was only 100,000, and in about three months this has been increased to nearly 250,000 by purely voluntary methods and in competition with the recruiters of the National Guard, the navy, and the marines. Thus, by the middle of July, 1917, nearly half a million men had volunteered for service in one or other of the different branches of the army and navy, while men had been obtained for various special units, and many candidates for officers' commissions were in training. Mobilizing the National Guard An important step to increase the strength of the army was the calling into Federal service of the National Guard regiments not already in service. This was done in three increments, one third being mobilized on July 15 and the other two thirds being warned to be ready on July 25 and Aug. 5. It was stated that after preliminary training the National Guard would soon be sent to France and that some regiments would leave the United States as early as November. At the date of mobilization the National Guard had reached a strength of about 300,000 men, and, as the war strength had been fixed at 400,000, recruiting continued. It was the intention of the War Department that if the full quota were not secured before the draft began, the vacancies in the National Guard, as in the regular army, would be filled by conscripted men. The only members of the National Guard who were not called up were officers holding general rank, as some of these appointments had been made on political grounds. In addition to the sixteen cantonments which were begun for the new National Army, sixteen other camps were chosen for the training of the National Guard. The sites for practically all these camps were chosen in Southern States because, as Major Gen. Gorgas, Surgeon General of the Army, explained, the climate was milder in the Winter and rain less frequent. The accommodation was planned for about 35,000 men and 10,000 horses and rules in each camp. Army Training Camps The following are the locations of can 17. 18. do...... 19. Western.. 20. Montgomery, Ala. Anniston, Ala. Deming, N. M. Houston, Tex. .Southeastern Charlotte, N. C. do...... Hattiesburg, Miss. Alexandria, La. Linda Vista, Cal. do...... Palo Alto, Cal. Navy Training Camps Sites for naval training camps were selected as follows: Philadelphia, for 5,000 men. Great Lakes Training Station, Chicago, accommodations for 15,000 additional recruits. Port Royal, S. C., 5,000 men of the Marine Corps; also a Marine Corps Camp at Quantico, Va., for 8,000 men. Hampton Roads naval operating base, 10,000 men. Mississippi Exposition Grounds, Gulfport, Miss., 3,500 men. New York, a camp for 3,000 regulars adjoining the navy yard; Pelham, N. Y., 5,000 reserves. A camp will also be located at Boston. An indication of the merging of the National Guard with the other military forces of the United States was furnished by the War Department statement that regiments were henceforth to be num bered without reference to the fact that a particular regiment belonged to the Regular Army, National Guard, or National Army. The numbers of the National Army regiments begin where those of the National Guard regiments end, but locality is indicated in parentheses. Rapid Training of Officers The training of officers has been more rapidly conducted than that of the men, because without qualified leaders the new armies cannot be organized. The President has signed the commissions of several hundred new officers of the Army Reserve Corps, and, according to an announcement from General Pershing's headquarters in Paris, these officers are to see service in France much earlier than was anticipated. In this way the demand for regular officers to train the men in France is being met. Every trainee in the Officers' Training Corps is assured of a commission if he can qualify. The officers' training camps are at Fort Myer, Virginia, (two camps,) Fort McPherson, Georgia, (two camps,) Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, (two camps,) Fort Benjamin, Indiana, (three camps,) Fort Logan H. Roots, Arkansas, (two camps,) Leon Springs, Texas, (two camps,) Fort Riley, Kansas, (two camps,) and Presidio, San Francisco, (one camp.) Selecting the Conscript Army ETTING up exemption boards and Sarranging for the drawing of lots to decide who shall serve in the first conscript army have been the principal developments in the operation of the selective draft law during the month. The total registration was 9,659,382, or 95.9 per cent. of the preliminary estimate. The apparent shortage, about 413,000, is considerably less than the number of men 21 to 30 years of age, inclusive, who. are estimated by the War Department to have been in the various branches of the military and naval services of the United States on June 5, and for that reason exempt from the requirement of registration. This number is 600,000. On the face of these figures, therefore, it appears that the number of men between the ages of 21 and 31 in the United States is slightly in excess of the number estimated by the Census Bureau on May 12-10,079,000. Of the 9,659,382 registrants reported, 7,347,794 are white; 953,899 are colored; 1,239,865 are unnaturalized foreigners from countries other than Germany; 111,823 are unnaturalized Germans, including declarants"; that is, persons having declared their intention to become citizens but not having received their final naturalization papers; and 6,001 are Indians. 66 There is nothing in the returns to indi cate that there has been any general attempt at evasion of registration by any important element of the population. The following table shows, by States, the total registration, the number of unnaturalized Germans, including those who have declared their intention to become citizens, and the percentage which the total represents of the census estimate: Total Registration. United States...9,659,382 Per UnnatCent. of uralized Esti- Germate. mans. 179,828 36,932 147,522 297,532 83,038 75.8 159,761 129.3 372 1,126 21,864 108.8 92 National parks. ............ 22,848 85 6,001 64.5 791 1,003 23,121 329 ..... South Dakota.. 2 Indians The rules and regulations for the draft were issued to the local exemption boards by the War Department on June 21. Every board was required to make four copies of the registration list. One it kept for its own use, the second was posted in a conspicuous public place, the third was made available to the public press, and the fourth was sent to the Provost Marshal General at Washington. Every board numbered the cards in its jurisdiction with red ink in a series running from 1 to the number representing the total number of cards in its jurisdic tion, and it was provided that these serial numbers, not the names, should be drawn. Alphabetical arrangement of the names was expressly prohibited. The numbers were to be drawn at Washington. If 15 and 167 were drawn, for example, the two men in each registration district against whose names these numbers were written would be thereby automatically drafted. Exemption could be claimed only afterward-through the local board. President Wilson on July 2 promulgated the regulations governing exemption from military service. These regulations permitted the local and appeal exemption boards already appointed to organize at once and prepare for the concluding stages of raising the draft army. In an accompanying statement the President called upon the boards to do their work fearlessly and impartially and to remember that "our armies at the front will be strengthened and sustained if they be composed of men free from any sense of injustice in their mode of selection." A statement issued by the War Department on July 13 set forth the number to be drafted from each State. The total for the first call was to be 687,000. On July 20 all the numbered registration lists from the 4,550 districts had reached Washington, and the fateful drawing of numbers took place on that day. The story of the historic event will be told in the September issue of this magazine. |