4
WHAT THE
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UY C. H. I'LAl'DY. i
THKKK is a lot of difference between
Uio battle of a few years ago and
the buttle of today. All otir old
I'.onccptions of a buttle, picture are out of
date. Kven the scene at the general s
tent, where the grizzled veteran sends
out his commands by orderlies as he
watches the progress of the conflict with
his field kIhsscs is hopelessly unreal.
And now the I. tilted States proposes to
ro a step further than any other nation
lias gone and to reconstruct its signal
service on a basis of modern scientific
development that will make Its next war
si 111 more unreal, from the old point
of view. Two bills are now before Cong
ress to this end.
The old-fashioned, out-of-date sort of
a battle has been made familiar by cyclo
ramus and paintings. The commanding
general stands on an eminence overlook
ing the entire field. 1-telow him and to one
Bide are his own troops and beyond he can
plainly see the. line of the enemy. He
sends out his orders by word of moutti
or scraps of paper and sees them de
livered. Before his eyes tTio ordyrs are
obeyed. 'I'lils- tronp retreats, that ad
vances to the attack. Tins one is wiped
out in a liaiul-to-hand conflict that
drives forward victoriously. A battery Is
inarched a mile or two in the face of the
enemy to take a new position, or a regi
ment trots gravely and unconcernedly
. lrom one end of the field to the other,
content to lose a few men that It may
obey orders.
All that is no longer possible. Today it
would be army sincnlc. A general can
no longer see even his own lines from a
natural elevation and the chances of his
sending orders by word of mouth would
bo slim indeed.
Nowadays we. shoot so hard, so far and
so fast and have such accurate artillery
that for a body of men in the field to
disclose its position means that It must
vacate, that position unless the disclosure
is in the form of an overwhelming at
tack. If the general of today had to de
pend on written or spoken words of com
mand, delivered in person, he would find
practically all his messages as dead as
their bearers would be before they were
even In sight of the commands they were
sent to.
Organization tlic Pivot.
The pivot on which the modern battle
turns is no longer personal bravery, or
equipment or numbers of hardly even
skill. It is organization, and the very
essence of that organization is communi
cationthe work of the Signal Corps.
Yesterday the modern general worked
with telegraph wires, strung along fences
or laid along .the ground and some very
wonderful things were accomplished In
this way, helped by the courago and re
sourcefulness of the Signal Corps, as wit
ness the Japanese-Russian War.
But today we xise tho wireless and
across miles of roaring battlefield come
instant instructions as to range and di
rection tor llring, minute orders that
must bo obeyed though they toll the
hidden battery hardly a word of 'the
fight. It is. a big game played In the
dark to all except the general and his
stall", over a great expanse of miles
with fearful engines of death command
ed absolutely, certainly and Instantly by
the spark of the wireless. As some one
recently put It: "We do not fight to
day man to man. company to company,
brigade to brigade or division to divi
sion. The modern battle is a fight be
tween two men two generals armed with
an army."
Quickest Hitter Wins.
And the general who best controls his
army, who best and quickest knows
where all parts of it is and what all
parts of it are doing, and who can best
and quickest tell all and several of Its
parts what to do next, wins the day.
In a fist light between two pugilists, it
Is not always the hardest hitter, but
the. quickest hitter, who wins. It is not
necessarily the strongest wrestler who
throws hin man. but the wrestler with
the quickest nervous reaction. It Is the
' army which can act as a whole, not as
a collection of little wholes the army
which can light as one body, not as a
lot of .little bodies that is the army of
todny.
The "nervous reaction" of an army is
its ability to respond quickly to com
mands, ability to get the ' commands
quickly anil ability to deliver tho com
mands quickly. Per contra, the nerv
vous action" of the army Is the ability
to send tho commands quickly, and to
receive with ease . and. certainty, the
news at the front, and the reflection of
events -not seen, but felt. The "ner
vous system" of an army is its Signal
Corps. And today the United States
Army Is much in the position of a big
man whose nerves are not long enough
to reach to his feet and hands. What
we have i the best possible; but there is
all too little of it.
That fearful term "reorganization"
NEW LONG
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frequently means, in the public ears, in
vestigation, fumigation, castigation! But
applied to the Signal Corps, according to
the bill introduced in the Senate by Sen
ator Burkett and in the House by Rep
resentative Hepburn, it means expan
sion, development. There is no ques
tion of the efficiency of the - present
corps as far as it goes. The only trouble
Is that It does not go far enough. It Is
general concensus of opinion, not only
among our own military authorities, but
among the best of those abroad, that a
minimum of 23 per cent of the strength
of the Army should bo provided for Sig
nal Corps work. Moreover, this mini
mum should be outside of the legal
strength of the Army and not drawn
from it.
