World's War Events Volume II Part 42

[Sidenote: Professional soldiers still needed.]

It would be a national loss for me to fail to record in this place a just estimate of the value to the Nation of these training camps for officers. They disclosed an unsuspected source of military strength.

n.o.body will suppose that, with the growing intricacy of military science and the industrial arts related to it, a country can dispense with trained professional soldiers. The fundamentals of military discipline remain substantially unchanged and, in order that we may a.s.semble rapidly and effectively adequate military forces, there must always be in the country a body of men to whom the life of a soldier is a career and who have acquired from their youth those qualities which have, from the beginning, distinguished the graduates of the Military Academy at West Point: the disciplined honor, the unfaltering courage, the comprehension of sacrifice, and that knowing obedience which proceeds from constant demonstrations of the fact that effective cooperation in war requires instant compliance with the command of authority, the sort of obedience which knows that a battle field is no place for a parliament. Added to these mental and moral qualities, the body of professional soldiers must devote themselves unremittingly to the development of the arts of war, and when the emergency arises must be familiar with the uses of science and the applications of industry in military enterprise. But these training camps have taught us that, given this relatively small body of professional soldiers, the Nation has at hand an apparently inexhaustible body of splendid material which can be rapidly made to supplement the professional soldier.

[Sidenote: Athletes from the colleges.]

[Sidenote: Adaptability of American youth.]

[Sidenote: Atmosphere of industrial and commercial democracy.]

[Sidenote: Many officers a.s.signed to training of troops from their homes.]

When the first camp was opened, the colleges, military schools, and high schools of the country poured out a stream of young men whose minds had been trained in the cla.s.sroom and whose bodies had been made supple and virile on the athletic field. They came with intelligence, energy, and enthusiasm and, under a course of intensive training, rapidly took on the added discipline and capacities necessary to equip them for the duties of officers. They have taken their places in the training camps and are daily demonstrating the value of their education and the adaptability of the spirit of American youth. A more salutary result would be impossible to imagine. The trained professional soldiers of the Army received this great body of youthful enthusiasm and capacity with hospitality and quickly impressed upon it a soldierly character. The young men brought to their training habits which they had formed for success as civilians, but which their patriotic enthusiasm rendered easily available in new lines of endeavor for the service of the country. They brought, too, another element of great value. They were a.s.sembled from all parts of the country; they were accustomed to the democracy of the college and high school; they recognized themselves as new and temporary adventurers in a military life; and they, therefore, reflected into our military preparation the fresh and invigorating atmosphere of our industrial and commercial democracy. This has undoubtedly contributed to the establishment of a happy spirit which prevails throughout the Army and has made it easy for the young men chosen under the selective service act to fall in with the training and mode of life which the military training camp requires. An effort was made by the department as far as possible to a.s.sign these young officers to the training of troops a.s.sembled from their own homes. By this means, a preexisting sympathy was used, and admiration and respect between officer and man was transferred from the home to the camp.

[Sidenote: The three divisions of the Army.]

[Sidenote: Enlistments may be for the period of the war.]

[Sidenote: Men anxious to get to France soon.]

[Sidenote: Traditions of military organizations preserved.]

The three divisions of the Army, namely, the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the National Army, were very different organizations as we contemplated them at the time of the pa.s.sage of the act for the temporary increase of the Military Establishment. The Regular Army was a veteran establishment of professional soldiers; the National Guard a volunteer organization of local origin maintained primarily for the preservation of domestic order in the several States, with an emergency duty toward the national defense; the National Army an unknown quant.i.ty, made up of men to be selected arbitrarily by tests and rules as yet to be formulated, unorganized, untrained, existing only in theory and, therefore, problematical as to its spirit and the length of time necessary to fit it for use. Congress, however, most wisely provided as far as possible for an elimination of these differences. Enlistments in the Regular Army and National Guard were authorized to be made for the period of the war rather than for fixed terms; the maximum and minimum ages of enlistment in the Regular Army and National Guard were a.s.similated; the rights and privileges of members of the three forces were made largely identical. Indeed, the act created but one army, selected by three processes. The wisdom of Congress in this course became instantly apparent. Spirited young men throughout the country began at once to enlist in the Regular Army and National Guard who might have been deterred from such enlistment had their obligation been for a fixed period rather than for the duration of the war. Many men asked themselves but one question: "By which avenue of service will I earliest get to France?" The men in the National Army soon caught this spirit and, while the department is endeavoring to preserve as far as possible in the National Guard and the National Army those intimacies which belong to men who come from the same city or town, and to preserve the honorable traditions of military organizations which have histories of service to the country in other wars, the fact still remains that the army is rapidly becoming the army of the United States, with the sense of origin from a particular State, or a.s.sociation with a particular neighborhood, more and more submerged by the rising sense of national service and national ident.i.ty.

