Expanding the Army The expansion of the army is being accomplished by the conversion of each existing battalion into a full regiment. When the expansion is complete, the regular army will have seven full divisions, including the four infantry and two cavalry divisions regarded as essentially troops of the mobile army. A full war strength division is maintained in the Philippines and additional forces are in the Panama Canal Zone and Hawaii. Secretary of War Baker in a statement with reference to the regular army says: The Cavalry, Engineers, Coast Artillery, Signal Corps, and Quartermaster Corps of the regular army have already been brought to war strength. Forty-five thousand recruits are needed at once to complete the new regiments of infantry and field artillery. war Twenty-five thousand additional recruits are desired at the earliest practicable date to fill vacancies in order that the strength of 300,000 men may be maintained. Facilities are in readiness for placing these 70,000 men under proper training. The expansion of the National Guard has also been planned on the principle of enlarging existing units and forming new ones. Including naval militia the total authorized is 433,800. This force is being formed on the basis of 800 guardsmen for each Senator and representative. For the 531 Senators and representatives this allotment would give 424,800 men. Adding 9,000 for the insular possessions, and subtracting 24,700 reserved for the naval militia, gives a total of 409,100 for the National Guard. There were recently fewer than 200,000 in the guard. In accordance with President Wilson's orders, Brig. Gen. William A. Mann of the General Staff, as Chief of the Division of Militia Affairs, has sent to each Adjutant General complete information about the quota assigned for each State, the units to be comprised, and the order in which the units shall be organized. The War Department, in an explanation of what had been done, added: Notwithstanding such action some States have undertaken the organization of units which cannot be utilized in the formation of complete higher tactical units. While it is much to be desired to take full advantage of the patriotic interest stirring in the country, such advantage can only come through a coordination and regulation in keeping with a general and basic plan. The War Department and the Militia Bureau are vitally concerned in getting the best value from the National Guard and to that end have perfected, as far as practicable, definite plans, for which co-operation on the part of State officials and representatives is urgently desired. All persons desiring to offer their services in the National Guard, and especially those interested in raising new units, are requested to communicate with the Adjutant General of their State and to be governed by the wishes of the State authorities in carrying out the announced policy of the War Department in the organization and acceptance of such troops. For the training of the new draft armies plans have been adopted to build sixteen cantonments, which will practically be cities. Here accommodation will be provided for 600,000 conscripts. The building of the sixteen soldier cities is under the direction of Colonel Littel, Chief of Cantonment Construction. Training Thousands of Officers Sixteen camps in different parts of the United States for the training of officers began work on May 15, the number of trainees in attendance being 40,000. The preliminary training was concluded about five weeks later. During this period only engineers received special instruction; all the other officers were formed into infantry regiments, and trained as infantry. The second training period began on June 18, when the future officers began to specialize in the different branches of the service. They now ceased to be "rookies." The second period of training is to conclude about the middle of August, a week or two before the first 500,000 men of the draft army will be called to the colors. But as officers will be required for the second 500,000 men the War Department has already completed plans for a second series of officers' training camps. Brig. Gen. Henry P. McCain, Adjutant General of the army, on June 2 issued the following statement: To provide officers for the drafted forces of the national army, the War Department has adopted the policy of commissioning new France, and, further, that 3,500 war airplanes would be constructed and 6,000 aviators trained in the United States this year. The statement added that flotillas of destroyers were.co-operating with the Entente Allies in the submarine zone, that one army division, a force of marines, and nine regiments of engineers had been ordered to France, and that 10,000 doctors and many nurses had been ordered to England, hundreds of these having already arrived. " Together with the Americans already serving in the British and French armies," the announcement explained, "these additional units will shortly give a total of 100,000 Americans in France, equaling five German divisions." THE America's Army in the Making HE work of pulling together the different lines of organization which will result in the formation of a United States Army fighting in Europe has been proceeding gradually and methodically. Explaining the Government's military plans, Secretary of War Baker, in a statement on May 9, said that all the forces raised for the war were to be dovetailed into one great army machine of more than 1,200,000 men when the National Guard had been raised to full war strength, when the regular army had been similarly increased and strengthened, and when the first draft of 500,000 men for the national army had been raised. This army would consist of about forty divisions. Under the National Defense act of June 3, 1916, the full war strength of the regular army was fixed at 293,000 men, and of the National Guard at 409,000, but recruiting for both branches has been below requirements. On April 1, 1917, the regular army still needed 183,898 men, but the number of enlistments on June 18 had reached only 120,815. In some States the National Guard actually showed a decrease through discharges. It, therefore, became obvious that more than the 500,000 men, as originally intended, would have to be drafted. General Crowder told the Senate Military Affairs Committee on June 4 that the number then required was 625,000, and to obtain this number it would be necessary to draft at least 900,000 and possibly 1,500,000, because of expected exemptions. The additional 125,000 would be needed to fill up vacancies in the army and to keep the training camps in continuous operation. The President on May 14 had already approved the completed plans for the immediate