The old argument of those, to whom a
THE DEADLY
, Sea Serpents
WITH the coming of Spring enter
prising managers of seaside places
will boom the inevitable appear
ance of the sea serpent. At the same
time plmer seas, affording the skippers
of Incoming sailing vessels occasional
periods for convlvallty, will lead to tales
involving marine serpents of terrific pro
portions. The sea serpent myth, to which all these
stories relate, has been much overworked.
But it is interesting to note that real sea
serpents exist, and to the number of over
50 species or kinds. All of them are
highly dangerous, while some of the
species swim the seas in schools of count
less thousands.
The actual sea serpents are never seen
In any but tropical waters. None grows
to a length of over eight feet. One species
only occurs in the waters of the New
World, and this is found off the western
coast of Southern Mexico, Central Amer
ica and .Northern South America.
It is in the Indian Ocean and the Island
region of the tropical Pacific that the
waters are infested with bright hued
snakes, some striped, others ringed- with
green and black, all with a laterally com
pressed body and a paddlelike tail. They
are greatly dreaded by the Kast Indian
fishermen and are actually most nearly
related to that family of snakes contain
ing the deadly cobras and their allies.
Scientific men describe the sea serpents
as recent specialized types of snakes that
have wearied of a terrestrial existence
and taken to the sea, where evolution at
once took them In hand and changed
their structure to suit their surroundings.
THE SUNDAY OREGOMAX, . rORTLAXDf MAY
OUR.
DISTANCE
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uniform means only National expense
is, "wait until war then exiend." And
this is with the great adaptibility of
the American to unfamiliar conditions in
mind and his facility of dropping yard
stick and hammer to pick up gun and
pistol. But while National Guard and
military schools train the average man
so that he can be made Into a first
class fighting machine in a few weeks,
when necessity arises, making him into
a competent Signal Corps man is another
thing entirely. You can train the aver
age man to obey orders and shoot a
gun in a short time. It takes a life
time to train an officer of the Signal
Corps as he should be trained, and
many, many months to perfect the
rank and file. The service. Including
such things as wireless telegraphy, field
SNAKES OF THE OCEAN
Not a Myth, but a Reality in Malayan Waters.
Thus from a technical point of view they
are splendid examples of adaptation in"
the display of the flattened body and the
remarkable tail. If placed on land a sea
serpent ie awkward and unable to make
definite progress.
Regarding the habits of sea serpents
Charles O'Mara, a reptile specialist who
recently returned from the Philippines,
said to tha writer:
"The larger snakes seem to lead a soli
tary life. Some of the smaller species
swim in schools.
"Catching these serpents Is a weird
sport and is best effected at night when a
ship is at anchor and the sea Is perfectly
calm. My most successful experience was
off the coast of Luzon.
"Being on good terms with the captain,
I Induced him to lower the port gangway
so that I had a flight of steps leading to
within a foot of the water and a -small
platform on which to operate. I had
rigged up a trough-like arrangement of
stiff wire mesh about six feet long and
four feet wide, and 'having sides a foot
high. By tying light ropes to the corners,
thence running a rope overhead to a davit
and bringing this" down to me again, I
could raise and lower my trap quickly
and with little effort.
. "The tray was dropped so that Its sides
were about six inches beneath the surface,
and into it was thrown a mass of chopped
shellfish. Then I tied a cluster of electric
lteht bulbs that had been rigged .up for
me over my trap and "waited.
"It was not long before strange lit
tle . shrimplike things began to flit
about the tray, seemingly propelled by
waving, feathery antennae. They were
of opalescent tints, so beautiful that I
BATTLE WILL BE LIKE
CORPS
IS
BROUGHT
UP TO
DATE
til
4
telegraphy, establishment and mainte
nance of service telegraph lines, rapid
putting up and taking down of tele
phone communication, signaling at
night, by day with flags and sun, and
the establishment of reliable communi
cation by any available means In the
face of difficulties all but insurmount
able, requires more than tlie average in
telligence expected of the soldier and
much careful training. Tho Signal
Corps at present has the apparatus
highly technical, thoroughly Ingenious
and most compact, but it lacks the men.
Reports of Actual Service. , .
General McArthur has said of the
Signal Corps In the, Philippines: "The
splendid service of this corps in these
islands makes it a matter of regret that
was quite disturbed to note the arrival
of some fish that moved along- like
darts and accompanied each motion by
swallowing; one of the translucent
crustaceans.
"Some other fish soon arrived, vary
ing in form from the beautiful to the
grotesque, and apparently after those
gleaming shrimps which kept coming
in unabated numbers. It was then I
got my first indication that snakes
were about.
"Barely within range of the glow of
my cluster of lights the black, oily
water appeared cut for an instant by
an indistinct, grayish streak. To one
not familiar with this kind of sport
the apparition niigrht have appeared
merely as an optical delusion, such as
our eyes of ten. give us when peering
into intense darkness. I knew those
symptoms, however, and grasped with
both hands the rope that . controlled
the raising of my; apparatus.