[Sidenote: Sites selected for cantonments.]

[Sidenote: Sixteen divisional cantonments.]

[Sidenote: Emergency construction division established.]

I have described above the process of the execution of the selective service law. The preparation of places for the training of the recruits thus brought into the service was a task of unparalleled magnitude. On the 7th of May, 1917, the commanding generals of the several departments were directed to select sites for the construction of cantonments for the training of the mobilized National Guard and the National Army. The original intention was the construction of 32 cantonments. The appropriations made by Congress for this purpose were soon seen to be insufficient, and further study of the problem seemed to show that it would be unwise so seriously to engage the resources of the country, particularly in view of the fact that the National Guard was ready to be mobilized, that its training by reason of service on the Mexican border was substantial, and that its early use abroad in conjunction with the Regular Army would render permanent camps less important. The number was, therefore, cut to 16 divisional cantonments, and the National Guard was mobilized in camps for the most part under canvas, with only certain divisional storehouses and quarters for special uses constructed of wood. Because of the open weather during the winter months, the National Guard camps were located in the southern States. The National Army cantonments were located within the lines of the military division. A special division of the Quartermaster General's Department was established, known as the emergency construction division, and to it was given the task of erecting the cantonment buildings and such buildings as should be necessary for the National Guard.

On May 17, 1917, Col. I. W. Littell, of the Regular Army, was detailed to a.s.semble and direct an organization to be known as the cantonment division of the Quartermaster Corps, whose duties were to consist of providing quarters and camps for the training and housing of the New National Army, which was to be selected by conscription as provided in the act of Congress dated May 18, 1917.

Able a.s.sistance was rendered by the following members of the committee on emergency construction and contracts, a subcommittee of the Munitions Board of the Council of National Defense:

Major W. A. Starrett, chairman; Major William Kelly; C. M. Lundoff; M.

C. Tuttle; F. L. Olmsted; J. B. Talmadge, secretary.

[Sidenote: Specialists in purchasing and constructing secured.]

Inquiries were immediately made and all available means used by telegraph, correspondence, and consultation to get in touch with the ablest constructors, engineers, draftsmen, purchasing agents, and other specialists of broad experience in their respective vocations from which an efficient and experienced organization could be selected.

All of those selected who became attached to the organization in an official capacity gave up responsible and remunerative positions to give the Government the benefit of their services. They all being over the draft-age limit and representative technical men of repute and standing in their community, a splendid precedent of patriotism was established.

The a.s.sembling of an organization and the planning and execution of the work was undertaken with a view of accomplishing all that human ingenuity, engineering, and constructing skill could devise in the brief time available.

[Sidenote: The plans formulated.]

[Sidenote: Magnitude of the task.]

Plans were formulated by engineers, architects, and town planners who had given much thought to the particular problems involved. Camp sites comprising from 2,000 to 11,000 acres each were selected by a board of Army officers under the direction of the department commanders. Names of responsible contracting firms were secured and every effort made to perfect an organization competent to carry out the work of completing the camps at the earliest possible moment. The magnitude of a.s.sembling an organization for carrying on the work and securing the labor and materials therefor can in some measure be realized by reference to the following table, showing quant.i.ties of the princ.i.p.al materials estimated to be used in the construction of the National Army cantonments.

[Sidenote: Approximate quant.i.ties of materials.]

The approximate quant.i.ties of princ.i.p.al materials used in the construction of the various National Army camps are shown in the following tables. This does not include National Guard, embarkation, or training camps.

Quant.i.ty.

Lumber (feet b. m.) 450,000,000 Roofing paper (square feet) 76,000,000 Doors 140,000 Window sash 700,000 Wall board (square feet) 29,500,000 Shower heads 40,000 Water-closet bowls 54,000 Tank heaters and tanks 11,000 Heating boilers 1,800 Radiation (square feet) 4,200,000 Cannon stoves 20,000 Room heaters 20,000 Kitchen stoves and ranges 10,000 Wood pipe for water supply (feet) 1,000,000 Cast-iron supply pipe (feet) 470,000 Wire, all kinds and sizes (miles) 5,500 Wood tanks (aggregate capacity) 8,300,000 Hose carts 600 Fire engines 90 Fire extinguishers 4,700 Fire hose (feet) 392,500 Fire hydrants 3,600 Hand-pump tanks 12,700 Fire pails 163,000 Cots 721,000

Sixteen National Army camps were constructed in various parts of the United States at points selected by the War Department. The camps were carefully laid out by experienced town planners and engineers to give best results considering all viewpoints.

