sity of manufacturing a special sniper's rifle.

CLEANING SOLUTION

Work has been initiated at Frankford Arsenal and Springfield Armory on the development of a suitable solution for use by enlisted men in the cleaning of rifles after firing service ammunition. The present ammonia solution is entirely satisfactory for the purpose of cleaning rifles and removing metallic fouling therefrom, but it has been found in practice that in the hands of the ordinary enlisted man, this solution is not entirely suitable in that unless very close supervision is exercised, the rifle upon which the solution is being used is liable to be damaged by the solution. By the present development, it is hoped to obtain a solution which is entirely harmless and which at the same time will be satisfactory for use during target practice season.

Cheerfulness is the oil of life. In the Army it makes the wheels run smoothly, it reduces friction, it increases efficiency. In a tight place a display of humor has been worth a whole brigade. There's nothing that attracts man to man so much as a good laugh. A smile will often have more effect than an order. A sour face is provocative of disorder. To live with a witless man is a punishment which should be reserved only for the damned.

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PRIZE $70 in gold

The successful Essay to be published in the INFANTRY JOURNAL.

CONDITIONS OF AWARD The Essays are to be typewritten in quadruplicate and forwarded to the Secretary of the Institution, Chaplain Edmund B. Smith, Governors Island, New York, on or before March 1, 1921. The Essays should be between 3,000 and 4,500 words in length, and be signed by a nom de plume. Accompanying each Essay should be a sealed envelope bearing the nom de plume and enclosing within the name and address of the writer.

Such envelopes will be opened after the Board of Award, consisting of three General Officers, has rendered a decision.

EDMUND BANKS SMITH,
Chaplain,
Secretary.

"There was a sound of revelry by night-" began the elocutionist.

"Where dya get that stuff?" interrupted a hard-boiled auditor with a service button. "Any simp knows revelry sounds in the morning, not at night."-Legion Weekly.

1921

1st. After war time experiences with paper work connected with insurance and allotments, I believe the average military man is a bit fearful of touching a pen to any army paper. He is

afraid it will come back for another endorsement.

2d. Nine out of ten men, including

officers, never having seen the medals of other campaigns, do not know what a campaign medal is. A great many of them thought, and perhaps still think, that the service ribbon alone is what is referred to as the Victory Medal. But the prints of the medal that have been scattered round should correct this view.

3d. In the regular establishment in days before the war, orderly rooms resented any additional paper work. I once aided an enlisted man to secure an Indian campaign badge, thereby rendering myself extremely unpopular with my first sergeant, as I was then a mere second lieutenant. The cure for this is any cure for inertia.

4th. But principally, though I may be wrong here, I believe that the medal would be in greater demand had we instituted our own, American, campaign badge, with our own choice of colors, and our own medallion. Instead of following out our previous policy, we picked up an international medal, not given much consideration in foreign countries, and adopted it as our own campaign badge. The other nations all have their own badges and they seldom put up the Allied Medal.

We should, in my opinion, strike our own campaign badge, and by using the same dimension badge as the Victory Medal, adapt to this new badge the clasps that are now issued or prepared for the Victory Medal.

As an International Medal (what the rainbow ribbon is supposed to be), it is all right. But we should have our own national campaign badge.

As for the individual who resents the issue of clasps, it should be stated that the issue of the medal to those who never even risked torpedoes on the transatlantic trip is perhaps something of a concession. If he had served in France even as near the front as a regulating station, he would realize that

ninety-five per cent of men who wear clasps have paid for them. The clasp principle is about the best part of the Victory Medal. It may publish hard luck-a negative condition. But it also publishes the positive conditions of fatigue, hunger, privation and danger. Are these not worthy of the tribute? INFANTRY.

An engineer outfit had been moved up toward the front. They had left some very fine Odrian barracks and were now getting their first taste of sleeping in French barns. Two bucks were sitting on the doorstep and meditating over their troubles.

"The engineers are certainly out o' luck in this guerre," said the first. "How come, buddy?"

"Well, we rate a castle and look at the barn we get."

Mess call saved him from a terrible barrage.

American Legion-Immigration

Braxton County, West Virginia, Post No. 31 American Legion has taken a poll of its members in regard to the immigration question. The vote was taken by mail as follows:

1. Stop it.

2. Stop it for two or three years. 3. Put a definite and effective restriction upon it.

4. Leave it as it is.

5. Remarks.

Forty-nine per cent of the vote received was for stopping immigration entirely. Eleven per cent was for stopping it for two or three years. Forty per cent was for a definite and effective restriction. Not one member voted to leave it as it is.

