The Style Book of The Detroit News Part 17

MICHIGAN INSt.i.tUTIONS

There are no convicts in Michigan except men who have escaped or who have been discharged from inst.i.tutions in other states. The Michigan State Prison at Jackson houses inmates. The same is true of the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia and the State House of Correction at Marquette.

Industrial schools, homes, hospitals and a state public school have succeeded reform schools in Michigan. The humanizing movement has led the state to declare that persons detained in such inst.i.tutions shall be designated pupils, patients or inmates. There are no prisoners in Michigan juvenile inst.i.tutions.

The practice of printing the prison record of a man arrested in connection with the commission of a crime but not convicted of that crime is discouraged on The News. Often, former inmates of prisons, striving to lead decent lives, are brought in by the police on suspicion. To print their names may be to injure them needlessly without imparting valuable information to our readers.

The correct names of state inst.i.tutions as given in the Michigan Official Directory and Legislative Manual (the red book) are:

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Michigan Agricultural College, East Lansing.

State Normal College, Ypsilanti.

Central Michigan Normal School, Mt. Pleasant.

Northern State Normal School, Marquette.

Western State Normal School, Kalamazoo.

Michigan College of Mines, Houghton.

Michigan School for the Deaf, Flint.

Michigan School for the Blind, Lansing.

Michigan Employment Inst.i.tution for the Blind, Saginaw.

State Public School, Coldwater.

Industrial School for Boys, Lansing.

Industrial Home for Girls, Adrian.

Michigan Soldiers' Home, Grand Rapids.

State Psychopathic Hospital, Ann Arbor.

Kalamazoo State Hospital.

Pontiac State Hospital.

Traverse City State Hospital.

Newberry State Hospital.

Michigan Home and Training School, Lapeer.

Michigan Farm Colony for Epileptics, Wahjamega.

Ionia State Hospital.

Michigan State Prison, Jackson.

State House of Correction, Marquette.

Michigan Reformatory, Ionia.

Detroit House of Correction.

State Sanitorium, Howell.

ARMY AND NAVY ORGANIZATION

The United States Army consists of officers, non-commissioned officers and privates. Officers hold commissions. Non-commissioned officers hold warrants. Officers in the regular army engage to serve the United States for life and may leave the service only on the acceptance of their resignations, on retirement or on dismissal imposed by sentence of a general court martial. Enlisted men in time of peace engage to serve for a definite term of years and at the expiration of this term, return to civil life or re-enlist as they may elect. Non-commissioned officers are enlisted men and the duration of their service is governed by the same rules that apply to privates.

The grades of commissioned officers, given in accordance with their relative rank are: General, lieutenant-general, major-general, brigadier-general, colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, captain, first lieutenant, second lieutenant. The grades of enlisted men are sergeant, corporal and private. There are numerous special grades in each of these general cla.s.ses. Master sergeants, master electricians, etc., are the highest paid enlisted men and rank all others. Every commissioned officer ranks every enlisted man regardless of the length of their respective services. All officers are of equal social rank. Officers and enlisted men are forbidden to a.s.sociate socially.

Cadets at the United States Military Academy are neither enlisted nor commissioned but have a status of their own. Socially they rank with officers. They are required to salute all officers but are not ent.i.tled to the salutes of enlisted men. Flying cadets in the Signal Corps, who are candidates for commissions as aviators or aeronauts, also have a status of their own. They are required to salute officers but do not receive the salutes of enlisted men. Officers salute one another, the juniors saluting the seniors, who acknowledge the courtesy.

The infantry organization is based on the company. Under war conditions, the company consists of 250 men. Four companies form a battalion, and three battalions a regiment. A headquarters company, a supply company and a machine gun company also are attached to each regiment. These three are smaller than the other companies. The band is part of the headquarters company.

The cavalry organization includes the troop, squadron of four troops, and regiment of three squadrons, with headquarters, machine gun and supply organizations. The field artillery regiment is made up of six batteries, divided into two battalions. It also has headquarters and supply companies.

The infantry company is divided into platoons and the platoons into squads of eight men each. The field artillery battery is divided into platoons and sections. The coast artillery until the war had no regimental organization but consisted of several separate companies. All the companies stationed in a coast defense district were under the command of the ranking officer in that district. For service abroad with heavy mobile artillery, several coast artillery regiments were organized on the infantry model.

The United States Navy consists of commissioned officers, warrant officers, petty officers and enlisted men without ratings. The officers'

grades are: Admiral of the Navy, vice-admiral, rear-admiral, captain, commander, lieutenant-commander, lieutenant, lieutenant junior grade, ensign. The warrant officers rank below commissioned officers and above enlisted men. Gunners, boatswains, machinists, etc., are warrant officers. They wear a uniform similar to that of commissioned officers but with different insignia. Chief petty officers and petty officers are enlisted men. Chief petty officers wear a double-breasted blouse and a cap similar to that won by officers but with a different ornament. Petty officers and unrated enlisted men wear the sailor shirt and either the flat hat or the watch cap. Petty officers are rated first, second and third cla.s.s, the first the highest. Men aboard ship are organized in divisions. The commander of a ship is called captain by courtesy regardless of his real grade.

The marine corps is under the control of the Navy Department but has an organization separate from the Navy proper. It has the same grades of officers and non-commissioned officers (with some exceptions among the latter) as the army. The corps is commanded by a major-general, which is the highest grade to which marine corps officers are eligible.

THE WAY TO BECOME ORIGINAL

Here is a cla.s.sic bit of advice given by Flaubert to de Maupa.s.sant:

"Whatever one wishes to say, there is only one noun to express it, only one verb to give it life, only one adjective to qualify it. Search, then, till that noun, that verb, that adjective are discovered; never be content with 'very nearly,' never have recourse to tricks, however happy; or to buffooneries of language; to avoid a difficulty. This is the way to become original."

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DATES OFTEN CALLED FOR

Battleship Maine blown up in Havana harbor, Feb. 15, 1898.

Baltimore fire, Feb. 7, 1904.

Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869.

Columbus discovered America, Oct. 12, 1492.

Chicago destroyed by fire, Oct. 8-11, 1871.

Dayton flood, March 24, 1913.

Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation by Lincoln, Jan. 1, 1863.

Equitable Building fire, New York, Jan. 9, 1912.

Ft. Sumter fired on, April 12, 1861.

Francis Ferdinand, Austrian archduke, a.s.sa.s.sinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia, June 28, 1914, by Gavrio Prinzip, a Bosnian.

Galveston flood, Sept. 8, 1900; hurricane blew 18 hours and attained velocity of 135 miles an hour; 5,000 lives lost; $17,000,000 damage.

Garfield a.s.sa.s.sinated, July 2, 1881.