[Sidenote: Extent of a typical National Army cantonment.]

[Sidenote: Roads constructed and improvements installed.]

A typical cantonment city will house 40,000 men. Each barrack building will house 150 men and provide 500 cubic feet of air s.p.a.ce per man. Such a cantonment complete contains between 1,000 and 1,200 buildings and covers about 2,000 acres. In addition, each cantonment has a rifle range, drill, parade, and maneuver grounds of about 2,000 acres. In many cases all or a large part of the entire site had to be cleared of woods and stumps. The various military units were located on princ.i.p.al or primary roads--a regiment being treated as a primary unit. About 25 miles of roads were constructed at each cantonment, and sewers, water supply, lighting facilities, and other improvements installed.

[Sidenote: The special buildings required.]

An infantry regiment requires 22 barrack buildings, 6 for officers'

quarters, 2 storehouses, 1 infirmary building, 28 lavatories, with hot and cold shower baths, or a total of 59 buildings. In addition to the buildings necessary for the regimental units, each cantonment has buildings for divisional headquarters, quartermaster depots, laundry receiving and distributing stations, base hospitals having 1,000 beds, post exchanges, and other buildings for general use.

[Sidenote: Remount stations.]

At several of the cantonments remount stations have been provided, some of them having a capacity to maintain 12,000 horses.

[Sidenote: Other necessary camps.]

In addition to the National Army camps, plans were made for the construction of 16 National Guard, two embarkation and one quartermaster training camp, but the construction of these items did not involve so large an expenditure as the National Army camps, as provision was made for fewer units and only tentage quarters for the men in the National Guard camps was provided. Modern storehouses, kitchens, mess shelters, lavatories, shower baths, base hospitals, and remount depots were built, and water, sewerage, heating, and light systems installed at an expenditure of about $1,900,000 for each camp.

[Sidenote: The demand for construction and supplies.]

[Sidenote: Savings effected by standardization.]

With the advent of the United States into the war, there has appeared not only one of the world's greatest builders, but the world's greatest customer for supplies and human necessaries. We have not only to equip, house, and supply our own army, but meet the demands arising from the drainage of the resources of the entente allies. Small shopping and bargaining are out of the question. Enormous savings were, however, effected, due to the fact that materials were purchased in large quant.i.ties and consequently at a much reduced price. Standardization of sizes saved from $5 to $6 per thousand feet b. m. on lumber, and a further saving of from $3 to $11 over prevailing prices was effected by the lumber subcommittee of the Council of National Defense. The Raw Materials Committee effected similar savings in prepared roofing, nails, and other construction materials. The lead subcommittee procured 500 tons of lead for caulking pipe at 3 cents less than market price. When it is considered that this construction work is, next to the Panama Ca.n.a.l, the largest ever undertaken by the United States, the country is to be congratulated on having available the men and materials to accomplish the feat of providing for the maintenance of the newly organized army in so short a period.

[Sidenote: Extensive construction work for National Army.]

I have described at length the work of building necessary for the National Army camps, but at the same time extensive building was necessary at the 16 sites selected for the mobilization and training of the National Guard. While the National Guard troops were themselves quartered under canvas, many wooden buildings and storehouses had to be constructed for their use and, of course, the important problems of water supply, sewage, and hospital accommodations required substantially as much provision upon these subjects as upon those selected for the National Army.

[Sidenote: Labor a.s.sembled from great distances.]

[Sidenote: The a.s.sistance rendered by Mr. Gompers.]

At the very outset of this hurried and vast program, it became apparent that labor would have to be a.s.sembled from great distances, and in wholly unaccustomed numbers, that the laboring men would be required to separate themselves from home and family and to live under unusual and less comfortable circ.u.mstances than was their habit. It was also clear that no interruption or stoppage of the work could be permitted. I therefore took up with Mr. Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, the question of a general agreement which would cover all trades to be employed in a.s.suring continuity of work, provide just conditions of pay, recognize the inequalities which exist throughout the country, and yet avoid controversy as between the contractor and his employees, which, wherever the justice of the dispute might lie, could have only a prejudicial effect upon the interests of the Government, by delaying the progress necessary to be made. Mr.

Gompers and those a.s.sociated with him in the building trades promptly and loyally entered into a consideration of the whole subject, with the result that the following agreement was made: