Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-10-30
SELECTED MEN
EAGER TO FIGHT
Do Not Care What Their Job
Is, So They Get to
France Quickly

Washington, Oct. 30.-Most of the
young men called for service in the
National Army want to go to France
as fighting men and they want to get
there quickly.
Reports from five or six of the big
training camps, Secretary Baker an
nounced, showed that when asked
what they want 70 do the great ma
jority of the selected men say they
don't care what their job is to be
just so they get to France among the
first, and then when given choice
between the combatant and nom
combatant branches most of them
elect to be fighters.
Boys Are All Right
The boys at the front and getting
ready to go there are all right" is
the verdict of the Secretary who re-
Gently visited several training camps
in the East and South.
Our nation need have nothing but
mounting pride at the spectacle they
present.
I'm these camps" said Mr.. Bakers
statement, each man is asked:
What do you want to do?' l have
had reports from five or six of the
largest camps and they show that the
majority answered in effect: I don't
care what L do so l get to France
among the first The next question
asked them is: What branch of the
service do you prefer" Now, one
who didn't know America would eX-
pect them to say: Well, l have been
working in a store I have been n
hand on a farm 1 have been a
mechanic I have been a clerk L
don't know much about guns and
cannon, perhaps some one of the
noncombatant places is the place
where l can render the best service
But what is the fact?
They Want to Fight
"These sons and brothers, drawn
onc-third have asked to go into the
infantry service. The next choice is
the light artillery; the next is the
heavy artillery service; the next is
the aviation service.
SO that what they asked for in a
tremendously predominating major
ity of instances is, not the noncom-
batant service for which their pre-
vious experience might well qualify
them, but the fighting branch, so
that they can take the risk of fighting
for their country with the real weap-
ons of war. The boys at the front
and getting ready to go are all right.
Our nation need have nothing but
mounting pride at the spectacle they
present"
Every Mans Life History
The gathering of information as to
the mems preference for service is
but a small part of the work of
classifying the National Army men
that is being carried on under the
direction of the Committee on Classi-
fication of Personnel in the Army.
Virtually the life history of every
man is set down by means of an
elaborate card system, the original
being sent to the divisional head
quarters, where a division personnel
officer studies the answers given and
classifies the selected man according
to his capabilities. The other copy
is kept in the company records.
Questions asked include extent of
schooling, what foreign languages
the men speak, their preference as to
branch of service, whether married
or single, what was their previous
trade, job or occupation, name of
last employer, wage received, and in
what work they have been most pro-
ficient.
1t is within the province of the
personnel officer to recommend
transfers from one comapny to an
other to fill up deficiencies in expert
men, such as gunsmiths and the like.