expansion of the regular army to its full war strength of 293,000 men through the formation as rapidly as possible of all the new units authorized by the National Defense act of June 3, 1916. To accomplish this forty-five new regiments of infantry, cavalry, and field artillery are being organized. This increase, as contemplated by Congress in 1916, was to have been obtained in five equal increments in a five-year period. The orders issued by the President now call for the formation of twenty-seven regiments of infantry, twelve of field artillery, and six of cavalry. When these have been obtained the army will comprise sixty-four regiments of infantry, twenty-one of field artillery, and twentyfive of cavalry-a total of 110 regiments -exclusive of coast artillery, staff corps, and special service units. There will be 3,379 officers and 127,985 men in the infantry, 1,325 officers and 37,175 men in the cavalry, and 897 officers and 26,748 men in the field artillery. The entire regular army will comprise more than 12,000 officers and 293,000 men. Previously there had been thirty-seven regiments of infantry, nine regiments of field artillery, and nineteen regiments of cavalry. The new infantry regiments will be known as the Thirty-eighth to the Sixty-fourth, inclusive; the new field artillery will be the Tenth to the Twentyfirst, inclusive, and the new cavalry, the Twentieth to the Twenty-fifth, inclusive. Expanding the Army The expansion of the army is being accomplished by the conversion of each existing battalion into a full regiment. When the expansion is complete, the regular army will have seven full divisions, including the four infantry and two cavalry divisions regarded as essentially troops of the mobile army. A full war strength division is maintained in the Philippines and additional forces are in the Panama Canal Zone and Hawaii. Secretary of War Baker in a statement with reference to the regular army says: The Cavalry, Engineers, Coast Artillery, Signal Corps, and Quartermaster Corps of the regular army have already been brought to war strength. Forty-five thousand recruits are needed at once to complete the new regiments of infantry and field artillery. the 531 Senators and representatives this allotment would give 424,800 men. Adding 9,000 for the insular possessions, and subtracting 24,700 reserved for the naval militia, gives a total of 409,100 for the National Guard. There were recently fewer than 200,000 in the guard. In accordance with President Wilson's orders, Brig. Gen. William A. Mann of the General Staff, as Chief of the Division of Militia Affairs, has sent to each Adjutant General complete information about the quota assigned for each State, the units to be comprised, and the order in which the units shall be organized. The War Department, in an explanation of what had been done, added: Notwithstanding such action some States have undertaken the organization of units which cannot be utilized in the formation of complete higher tactical units. While it is much to be desired to take full advantage of the patriotic interest stirring in the country, such advantage can only come through a coordination and regulation in keeping with a general and basic plan. The War Department and the Militia Bureau are vitally concerned in getting the best value from the National Guard and to that end have perfected, as far as practicable, definite plans, for which co-operation on the part of State officials and representatives is urgently desired. All persons desiring to offer their services in the National Guard, and especially those interested in raising new units, are requested to communicate with the Adjutant General of their State and to be governed by the wishes of the State authorities in carrying out the announced policy of the War Department in the organization and acceptance of such troops. For the training of the new draft armies plans have been adopted to build sixteen cantonments, which will practically be cities. Here accommodation will be provided for 600,000 conscripts. The building of the sixteen soldier cities is under the direction of Colonel Littel, Chief of Cantonment Construction. Training Thousands of Officers Sixteen camps in different parts of the United States for the training of officers began work on May 15, the number of trainees in attendance being 40,000. The preliminary training was concluded about five weeks later. During this period only engineers received special instruction; all the other officers were formed into infantry regiments, and trained as infantry. The second training period began on June 18, when the future officers began to specialize in the different branches of the service. They now ceased to be "rookies." The second period of training is to conclude about the middle of August, a week or two before the first 500,000 men of the draft army will be I called to the colors. But as officers will be required for the second 500,000 men the War Department has already completed plans for a second series of officers' training camps. Brig. Gen. Henry P. McCain, Adjutant General of the army, on June 2 issued the following statement: To provide officers for the drafted forces of the national army, the War Department has adopted the policy of commissioning new officers of the line (infantry, cavalry, field and coast guard artillery) purely on the basis of demonstrated ability, after three months' observation and training in the officers' training camps. To provide officers for the first 500,000 the War Department has put into operation sixten officers' training camps, with about 40,000 men in attendance. These sixteen camps correspond to the territorial divisions in which the national army will be raised. The present camps will provide line officers sufficient in quantity and quality for the first 500.000 and a reserve for that increment. It is proposed to officer further increments raised under the draft by promotion from the ranks of the regular army, the National Guard, and drafted forces previously in service. The second series of officers' training camps will be held beginning Aug. 27, with the definite mission of producing a body of line officers capable of filling all places in the grades above Lieutenant and many places in the Lieutenant grades of the second 500,000 troops. These camps will open on Aug. 27, 1917, and the training period will last until Nov. 26, 1917. The President has commissioned officers by the hundred for the Officers' Reserve Corps, until its total strength is now in the neighborhood of 10,000. Many promotions have become necessary, and on June 8 President Wilson raised three Brigadier Generals (John F. Morrison, Charles G. Morton, and William L. Sibert) to the rank of Major