Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1917-12-14
MAGNITUDE OF ARMY
Splendid Progress Eiade IL Pre-
paNHKlfor War

For the FIRST time since the decla-
-FatiOn Of war have we been able to
give to the public complete detail
Of the organization and development
Of the army Of the United States, .
said Rutledge Smith, Chairman State
Council Of Defense.
How will the war be won With
sirplanes, says one man. With big
guns, says another. With ships,
says a third. With some startling
new invention, says fourth.
And all the time everybody knows
that il the war is won il win be won
by everyday heroes of the
ranks, and plenty Of them.
OF such the United States posses
scs now one million three hundred
and sixty thousand These are the
lighters, in this total the auxiliary
forces are unrepresented.
Most Of them are still in the train
ing camps. Not all Of them as yet
are disciplined troops, fully equipped
and armed for battle.
But there they are, 100000 of
&henl. called to the colors and enrolled
Already they are one of the biggest
Factors Hindenburg is reckoning with
for the campaign Of 1918,
When Great Britain entered the!
war it was with "a much smaller
amy. The First Expeditisaa1y Tioreell
numbered barely a hundred thousand.
The Kaiser called it cortemptiblei
little army. Yet without its gallant
work at Mons, Paris might have been
taken by the Germans. One humid
red thousand men, and the encourage
ment they brought to the hard press |
"a French, were enough to avert |
defeat in the first year Of the var.
It Isl the hope of the Allies that |
another new force, ten or twenty |
times as great, may be enough in the |
fourth year Of the war to assure vic
tory.
OF the new American force over
100000 men are Reulars. In all
che world only two reular armies re-
main, the American and the japanese.
The others have all been swept away
in the field Of war When the first
American onslaught takes place, Ger
man Landwehr and Landsturm troops
will find themselves opposed to an
army of professional soldiers.
Behind the Regulars are the 400,-
400 soldiers of the National Guard
Regulars in experience, many of them
thanks to our neighbor to the South.
After the Guard come the 100000
men of the new National Army,
This is the force that has grown
in eight months out Of the afn,y-)that
On April Rusabered only 100000 men.
There will soon be as many COM
misioned officers in the new army as
there were privates at the beginning
Of the war. After the first training
camps the number of officers was
100000 1t had been 10000 at the |
start Of the war. The second train
ing camps may raise the total to
100, 900, and a third series Of camps
will begin work in January
Altogether, officers and men, the
land forces Of America number not
far from a million and half COM
batants.
The huge size Of the armies operat-
ing in Europe has somewhat dulled
sur minds to the meaning of a million
and a half of men. It is as if the en-
tire population Of the State of South
Carolina, or of the State Of Nebraska
men, women and children, were
to be converted into young
men clad in olive drab and organized
INTO companies and battalions.
Crowd this force into passenger
coaches, nearly one hundred to the
coach, and $4,000 coaches would be
necessary to transport them. Fifteen
hundred ten car trains would be call
ID into service. AS many more trains
would be required to convey their
Equipment and supplies for short
ieriod.