was introduced into the field, and the new peace organization
provides for this. Provision is also made for anti-aircraft artillery.
Not only in the artillery has the war led to changes in organization, but practically all arms have undergone some modifications as its result. During the war Hotchkiss guns were introduced into the cavalry, and Lewis guns into the infantry; both these weapons still remain as part of the peace organization of these two arms. The machine-gun also continues to find a place in their organization, as was the case in 1914. In this connexion it may be noted that during the war a Machine-Gun Corps was built up. Shortly after the war ended, however, this corps ceased to form part of the peace organization, because the machine-gun was considered to be a weapon of not sufficiently distinctive type to justify its being considered a separate arm of the service when its rôle was obviously ancillary to both cavalry and infantry.
Under the heading of improved mechanical science, the outstanding feature is the tank. Its success during the war had insured it a place in the army reorganization. It was now incorporated as the Tank Corps. This corps, which is capable of expansion, consists in peace of 4 tank battalions, a depot and an artificer-training battalion. In addition there is an experimental establishment. In peace the organization of a tank battalion consists of 3 companies, each of which is split up into 3 sections. Another product of the war, somewhat akin to the tank and consequently incorporated as part of its organization, is the armoured-car. Armoured-cars are organized in companies. During the war armoured-cars proved so highly efficient for use in some of the outlying portions of the Empire, that their inclusion as part of the peace organization was indicated. But it remained uncertain in 1921 how far the Tank Corps organization might develop.
Another corps which has arisen in the application of science to war, is the Signal Corps. Before the war the Signal Service was in its infancy. The whole service then consisted of 66 officers and 1,534 other ranks, who formed part of the Corps of Royal Engineers. The war showed the need for rapid, accurate and alternative methods of communication, and the result was the formation of the Signal Corps. This corps is so organized as to be capable of division into several self-contained units; thus a divisional signal company not only controls all the signal communications at divisional headquarters, but it detaches a section for work with each infantry brigade, and other sections for work with the divisional artillery. The corps is responsible for dealing with all forms of communication, both visual, airline, cable and wireless, also for despatch riding.
Mechanical science has also led to a much greater use of mechanical transport than had ever been contemplated in pre-war days. The reliability maintained by M.T. vehicles has had the effect of gradually lessening the numbers of horse-drawn vehicles in the army. This can be seen by the increased number of M.T. units now forming part of the peace organization of the R.A.S.C. compared with the number existing before the war.
The war also showed that the 1914 organization included an insufficient number of Royal Engineers allotted to divisions. In 1914 the number of field companies with divisions was two. This new peace organization makes provision for an additional one, and provides as well for the carrying out of the larger R.E. services required by divisions, e.g. electric lighting of divisional headquarters, water supply, accommodation, etc. Moreover, as a result of the war, the Royal Engineers make provision for electrical and mechanical companies. The special rôle of these companies is the repair and construction of electrical installations, mechanical plant and installation of workshops.
It was not only in organization that the war led to changes, but it also had the effect of causing improvements to be made in the education of the soldiers. It was felt that greater advantage might be taken of the age at which the majority of youths entered the army to continue their education. For this reason a new corps, called the Army Educational Corps, was included as part of the army organization. This is a small corps composed mainly of officers, which took the place of the pre-war army schoolmasters. Both at home and abroad officers of the Army Educational Corps are distributed among the various units whose chief duty it is to coördinate the education in the various units and to set out the lines on which it is to be carried out.
Yet another addition was made to the peace organization of the army shortly after the war in the shape of the Corps of Military Accountants. This is a completely new corps, by which is meant that it had no counterpart of any description in the pre-war organization. It is a small corps with an establishment of approximately 1,000, all ranks. The purposes for which it was formed was for the compilation of cost accounts.
The development of aerial navigation caused a separate Air Ministry to be set up during the war. This arrangement was continued in the after-war organization; so that whereas in 1914 the Royal Flying Corps formed part of both the navy and army organization, this is no longer the case; the Royal Air Force being almost entirely divorced from army administration.
Shortly after the war alterations and additions were made to the rates of pay of both officers and other ranks throughout the army. In pre-war days the rates of pay varied in different corps; this procedure ceased and a universal rate for all corps was substituted. The additions were based on the high cost of living existing at the date of alteration, and were subject to revision after five years. As an example, the pay per annum of a second lieutenant and a private in the infantry in pre-war days was approximately £96 and £24 respectively. Their respective rates of pay under the new rates worked out at £237 and £59.
Before the war the total peace establishment of the regular army, exclusive of India, comprised some 9,500 officers and 163,000 other ranks. In 1921-2 the establishments of the regular army, again exclusive of India, made provision for 15,000 officers and 186,000 other ranks.
- (B. B.-H.)
UNITED STATES, THE (see 27.612[1]). This article describes the development of the United States from the close of the first decade of the 20th century, as shown roughly by the census of 1910 and the Congressional elections of that year, to the close of the Washington Conference early in 1922. This period of 12 years, covering the World War and America's part in it, the shifting of the United States from the position of a debtor to that of a creditor nation, a vast increase in wealth and world influence, and many other changes scarcely less important, is from an international as well as a domestic point of view one of the most important in American history. The main facts of the period are outlined in this article, but for many of the details other articles must be consulted; and the reader who would consider the full perspective should read those as well as this, as should also the reader who desires detailed information on any one point. The articles on the various states contain details of their respective population, agriculture, manufactures, education and political history; data more local appear in articles on the more important cities. A full list of the articles relating to the United States will be found in the Classified Table of Articles which precedes the List of Contributors at the end of Vol. XXXII., but we may name here the leading articles in the more important divisions of the subject. Details of population, supplementing the various summaries contained in the first section, Statistics, of the present article, will be found in the articles on separate states and in the articles Negro and Public Assistance. Many economic questions are treated fully in such articles as Banking, Federal Reserve Banking System, Federal Farm Loan Board, Excess Profits Duty, Income Tax, City Government, Interstate Commerce, Conservation Policy, Insurance, Cost of Living, Food Supply, Rationing, Marketing, Price Control, Profiteering, Profit-Sharing, Savings Movement, ETC. For industrial development see also the articles Shipping, Railways, Telegraph, Telephone, and Electricity Supply, as well as those on important industries such as Coal, Copper, Cotton and Cotton Industry, Dyeing, Petroleum, Iron and Steel. Various phases of labour are discussed under Arbitration and Conciliation in Labour Disputes, Labour Legislation, Labour Supply and Demand, Strikes and Lockouts, Trade Unions, Unemployment and Wages. For social and welfare work, read also Housing; Hospitals; Juvenile Employment; Children, Laws Relating to; Liquor Laws; Prohibition; and Public Assistance. For recent developments in education, arts and letters, see besides the articles on Harvard, Yale, Princeton, ETC., the articles Education, Medical Education, Architecture, Arts and Crafts, Painting, Sculpture, American Literature. For recent changes in the status of women, see further Woman Suffrage; Women; Women's Employment; Women Police; Women, Legal Status of. The section History of the present article may be supplemented by articles such as Army, Ship and Shipbuilding, World War, Liberty Loan Publicity Campaigns, Munitions of War, Women's War Work, Washington Conference, and by the biographies of political leaders and public officials. The present article has eight sections: Statistics, Agriculture, Finance, Taxation, Social and Welfare Work, The American Labour Movement, Military Law, and History, in the order named.
I.—Statistics
In 1920 the pop. of the United States (excluding all outlying possessions) was 105,710,620, as compared with 91,972,266 in 1910. The rate of increase between these two dates, 14.9%,
- ↑ These figures indicate the volume and page number of the previous article.
