THE FLEET TODAY

* , by Kendall Banning'02. Funk if Wagnalls, 1940, pp. XIV, 346,$2.50.

KENDALL BANNING'S The Fleet Today was appropriately "launched" October 25, 1940, two days before National Navy Day. This timely book appeared when interest in our naval service had reached a height unequalled in more than twenty years.

The volume is obviously designed to meet the layman's increasing interest in all phases of our rapidly expanding Navy. The reader need have no fear of encountering detailed discussions of technical features of the service. Throughout, the emphasis rests on the enlisted personnel.

Extreme care is exercised by the Navy in selecting recruits and the details of this procedure are minutely described. The training of apprentice seamen also receives Banning's careful attention. It may be surprising to learn that the service teaches fifty-five trades and every enlisted man has an opportunity to become proficient in several of them. It is the author's opinion . that the American seaman receives more and better training than is given in any navy in the world. In addition to a portrayal of a well-rounded sailor's life both ashore and afloat, an acquaintance is made with the purpose and operation of many types of naval craft. End sheet maps and official navy photographs enhance the value of the work. Comparatively little is said about officers, their training, and life aboard ship. Of particular interest are certain illuminating statistics which appear frequently. For example, the present-day battleship costs around $90,000,000, carries 16 inch guns weighing approximately 125 tons, which fire a 2100 pound shell at a cost of more than $1200 per shot.

The author has spent many months visiting recruiting stations, naval training bases, and service schools. He has also sailed aboard all types of naval ships and aircraft. During these experiences he has gathered innumerable sailor yarns which not only add "salt" to the narrative, but are likewise illustrative and humorous.

Among other useful features is a list of Navy ships commissioned, under construction, or authorized (to August, 1940) and an appendix which includes data on the "Washington Treaty" of 1923, the "London Treaty" of 1930, and the text of the new naval policy covering two-ocean operations.

The Fleet Today is interesting and informa- tive. It should prove reassuring to those who have questioned the calibre and training of the personnel of Uncle Sam's Navy.

It has just been called to the attention of the Editors that John Canfield Ewers '31 is the author of Plains Indian Painting, a description of an aboriginal American art. This book was published by the Stanford University Press in 1939 and has been selected by the American Institute of Graphic Arts as one of the "fifty books of the year." This book is beautifully illustrated with many paintings on cowhide, on buffalo robes and other media. The book also is a valuable contribution to American anthropology and native American art.

Nelson's Loose-Leaf Medicine of the Ear, published by Thomas Nelson and Sons, has been edited by Dr. Edmund P. Fowler, Jr. '26. This book is too technical to be reviewed in the magazine. Dartmouth physicians however will be interested to know of this book and to know that Dr. Fowler is the author of chapter 5 "Diseases of the middle ear." This chapter containing 67 pages, is profusely illustrated.

There has come to the desk of the Literary Editor two publications by Allen P. Richmond '14, Assistant to the Secretary, American Society of Civil Engineers. As Secretary of the American Society, Professor Richmond, formerly of the Dartmouth faculty of the Thayer School, was sent to Arizona and later to Nevada to investigate the salaries for engineering positions in the Highway departments of these states. The results of these studies are incorporated in these two reports: Report on a Survey of Salaries for EngineeringPositions in th€ Arizona State Highway Department together with Recommended Classifications and Related Salary Ranges, and Report on a Survey of Engineering Positions andSalaries in the Nevada State Highway Department together with Recommended GradeSpecifications and Related Salary Ranges.