The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1908-08-20
GATHERING in RECRUITS.
Very Different But Equally Effective
Methods OF the Army and Navy.

men, who are to wear the Nation's 1,ni
form In Army. Navy and Marine Corps.
and even for the Revenue Cutter SER
vice. are cnlisting at a rate which has
been unsurpassed IL they were all or.
sanlzed into army regiments. they
would make new regiment every
fortnight. This must be kept up, and
VIII be Kept up for 10 or IL months.
for during the current fiscal year fully
5000 strong. ablc-bodied young men
will be needed to carry muskets.
The Navy will require about 1880
OF this number. 1t was enlisted up to
It's authorized strength of $500 last
May. when Congress decided to allow
5000 more. But about 900 enlist
ments expire annually, and those va
cancies must be filed 40 figures are
given at the War Department but it
IS planned to recruit the Army up to
10000. This calls for several thousand
new recruits and also for several thou
sand to fill vacancies due to deaths,
assertions. dishonorable discharges and
the expiration of enlistments
The Want "Aa.-
Several methods of inducing the
youth of the country to enter upon a
martial career, Some comparatively
new. are being put into successful exc
cution this Surnrser. The Navy Depart
ment has called in its moving-p.cture
SHOWS. of which 1t had q number "on
the road as an adjunct to its so re-
cruitins stations and to its various sub
stations. Even the flaming billboard
posters, familiar in most cities. are re-
tanned chiefly for the purpose of ac-
quainting inquirers with the fact that
the Boston recruiting Office is at Sc
Hanover street. the New York station
at 81 South street, and so on across
and up and down the country The
humble and unpretentious want ADJ
in the daily newspa pers, which the
Government insists on having at the
top of first column under the caption
Help Wanted-Male." has been tried
by the Navy Department, and found
most effective. Such advertisements
are now the chief reliance of recruiting
officers for bringing in would-be Jack
les The Army, however. still sticks to
the park and public square" method,
which. its recruiting officers say. is IN
surpassed for its results, and which,
they predict. will eventually be adopt
ed by the web-footed service
The park and public square" plan
Of enticins young Americans to the
colors consists. as many people know,
in sending two or three non-commis-
stoned Army officers to the parks and
public squares of cities with ADVERTISE
ments which call attention to the at
fractions of Army life. The idlers and
other leisure folk there are prompted
to questions which lead many to the
recruiting Offices. -. -,-a
Army men are no more enthusiastic
over that method of getting men into
infantry and cavalry regiments and
into coast artillery companies than
Navy officers are over the want ad.
The latter was adopted after VERY care
full inquiry. 1t was ascertained from
the recruits at training stations that
IS per cent of these men read the want
ads of newspapers, whether they are
out of employment or not When the
want ad had been used in this way for
awhile questions were put to the re-
cruits at the naval training stations as
to how they had been persuaded to
enter the service. The answers showed
that so per cent had come because of
the little advertisements. That settled
the policy of the recruiting officers for
the Navy To he sure some men are
"circularized'' into the Navy still, but
only small per cent of the nuul5er
who come under the lure of ZIP
Wanted-Male'
The Circular Method.
The 'circularizing'' process is an in
teresting one The Navy Department
secures reliable lists of preachers,
teachers and others. likely to have
many young men under observation
Letters by the hundreds are sent out
TO them. setting forth the advantages
that the Navy offers for the. employment
of such men. Thousands of names are
received in reply. and the Department
sends out an equal number of multi
graph circular letters to the youth thus
recommended. The letters are skilfully
written. so as to seem as nearly per-
sonal as possible. The recruits secured
in this way are very satisfactory. They
are men of fixed addresses and not
fioaters.
The Navy is recruiting twice as many
men this year as last. but the Midsum-
mer progress in getting the necessary
thousands indicates that there will be
no difficulty in elIistiHg the Navy up to
its authorized strength. 1t comprises
about 10000 men now, not including
5000 marines. and in the course of
eight or 10 months viii he up to 44,590.
The weekly recruiting reports now
are showing total of about S75 men.
which means u net gain, after filling
vacancies from expiration of enlist
mcnts, of about 200 week. These
come from all over The country. altho
a very desirable class of Navy recruits
continue to come from the farming
sections of the West One of the latest
recruiting reports for week showed
that the several large cities. where the
central stations are located. were fur
nishing men for the Navy as follows:
Boston. 81; New York, SO: Phladel-
phia, %: baltimore. z: Pittsburg. IS:
Buffalo, 10; Cincinnati. IA; Indianapo-
lis. Al: Cleveland. >: Detroit, -: Chi
cago. 30: Minnca polls. 4 St Louis, 20:
Chattanooga, Q: New Orleans, 5: Ou1a-
ha. 3; Kansas City. q; Oklahoma City.
8: Dallas, ~; Denver, 9; Los Angeles,
&C.
Very few of the men enlisted from
these stations and some S0-odd sub
stations have seen previous service. The
navy yards handle most of the re-en-.
liStments. The requirements now are
stricter than ever. Physical Qualifica-
lions are more severe. ana every enlist
I'd Jackie must be a full-fedged Amer
lean citizen. II does not suffice that. il
foreisn-born he has taken, out his first
papers.
Steady Increase
The increase in enlistmentS has been
steady in recent months. which fact
the recruiting officers are ut loss to
eXplain. They say it Is not entirely
iue to the unusual number of uncm-
Dfoyed. This increase was first notice.
ible in May, for the last week of which
month the Navy recruiting stations re-
ted 241 new men. The larger pay
'orized by the last session of Con-
src.-S had something to do with it. An.
additional SIS a month makes the SER
vice more attractive. as both Army and
Navy recruiting officers agree But an
frD tx-ifp,