CAPTAIN MCDONELL, C. A. C. WILL INSPECT FIRST BATTALION THIS AFTERNOON AT 3.45

The University unit of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps will be formally inspected by Captain Austin McC. McDonell, C. A. C., the official representative of the War Department, in the Stadium this afternoon at 3.45 o'clock. The First Battalion will represent the Regiment in today's ceremony and the future status of the Corps in the eyes of the military authorities at Washington rests entirely upon the showing made by the four companies chosen to take part in the inspection. Captain McDonell is under orders not only to inspect the arms and equipment of the men in the Corps, but also to report on the efficiency shown by the troops in the execution of various drills, exercises and ceremonies. The event, therefore, will be far more important and interesting than a regulation battalion inspection, and it is expected that all the members of the Second and Third Battalions will be present at Soldiers Field to watch the progress of the ceremony.

Fall in Shortly After 3.30 O'clock.

The companies of the First Battalion will fall in at their respective points of assembly shortly after 3.30 o'clock and will march to the Stadium where they will undergo a thorough inspection of rifles and equipment. Captain McDonell will then be at liberty to call upon the battalion for an exhibition of any drills, exercises, or ceremonies that he may desire to have executed. It will be the manner in which the men respond to the commands of their leaders during these drills and in the other exercises, that will count most heavily for or against the standing of the University Corps in the report to the War Department. The inspection will probably conclude with a battalion parade and a review of the troops by the inspecting officer. Full attendance at the ceremony will be assured by the fact that the inspection takes precedence over all academic or outside engagements, as far as members of the First Battalion are concerned, between 3.30 and 6 o'clock today.

Physical disability is the only excuse for absence from this formation that will be accepted by the Headquarters Office.

The first advice received by the University military authorities as to the proximity of the inspection came in the form of a telegram to Major Flynn ear- ly yesterday morning, when Captain McDonell wired that he would arrive on Monday, March 25, to inspect the records of the Corps; the men and the equipment. This accounts for the sudden announcement of the inspection by the Headquarters Office yesterday in order to allow the men of the First Battalion an opportunity to prepare their uniforms and other articles of equipment for the ceremony this afternoon.

Today's ceremony is a part of a nationwide inspection held each spring by the War Department to ascertain the strength and condition of the units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps maintained by the various colleges in the United States. Each unit is held responsible for the condition of the arms and equipment issued to it by the Government, and the commandant of the Corps must in every case state just what ground has been covered by the men in training during the year. On the basis of the reports handed in by its inspecting officers in different parts of the country, the War Department makes out the annual rank list of all the R. O. T. C. units in the country