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Show UNITED STATES AMY IS UNW05TICli, SAYS , UEUMENERAL CHAff EE t - . . . Chief of Staff Submits His Annual Report Re-port to the Secretary of War; Suggestions Sug-gestions as to Number of Desertions From the Service. s H ' WASHINGTON, Nov. 18. That the army is under officered is the opinion of Lieut.-Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, chief of staff, in his annual an-nual report to the Secretary of State, filed today. Gen. Chaffee makes a number of suggestions regarding desertions. WASHINGTON. Nov. 18. "The army is under-officered," says Lieut.-Gen. Adna Ad-na R. Chaffee, chief of staff, in his annual an-nual report to the Secretary of War. He says this condition exists for the army in peace, and in "time of war it would be in a badly crippled condition." condi-tion." The;e are 517 officers absent on detailed duty. These officers are detailed de-tailed in the general staff, recruiting service at the various academies and schools and on different kinds of duty requird by orders and regulations. Gen. Chaffee thinks that provision shotil 1 be made to ftll these vacancies caused by details which are permanent in character. Desertions in Army. Gen. Chaffee discusses the desertions In the army and makes the following suggestion: "Some suitable legislation affecting the political right of deserters and an aroused public opinion that desertion from the military service of the Nation is repugnant In the minds of all good citizens constitute the practical method and the only effectual means, in jny opinion.' for the material abatement of the crime referred to." The General Staff. j Gen. Chaffee says the wisdom of the j report of the board of ordnance, whose corps, he says, is hampered by a shortage short-age of officers. The chief of ordnance has also found it impossible to issue the new model rifle, but it is expected that the troops will be supplied in time for target practice next year. Some changes have been made and It has leen necessary neces-sary to substitute the knife bayonet for the rod bayonet. The t hief of ordnance has adopted the practice of "targeting" every rifle be- fore issue to the troops, the purpose being be-ing to make certain that the sights of each are practically placed. It has bten ascertained by extended tests that the muzzle velocity may be 100 feet per second less than originally contemplated with the gratifying result that twice the number of shots may be fired out before the barrel is sufficiently eroded to noticably 'affect accuracy for target practice and this gain without losa of efficiency as a military rifle, j Error Was Made. It has been determined practically so. that an error was committed when the caliber of the revolver was reduced i from 45 to 38 for efficiency, the effl-I effl-I clency assured by the change oelng mrt?ly a reduction In weight of the revolver, re-volver, but this, as now found, was at a sacrifice of actual utility, stopping power and i-hock effect. creatlon of the general staf has been abundantly demonstrated. In the first division, in addition to a vast amount of other woik. elaborate data have been collet-tad as to the number of vessels procurable for use as transports at the various seaports of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the number of troops they will accommodate, the camp and storage facilities at the ports, the railroads rail-roads leading thereto and the side and lolling stock'avalluble. The second division has been engaged in the collection, classification and preparation of military Information for ready reference In case of need and in the dissemination of non-confldentlal. professional data, in the form of publications, publi-cations, monographs, reports, memoranda, memor-anda, etc. Educational System. The third division, in addition to its duties as the permanent personnel of the army war college, reviewed during the year the educational system of the army ind after careful study looking to its improvement, rendered reports which resulted in remodeling the system sys-tem In some respects. Studies of problems prob-lems relating to coast defense were made, with special reference to the needs of the artillery corps In relation to submarine defense, the care and operation ope-ration of electrical installations at coast forts and reports rendered covering these subjects. Board cf Ordnance. The Lieutenant-General discusses the |