HAWAII. ARMY WON UNITED STATES ARMY RECRUITING NEWS Our National Insurance Policy (Continued from Page Two) the World War, our Government devoted itself to resuming habits of strict economy. We felt we should reestablish our finances though it resulted in temporary loss of effectiveness. Last year I expressed this attitude relative to the War Department budget in a letter to the President, which included the following statement: This estimate does not express the military requirements in order to carry out the spirit and object of the national defense act. The resulting figures have been submitted solely on the basis of allowing the material pant of the Army to run down temporarily, in the interests of immediate economy, with a full knowledge that this means a greater expense in future years to recover from accelerated deterioration. Since those words were written the world situation has undergone various changes. Critical conditions have repeatedly arisen in different parts of the world. The great nations have found it very difficult to achieve a complete and harmonious international understanding. The insistent outcry of the pacifists is itself a proof that the factors which introduce causes for war are now in the making. These factors and indeed minor causes for disagreement have been visible under the surface to such an extent that even the most idealistic governments have perceived the necessity to continue the full maintenance of their military forces as the only logical solution of the problem of world police. Thus we find ourselves in an uncertain period, with greater wealth and responsibility than ever before, with the need to revise and improve our system of national defense, and yet with the conflicting requirement of economy in expenditure. Our people are no more desirous of peace than they were in 1890 or in 1910. Recognizing that conflict is no more impossible now than then, we should indeed economize as far as possible, yet never fail to maintain the structure of national defense at the limiting point of actual necessity. Not many individuals are willing to look far ahead in making their economic decisions. The value of defense expenditures in the form of insurance against the future is an intangible one, and many Americans are skeptical concerning the true effect. Naturally there is no direct money dividend to the taxpayer as interest on his investment. For this reason many taxpayers are impatient in paying this tax, just as they are impatient at the suggestion of carrying life insurance or of installing burglar alarms or fire-prevention systems. It is the wise purpose of our republican form of government to institute representative legislation to protect individualism against its own weakness and limitations. Nowhere is there greater need for protective statesmanship than in provision of measures for the common defense. Many Americans ask, "What is the immediate return from this national defense expenditure?" The statesman should remember that this demand for immediate return is the demand of a feverish age and a manifestation of the same popular weakness that brings the majority of individuals to old age without provisions for their own economic support. Those who are responsible for the protection of our people must not permit this popular misjudgment to sway them from a necessary and sound support of conservative national defense. We must recognize that the immediate. return from national defense costs is represented in the many possible wars which are prevented and in the potency of our international influence for good. The first direct return from the taxpayer's money is the efficiency of the Military Establishment. The components. of the Army of the United States which. are fit for emergency action constitute the police force of the Nation, and also the sheriff's nucleus about which must rally the national "posse comitatus" when a general emergency arises. It is important that this force be maintained at the height of efficiency not only as an emergency police force but also so that there may be set a proper standard to guide civilian components when they are forced to train hurriedly for defense. It is as important for the citizen to demand the highest efficiency in our Regular Army and to hold it in deepest respect as it is for him to demand respect for the flag which it serves and to exhibit toward the colors the veneration which is second only to his worship of Divinity. The flag and the Army are symbolic of that unity without which the American people can not survive. The School of Aviation Medicine (Continued from Page Three). In addition to the main course described above other courses are offered. For graduate flight surgeons there are courses in the various specialties which are designed for the needs of the student who desires to take up a specialty. Then there. is a course for enlisted men, covering a period of two months, designed to train men as assistants to flight surgeons. They are trained in the set-up of apparatus, in the taking of pulse and blood pressure, in gas analysis, in the plotting of records, in the use of a perimeter for taking visual fields, and other related subjects... Recently there has been developed a method for training Reserve and National Guard officers. A correspondence course has been arranged to cover two years. In conjunction with it there will be a short practical course of one month at the school. This may be taken at the end of the two years' correspondence work or in two sessions of two weeks, one at the end of each year. The complete course will give the student training as a flight surgeon, while the first half will give him training as an examiner. Other courses are given to Reserve and National Guard officers to train then as examiners and to train psychologists and physiologists in the application of their specialties to aviation medicine. The school has a commandant, an assistant commandant, and a supply officer.. It is divided into the following departments: The Department of Aviation Medicine, which is subdivided into the Section of Cardiology and the Section of Roentgenology and Photography The Department of Aviation Physiology The Department of Ophthalmology and Otology The Department of Neuro-psychiatry The Department of Administration The Department of Supply and Engineering. The departments, each under a director, carry on the teaching and research in their own particular subjects, and cooperate to give the special physical examinations required by the Air Service. Clinical work is carried on by the Departments of Aviation Medicine, Neuropsychiatry and Ophthalmology and Otology in the New York hospitals. The Department of Supply and Engineering looks after the maintenance and equip ment of the school and manufactures new apparatus. Each department is well equipped. The Department of Aviation Medicine has an electrocardiograph and a well equipped X-ray laboratory. The Department of Physiology has a low pressure chamber large enough to hold sevéral persons. This chamber has a refrigerating plant connected with it, by means of which it is possible to simulate any altitude up to 40,000 feet and any temperature down to 40 below zero. There are also a small low pressure chamber for animals, several rebreathing machines for the altitude classification test, well equipped physiological and chemical laboratories, and excellent reference library containing between two and three thousand volumes. an The faculty are all specialists in their particular field, as well as flight surgeons. The Department of Physiology consists wholly of civilians and is headed by a well known physiologist. The clinical faculties are excellent, as relations have been established with some of the foremost New York institutions. All Army and Navy medical officers who are to be attached to the Air Forces of their services are sent here to be trained as flight surgeons. The school is the only one of its sort in this country and the best equipped of its sort in the world. |