More Than 700,000 Additional Young Men Registered
Under the Draft Law
On the recommendation of the Secretary of War, who appeared before the
House Committee on Military Affairs on May 23, the committee agreed
to give President Wilson authority to raise an army of practically
unlimited size. The text of the provision to be incorporated in the
Army bill was adopted unanimously. The committee had originally been in
favor of limiting the size of the army to 5,000,000.
On June 5 male residents of the United States who had reached the age
of 21 years since that date in 1917 were required to register under the
amended selective draft law. Nearly complete reports to the Provost
Marshal General's office showed that 744,865 men complied with the
law. This was 266,724 below the Census Bureau estimate, but as more
than 200,000 did not register because they had already enlisted in the
army, navy, or Marine Corps, the military authorities found the result
entirely satisfactory.
So-called "work or fight" regulations were issued by the Provost
Marshal General on June 3. All citizens were called upon to report
to the nearest local board all men of military age who should be in
the idler or nonproductive classification after July 1, 1918. The
local boards were given authority to summon any man who may be idle or
nonproductively employed within its territory.
With the double purpose of increasing the number of men available for
military service and of insuring fairer administration of the selective
service law, Provost Marshal General Crowder on June 7 instituted
a reinvestigation of the draft classification lists throughout
the nation. General Crowder believed that by "slacker marriages"
and underground claims to exemption on the ground of industrial
or agricultural work registrants had escaped service, and that in
some districts the local boards had interpreted the regulations too
strictly. It was expected that more than 500,000 men would be brought
by the reclassification into Class 1, which was being rapidly exhausted.
Another move toward the full utilization of the nation's man power was
made on May 24 when the Secretary of War sent to Congress the draft of
a bill authorizing the raising of the maximum age limit for voluntary
enlistment in the army from 40 to 55 years. Between these ages there
were probably 7,500,000 men, and thousands of them have applied to the
War Department to be allowed to serve. The department planned to assign
men over 40 years to noncombatant service, which calls for a very large
proportion of men for every combatant at the front.
The War Department on June 6 permitted publication of reports to the
Acting Chief of Ordnance (Brig. Gen. C. C. Williams) showing that since
the United States declared war 1,568,661 rifles had been produced for
the army. This total was made up of 1,140,595 modified Enfields, 1917
model; 176,796 Springfields, 1903 model, and 251,270 Russian rifles.
The last named are used for training purposes and to equip home
guards. There were also the equivalent of 100,000 Enfields and 100,000
Springfields made up in spare parts. With the rifles already in hand
when war was declared, and allowing for the fact that only one-half
of the soldiers in an army carry rifles, the Ordnance Department
had enough rifles for an army of about 2,000,000 men, after making
allowance for one year's wastage.
The organization of five new regiments and nineteen battalions of
Railway Engineers, to be used in addition to the regiments already
working in France, was announced by the War Department on June 6. The
work was carried out by the staff of the Director General of Military
Railways, Samuel M. Felton, in conjunction with the Engineer Corps.
This brought the number of Americans engaged in railroad construction
and operation in France up to 50,000.
A total of $160,000,000 has been spent on railway materials alone, not
including supplies provided and used by the Engineer Corps proper.
Director General Felton, describing the growth in personnel and the
increase in the size of the task confronting his staff, beginning with
the organization of the first railway regiment, said that early in
1917 the Chief of Engineers decided to organize a railway operating
regiment. Mr. Felton, who had acted as his railway adviser in 1916, was
asked to take charge of the work. Six railroads having headquarters in
Chicago were called on to recruit one company each. The regiment formed
the nucleus of the present railway organization. While it was being
formed, the United States entered the war. One of the first requests
transmitted to this Government by the French Mission was for assistance
in strengthening the French railway systems to meet the increasing war
strain. This request was made in April, 1917, and early in May Mr.
Felton was called to Washington to organize nine railway regiments,
including the Chicago regiment.