General, while eighteen new Brigadier Generals and three new Lieutenant Colonels were also nominated. In making these promotions the President disregarded strict seniority and went down the list in search of "live wires," promoting several officers by selection. A Great Air Fleet The creation of a great American air fleet has begun. Three aviation fields are under construction and cadets are in training at the preliminary aviation schools established in six representative engineering colleges and universities. The Aircraft Production Board announces also that a site has been selected in France for the final training of the first aviators graduated from the American fields. Work has been begun on a big foursquadron aviation field at Dayton, Ohio, and "it is significant," says Howard E. Coffin, Chairman of the Aircraft Production Board, "that this Dayton field of 2,500 acres, built to accommodate the largest group of aviation students to be trained in the great project on which America has now set forth, should be on the site of the original field on which the Wrights developed their first successful airplanes. The original Wright hangar, placed on a modest tract of eighty-six acres, which constituted the Wright experimental field, is set within the boundaries of the big new Government field." A statement by the Council of National Defense says in regard to aviation policy: The immediate policy involves, roughly, a program for the first year of turning out in American factories about 3,500 air machines, including both training and battle types, and the establishment of schools and training fields with sufficient capacity not only to man these machines but to supply a constant stream of aviators and mechanics to the American forces in Europe. Brig. Gen. George O. Squier, Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, who directs the aviation service, informed Congress on June 15 that $600,000,000 was needed as an initial appropriation for America's air fleet. Putting the Conscription Law Into Operation HE first step in putting into opera TH tion the select conscription law, officially known as "an act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the military establishment of the United States," which was approved on May 18, 1917, was to register all male residents who had reached the age of 21 years but who were not yet 31 years of age. The President by a proclamation, dated May 18, fixed June 5 as the day of registration. When it became apparent that men who came under the law were leaving, or endeavoring to leave the country, the President on June 1 issued another proclamation warning all persons subject to registration who withdrew from the United States for the purpose of evading registration that they would be prosecuted on their return and be liable to one year's imprisonment. The registration blank contained twelve questions covering among others, name, address, age, nationality, birthplace, and occupation, and concluding with the interrogation, "Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)?" The official estimate by the Census Bureau of the number of men who should register was 10,264,867, and they were directed to appear at their polling booths and other places usually employed for elections. Registration day passed off quietly. Although trouble was expected from anticonscriptionists, there was practically no disorder. A few arrests were reported, but the method employed by the young men who were opposed to conscription was in nearly every case simply to neglect to register. An official statement given out by the Committee on Public Information on the evening of June 5, said in part: Nearly 10,000,000 Americans of military age registered today for service in the army against Germany. The registration was accomplished in a fashion measuring up to the highest standards of Americanism. The young men came to the registration places enthusiastic; there was no hint of a slacking spirit anywhere except in a few cases where misguided persons had been prevailed upon to attempt to avoid their national obligation. From every State reports were received showing that the sporadic conspiracies to thwart the first step toward the mobilization of as large an army as the country may need to bring the war to a victorious conclusion had failed utterly. The Department of Justice had a tremendous machinery ready to cope with these conspiracies, but it proved to be unnecessary. Arrangements had been made by the De THE partment of Justice and the War Department to secure immediate telegraphic reports upon any outbreaks or troublesome occurrence. The spirit of the young men from whom the fighting forces are to be selected was evidenced in their attitude toward Question 12 on the registration blanks, which asked if exemption was claimed. In thousands of cases young men availed themselves of their right to ignore this question and to leave it entirely for the Government to decide whether they should be selected. This spirit was evidenced again in the receipt during the day of numerous requests from diplomatic and consular officials of the United States for additional registration cards to be used by citizens who are now in other countries; this fact was impressive because registration is voluntary on the part of Americans resident abroad. Provost Marshal General Crowder, on June 16, gave figures to show the results of the registration. With the reports from Kentucky, New Mexico, and Wyoming still missing, the number registered was 9,401,314. It was estimated that the missing States would add at least 265,000 to this number, and that the grand total would be not less than 9,666,000. This, the War Department considered, would represent a registration of slightly more than 100 per cent. of the census figures, as a careful tabulation showed that there were at least 600,000 men in the service of military age who were not compelled to register, although they were included in the census estimate. From various parts of the country plots and conspiracies to avoid or oppose the draft were reported. In many places those who had failed to register were rounded up and given another chance to enroll. There were also some arrests. Anarchist agitators were the most troublesome, and one of them, Louis Kramer, was sentenced by the Federal Court in New York to three years' imprisonment for conspiracy to dissuade men of conscript age from registering. America's Fleet in Being HE United States Navy began to render the Allies assistance almost from the first day of America's entrance into the war. The whereabouts of the Atlantic Fleet have been shrouded in secrecy, but announcements have been made regarding the movements of certain units. On June 6 the French |