402 g. o. smith military coxtribrtiox of civil exgixeers 



Seceetaet Laxe's Oeeer 



In April, 1916, Secretary Lane submitted to the Secretary of TTar an 

 outline of the services that could be rendered by the engineers in the 

 Department of the Interior. This statement included mention of the 

 geologists, topographers, hydraulic engineers, and chemists available for 

 immediate service and emphasized the intimate knoTvledge of the United 

 States possessed by the members of the field force, from whom could be 

 selected men who knevr by experience every line and kind of transporta- 

 tion for most areas in this country. Emphasis was placed upon the fact 

 that the wide distribution of the field force during the summer would 

 add to their availability in an emergency, in that some engineers would 

 probably be within striking distance of any place in the United States 

 where their services were needed and if previously enrolled in a reserve 

 corps could at any time be placed under orders of the TTar Department 

 by telegraph and could report wherever needed without delay. 



The Xational Defense Act of June 3, 1916, authorized the organization 

 of a corps of reserve officers not only for arms of the line, but also for 

 various staff corps and departments, and the AYar Department, in a 

 memorandum dated October 21, discussed several steps that could be 

 taken under this act by the scientific and engineering members of the 

 Interior Department. The TTar Department mentioned first the '^'exceed- 

 ingly valuable aid'* it had received for a number of years past in the 

 preparation of the military map and requested the continuation of this 

 cooperation; also aid in the collection of military information. Eegard- 

 ing the Officers' Eeserve Corps, it made the statement that field men with 

 "scientific training in certain lines would probably make very efficient 

 officers of the Engineer, Ordnance, or Quartermaster section n this re- 

 serve." The Secretary of War mentioned, however, the obvious fact that 

 many of the functions of the Interior Department should not be inter- 

 rupted by war, so that only those members whose services could be spared 

 to the War Department at the outbreak of the war should be commis- 

 sioned in the reserve corps ; hence the requirement of the approval of the 

 Secretary of the Interior of any application for commission. 



AcTiox uxDEE Xatioxal Defexse Act 



The first action in the Department of the Interior under this reserve 

 corps legislation was taken in January, 191 T, when 90 topographic engi- 

 neers of the Geological Survey, with the approval of the Secretary of the 

 Interior, applied for commissions in the Engineer Officers' Eeserve Corps. 