"Twice that gray object sped by, but
with moderating speed, each time
nearer. Then the reptile approached
the tray with those wonderfully grace
ful undulations characterictic of the
sea" snakes. He was shy and darted
away, evidently disturbed by the slight
swaying of the lamp cluster. Describ
ing a circle of some 15 feet, he came
back again and like a flash was in the
trough, a fish gripped in his jaws.
"Yanking my trap out of the water,
it took me but a few seconds to secure
the end of the rope and grasp my prize
with a pair ,of stout tongs. I shoved
him into a copper tank with a flap
door at the top. whicli arrangement
I had lowered over the ship's side. As
3. 190S
it.
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we have not had as much "force from
that body as is necessary. As it is. their
wire service Is simply indispensable. It
Is not too much to say that in the ab
sence of this efficient service, it would
be impossible to hold this archipelago
with less than 150.000 men, a duty now
well and efficiently performed with 80.
000. We need wires, instruments and
operators everywhere, the more the
better. It simplifies everything, makes
unity of action possible, insures concen
tration of troops on threatened vo'nts,
and altogether is of so much importance
that it is impossible to say too much in
behalf of its indefinite extension to the
limit of jossible usefulness."
These are words literally from tho
front. from the man who writes not of
the theory-, but the practice. But apart
I lifted him with the tongs he turned
and bit at the metal viciousls-. To
hear the brute's fangs rasp . on tha
tongs was a caution to me.
"I had dropped him into the copper
tank and had lowered my trap for
another snake before the several fishes
also hauled out of the , water had
ceased flapping from side to side to
escape, and they all came to their
senses and commenced to swim wildly
about the trap as soon as it was under
the surface all but the one that was
bitten by the snake and dropped by
the reptile as I hauled up the trap.
"His iridescent white belly disclosed
him at the bottom of the receptacle and
I got him out with the tongs. He was
dead and quite limp, and although I
examined his five odd inches of smooth
scaled body, I could find no marks of
the fangs that had so speedily done
their work.
"Other dim streaks were now passing;
in the semi-darkness and an occasional
popping1 sbund followed by a muffled
splash informed me that snakes were
not only prowling near by but coming
up for air from almost Immediately be
neath the ship. It was half an hour,
though, - before I caught my second
snake.
"He was a biff fellow and darted into
the trap while I was off my guard. He
started Out again with a fish in his
jaws, the . silvery sides of the prey
flashing in the light as it .struggled to
get loose.
"With a fear that this fine fellow
would escape, I threw myself at the
rope, and the trap came up. By good
luck the snake In its alarm drew back
ward instead of going forward into the
open water and gave me a reasonable
chance to land him.
"As he pulled back his head he let
go of the fish, and. though he held It
but a few seconds after its first strug
gles the reptile's virus had done its
work, as I saw the victim sink out
WHEN THE
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n
from our own experience it is a world
lesson, given by the Russian-Japanese
War the Importance of an able and ef
ficient Signal Corps. At the battle of
Mukden the third Japanese army laid
and operated 155 miles of field telegraph
line during the battle. At the battle of
IJao Yang, General Kuroki, like a spider
in a giant web, controlled the entire
force by wire, sitting 12 miles in the
rear, and keeping the positions of the
various forces before him upon the map,
from intelligence which came to him
from and by his perfectly organized and
entirely efficient Signal' Corps.
Reliable " 1 n formation Needed.
General Allen. ClrW . Signal Corps
Officer of the. Army, has said: "If
troops are to succeed in war, they
of sight, slowly rotating, as if either
paralyzed or dead. . 1
"My endeavor to land this snake was
no slight task. He was a formidable
looking chap, fully six feet long, of
a pale yellowish hue, ringed with vivid
green. The body was as thick as a
man's wrist, but tapered into an ex
tremely slender neck and rather small
head, while at the other end was a
paddlelike appendage as big' as a flip
per of a small seal. -.
"The reptile was crafty and made a
dash to get over the side of the trap
Into the open water, so that I had to
knock him back with the tongs. . When
I tried to hold him with these Instru
ments he proved far too strong for
them: besides he made such a lunge at
me that I thought of those two ifead
fish and shouted up to the deck for
help.
"They had been watching me from the
rail and came to my assistance with some
stout twine. We managed to noose him
and lower him Into the tank.
"As the thrashing, strangely patterned
body with its glaring rings was hauled
into view, tho sight was as weird as any
I have ever seen. There's a bit of
strong fascination about this capturing of
poisonous snakes from the sea. and the
sport can only be had in Malay waters.
I believe my catch that night amounted
to about a dozen specimens.
"Among the snakes two distinct kinds
were represented. One was the Enhy
drls, of rather chunky build, with thick
neck and quite large head. The scales
do not overlap, as with land snakes, but
appear as slightly separated hexagons.
