Show USE WAR WA AA A A ARTS IN PEACE TIME lessons learned over there to be used in making of maps WORK NOW WELL UNDER WAY plan worked out by which various 8 government boards will coop co op orate erate in making large scale map of country new york while drawing up a summary of intelligence for a corps of maneuver in france last winter the officer in charge found himself in need of a little outside information turning to his sergeant he said sergeant where Is the island of st helena sir said the sergeant 1 I jao do not know but if the colonel will furnish me with a car and a map ill find bud it our throe three armies wont went to the front with a supply of maps which contributed mightily to our success last july says the new york post the engineering gi council called president wll wil sons attention to tho the lack ot of co ordina tion in the this country the matter was not pigeonholed pigeon holed vadous var ous bureaus v kere ere requested to confor confer and decide upon a general plan by which the work could be ba carried on niest niost expeditiously and vilt without hout overlapping or duplication to map square miles to make large scale maps of over three airee ru rull illion llon square miles of territory is s a gigantic tass tasir cut but it Is hoped and believed that it will be achieved one danger lies in there are at present no fewer than eleven map in ari making and three ahree map using board operating under government control it will readily be seen that the bureau of soils needs one kind hind of map the bureau of indian affairs another but except for highly specialized work the united states geological survey would seem to be the logical body to prepare the st standard andara topographic maps it has its own and engraving plants and the maps it has already produced have been declared by experts to be the equal of any it is sate safe to assume that it was the excellence of detail of the maps tur for dished us by the allies that led the conference cou ference to feel that to do the work tork for the die whole country as france or germany had done it would take too much time better a map with few details n now iw than one with all in the distant future one third of the area of continental united states exalus exclusive I 1 1 I ve of alaska lifts lias already been mapped in this fashion the establishment of basic horizon horizontal tat and vertical controls Is about half completed and a plan has been N worked out by which the various boards will operate cooperate co making the personnel permanent will do much to standardize the work aerial surveying revisions are to be made as fast as changes due to development occur there is to be a central information ot of fice ice not simply for the benefit of the bureaus concerned but for the general public as well the general scale recommended om Is I 1 ga where larger or smaller scales are desirable a special corps will be appointed aerial surveying Is to play an important part graphic scales in english and metric units will be printed on all rimps maps prepared for general use as well as a diagram of the control on which the map Is based together with date of survey and location of all permanent marks that each map will explain the symbols used hardly needs to be pointed out in modern warfare the map Is more powerful than the sword germany knew this prisoners captured from tho the germans could locate tiny any object from a single machine gun ne A to a full battery of artillery they had been taught to road read their maps the men of our on divisions from ranking officers to scout privates became skilled at it in time but it was difficult work sit it first we were not a gnap reiding people men in ili the service who two years ago would scarcely have attempted to find their way from point to point within a single county would nt fit present know precisely how to orient themselves anywhere in it france if supplied with frances excellent cartes the same can be done lo 10 h this country once the necessary waris maps tire are available it is merely a question of utilizing the arts of war in times of peace it is an an Import important ailt enterprise ter prise now flow happily under tinder way it if the government completes it the publics interest will be equaled only by its gratitude |