The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-09-04

DlGCtl DCoO3 ollu ~ 1llOSiSA IL AlCUuil
will accommodate $4,000 men.
and carpenters are still busy Ell
When they are finished 1se com
pany barracks, IA officers barracks
and mum other structures total
ing 500, will stand on the site, which
is one of the most beautiful in New
England. Every precaution to safe
gfard the health of the men has been
taken and the camp sanitation speaks
eloquently for the genius of persons
who laid the plans for the training
station.
The cantonment Is ready for New
Engaand's contribution to the Army of
Democracy.
That single statement is the story
u of the biggest achievement this coun-
try has even seen in construction OF
such nature, accomplished at speed
undreamed Of an achievement tre-
r11euSfous eupugla to be beyena the
belief Of any who have not watchea
with their own Dyes the creation of
wooden city of barrack homes for
46 .0o9 on sandy hillsldes and fields
which were covered with scrub
growth and trees. untenanted,. scarce
ly broken by wood roads, nine weeks
ago
They switched on the electric
lights for the first time Thursday
night, and out Of the darkness flashed
dream city, man made magic,
thousands Of windows blinking into
existence, a. bright vision rolling
back over the hills like a dozen-ter-
raced Coney Islands. ~
New England had beaten the rest
Of the country; its cantonment had
raced to a finish ahead of the other
Is in the speed contest started by
the War Department last June
Before next Sunday more than 1000
men, the first per cent will be
housed at Camp Devans, the first to
get into the New England division OF
the National Army, the first to, go
into training in Americas new way.
A<civilian army has built the home
for a soldier army. It was a civilian
Job. That is the story. The hnitless
possibilities of American brains. bust
ness organization, labor organization
American mechanical devices, Ameri-
can materials from forests and facto-
/ ries, American transportation and
above af1-American push.
And it is a triumph for youth, too
because the general manager on the
job day in and day out, directing the
whole undertaking for the Fred T. Ley
Co. Of Springfield, is an executive sc
young that he had to register under
the draft law. Frank B. Rogers.
He was called by the Springfield Sc
lection Board last week and passed the
tests; but the Government will pre-
sumb1y see other reasons than his de-
pendent for not calling him into the
ranks He is 80 years old, and a large
number of his staff with big jobs are
technical school graduates of about
| the same age. Z
Mad he done this job for the French
| Government, Springfield folks might
be telling in few weeks a story SINH
| lar to that passed around in large
Boston grocery store a few weeks ago
| 1t was of a frequent visitor, whole
sale liquor salesman, who strolled IN
| one day displaying a French war med
| al on his waistcoat. and when they
| asked the why of it he explained thai
he had filled an order for the French
| Government SO promptly and so salts
factorily that they bestowed the wal
! medal
| But the American Government
| uOeSH p6SIOW WdI IhCSdAc oAIOAis dAAo
never on civilians; and there were nc
ceremonies in taking over the canton
\ nent from it's builders.
The army Of workn1en, which has
numbered 5000 and more during the
last few weeks, started moving out
Tuesday at the rate of 500 or more q
day. and the Plattsburg officers and
the divisional staff have moved into
| the building without a word.
| Nor has this army Of workmen hat
words wasted on it; 1t has come work
ed without days iayoff for the whole
nine weeks, in most cases; taken its
fat pay enveiopes-last weeks payroll
was 1S3,o00-lived in the wooder
sheds which will be burned down
probably. within a few weeks and /:
looking now for other jobs.
| AS mixed a crowd of 5000 worker,
as you could imagine 1t has been un
commonly free from labor troubles
and it is not tap much to think tina
more than a. few Of them knew some
thing about patriotism as well as pay
Their bit is nearly 500 building