"This species is of a yellowish gray,
with obscure cross bands, and grows to
a length of about three and a half feet.
The other species belongs to a genus
known as Hydrophls, and grows much
larger. It Is very dangerous.
"One peculiarity of all these sea snakes
is their habit of protruding the tongue
only as far as the bifurcated portion.
2,
SIGNAL
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must have field lines of Information
which are so reliable and certain In
action as to inspire and insure the
complete confidence of the mobile army
which has to depend upon them. The
equipment must also be so mobile as
to provide instant communication by
the side of the commander, wherever
he mav be required to go in the exer
cise of his duties.
"It is now fully recognized by ths
leaders of military thought that the
strength of an army is not alone meas
ured bv the number of men it contains,
but the number of rides, guns and
Rahers it can be put into comparatively
effective action at any one time."
The bills now before both houses of
Congress, and referred to the commit
tee on military affairs, provides for th
Signal Corps to meet the modern con
ditions. It is of llttlo avail for us to hav
a highly-trained and efficient army if the
pivot on which the whole turns is Ion
small to support the weight. And the
number which can be so mobilized depends
not only on the resources at command,
but on the means of telling what to do,
where to do it and when it is to be done.
The bills provide that the Signal Corps
shall consist of one Chief Signal Officer
with the rank of brigadier-general, four
colonels, four lieutenant colonels, 12 ma
jors, captains. 30 signal electricians,
"first-class sergeants. 300 corporals. 1210
first-class privates, r.00 privates, 60 cooks
48 farriers and blacksmiths, 24 saddlers,
24 wagoners, 48 trumpeters and one band
each grade to receive the rank, pay and
allowances new provided by law.
It should not be argued that while such
a force is necessary In time of war, its
maintenance at full strength will be a
burden in time of peace. It has been
stated that such a corps, highly trained
as thev need be. to be efficient must b
maintained in time of peace in order to
be ready in time of war. But the Signal
Corps in time of peace does a great deal
more than merely train Itself and devise
new and effective apparatus and special
ize in Its use. The Signal Corps is clwrged
with the construction and maintenance of
extensive land and sea telegraph line
in time of peace some of the Alaskan
cable work of the present corps might be
mentioned as examples. The Signal Corps
is almost entirely constructive only indi
rectly destructive. Yet, as its field work
in time of war Is of the most dangerous
character, requiring the utmost courage
and coolness, it is anything but a non
combatant arm of tho service. It can
light, and has fought, and fought Well,
when required, although its main end and
aim is not to fight, but to arrange mat
ters so the other follows can light to ut
most advantage.
General McArthur says: ' "Tho most re
cent experience has demonstrated that
efficient service of military lines of in
formation is Indispensable to successful
strategic and tatlcal operations. The or
ganization charged with this service has
leconie so intimately associated with
strategic and tactical operations. The or
on tho battlefield, that it must in tho
future be regarded as an integral part of
the comlxatant force a fourth arm, so
to speak and as such Its organization
becomes a matter of quite as much con
cern as that of infantry, cavalry or Meld
artillery."
The proposed law is to realize this con
dition. Hence tho two tips only of this organ
are shown, making the tonguo appear
quite different in its functions from tho
quivering member seen in the terrestrial
snakes.
"I brought several living sea snaken
with me to Kuropo and presented them
to zoological parks having capacious tanks
In which to keep them. Strange to say,
each and every specimen starved to death
and the authorities told me afterward
that all of the few examples that have
been exhibited have met a similar fate.
"They seek the darkest corners of their
tanks and never leave them, unless com
ing to the top for air. Fish of all kinds
may swim near thein without harm."
Collecting sea snakes for the scientific
institutions is a difficult process. If tho
collector is to ohtain anything like a
fair proportion of the 50-odd species be
must cruise through Malayan seas in a
small boat and be ever on the watch.
The only way to obtain a series of the
species is to shoot tbtm. Sea snakes
come regularly to the surface for air, but
the collector is lucky if be gets one out
of every 10 snakes he sees.
All of the marine snakes give birth to
living young. The young are born in tho
sea. and. in fact, there are only a few
species that ever venture ashore, ami
these are only found in the costal
marshes.
That the Kastern seas are Infested with
these snakes was evident during the erup
tion of the volcano TCrakatoa in 1(W.
Submarine vents of the fiery mountain
heated the sea to a great extent, arous
ing its denizens to a state of terror.
No less was the terror of the human
Inhabitants of the Sunt a Straits, who fled
from their towns In all manner of frail
craft to escape the fall of hot stones
and choking pumice. But the sea was
found to be almost as untenable. Hordes
of snakes of many hues and sizes en
circled each craft, and the fugitives were
only too well aware of tho power of
these reptiles' fangs.