As the post has a representative

Tanks of the Future

Major Raymond E. Carlson, who was a member of the Anglo-American Tank Commission, in an article in Army Ordnance sets forth the Requirements of the successful tank of the future as follows:

Future tanks must be universal in their use. They must be able to pass through land and water obstacles with impunity. They must be mobile, capable of high speeds to enable quick concentration and stunning blows to be struck the enemy. Better eyes and ears must be given them so that the tank commander can, if he desires, talk

to his tanks from his armored airplane and send messages to the rear. Gas protection will be necessary. Means for screening their movements by smoke or other devices must be available. They will probably rely on radio direction or improved compasses to get their bearings. It is not beyond the pale of conception to draw a mental of picture amphibious tank, protected against gas, noiseless, speedy, airplanes and mines, able to run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour, with fuel and food supplies to last for days, and able to talk to airplanes above and tank headquarters in the rear. With thousands of such machines the result would be inevitable.

a

Above all, these future tanks must be designed for quantity production. This war has shown that not only the Army but the people of the whole country make war. America is essentially an industrial nation and a tremendous factor for preparedness would be advanced designs of tanks capable of being produced by the thousands. SOME MACHINE-WE'LL SAY!

An interview with an automobile salesman is one of the things that may now be had without advance notice. You remember last year how difficult it was.

development of the rigid airship. The famous Bodensee for more than a year has made regular trips with expresslike regularity between Berlin and Switzerland. Time and again it has been pointed out that Germany is endeavoring to reestablish her military position under the guise of Commercial Aviation.

It is only through commercial means that the airship development in this country will keep pace with that of other nations. When it is realized that travel in the air is far safer than on railway trains and that a great amount of time is saved by it the development is assured.

A glance at the table below will give you an idea of the time saved when traveling by airship over that of the fastest express trains in the country.

girders supporting the roof. As this ship neared a city a wireless message would be sent out regarding the time at which it would pass over the city. Then an aeroplane with six or eight passengers would rise to the proper altitude and circle over the city until the big dirigible slacked up. The aeroplane would then come to rest on the back of the big gas ship, the passengers would descend in an elevator to the cabin and any passengers wishing to alight in that city would be taken off similarly. The engineers say that this method of transfer is absolutely safe and practicable.

The cost of operation has been doped out and based on that of the initial cost and operation costs the airship puts it over on the railroad for passenger and baggage service. With a margin of

to the hauling of freight and local passenger service which must be maintained in any event.

A certain editor of a country newspaper in Kansas was asked to leave the community as the result of a typographical error in his report of the wedding of the Mayor's daughter, relates Pep. After exhausting his supply of large words about the "blushing bride," he had said: "The large elaborate bou quets of roses were punk.”

The Mayor demanded a correction and apology in the next week's issue, all of which the editor was glad to promise. The next issue contained:

"We wish to apologize for the manner in which we disgraced the beautiful wedding last week. Through an error of the typesetter we were made to say 'The roses were "punk.' What we wanted to say was that 'the noses were pink."-Philadelphia Bulletin.

Confidence

If you think you're beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost,

For out in the world you find
Success begins with a fellow's will,
It's all in the state of mind.

Full many a step is lost

Ere ever a step is run;

And many a coward fails

Ere ever his work's begun. Think big, and your deed will grow; Think small, and you'll fall behind; Think that you can, and you will. It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are. You've got to think high to rise, You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize. Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man, But soon or late the man who wins Is the fellow who thinks he can.

It is reported that some 40,000 Mennonites are to migrate to Mississippi from Canada. It would be well to have it distinctly understood and specifically agreed to that the men folks of this party are not exempt from military service in the event of a national emergency. We've got too many conscientious objectors now. Why load up with any more of them?

An Apology

Each month we include in the INFANTRY JOURNAL a page showing the organization of the Association and giving a list of the officers. In the December Number this page is grossly in error. After the proof of the JOURNAL was read and returned to the printer someone in the printing establishment dug up an old type form and inserted it in the JOURNAL instead of using the new and corrected form that had appeared in several previous numbers. It's just one of the things that go wrong in spite of everything that can be done to eliminate errors, and the best we can say is that "We're sorry."

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One of your Uncle Samuel's stalwart brunettes had been gazing thoughtfully over the rail of the homeward-bound transport for twenty minutes. A dough