Mr. Woodring also recently urged improvements in the coast defence artillery batteries, indicating that wars in China and Spain proved the importance of a powerful antiaircraft defence.
The War Department is expected to ask for a bigger appropriation not only for the purpose of modernizing the Army but also for the purpose of strengthening Alaska as vital military aerial base.
Much importance is attached to the surveying trip to Álaska by Mr. Louis Johnson, Assistant Secretary of War. Mr. Johnson is examining the possibilities of establishing several minor and major air bases in Alaska with a view of speedy contact with the mainland.
The Navy already has set up an air base for seaplanes at Sitka and is now seeking funds to establish a similar base at Kodiak Island.—
United Press. ái
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.