The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-08-22

$ FOR MANY MEN
What 1t Takes to Make a Permanent
Camp-Big Money in City of
Columbia.
: Extracts from an interesting story
by August Kohn in The Sunday
News:
"Camp Jackson, under present
plans will be the homie of more male
adults than there are in the cities of
Charleston, Columbia, Greenville,
Spartanburg, Sumter and Orange
burg thrown in for good measure.
Hardly believe this, do you? Figure
the total population of these six
cities at 100000 and divide by five,
the average male adult to the family,
and you have $4,000 voters. There
are to be over $4,000 in camp at Co.
lumbia, the official figures assign 49,
215 men to the cantonment here!
Measure by dollars. The camp
complete is to cost close to $5,000,-
900. Five million dollars is not
much in these war times, but it cas-
ily represents the wealth of counties,
as expressed in the tax reports.
Groceries and Gasoline.
Figure the food bill. The grocery
bill paid by Uncle Sam for the eat
ables for single day at "Camp
Jackson" will run over $4,000. Com
pare this $4,000 of grocery bills for
a day with yours.
The horses and mules-eXclusive
of the remount station, will eat near
ly $1,000 worth of food each and
every day.
Why the gasoline and repair bills
for the motor trucks and automobiles
at the Columbia camp is $720 per day
The wood used for cooking will
cost $50 per day.
Then the ice bill is the snug little
sum of $240 every day, and perhaps
more on ice cream day-Sunday.
@ The pay rdll for the soldiers, when
in camp here, will average over two
and half and three millions of dol
lars-this is exclusive of the living
expenses.
Eight weeks ago the terrain was
all there was to "Camp Jackson"
Today there are hundreds and hun
dreds of buildings finished, miles of
water and sewerage mains, miles of
steam railroad tracks and more than
ten thousand workmen with the
backing of Uncle Sam, finishing this
wonder city for the more than 49,
900 young white men who are soon
to 60 in training to make future SOL
diers of the nation. 1t was my for
tune to be able to make complete
tour of the camp, to ride through
the battalion streets, to follow the
new roadways, to inspect the new
hospital, to view the rows of store
buildings, to study the development,
and as a result it can be truly said,
the forces in charge have worked
wonders, and that the cantonment
will be reday for the drafted soldiers
when they begin to arrive here next
month.
A Permanent Camp.
Now there are permanent canton
ments and tent camps. Columbia, At
lanta and Little Rock have the three
permanent camps in the South
there are sixteen in the United States
There are as many tent camps. In
the permanent camps, such as the
one here, everything is under cover,
The men eat, sleep and rest under
cover. The barracks are about one
hundred and fifty feet long, fifty
feet wide, two stories or about thir-
ty feet high. The kitchen and eat
ing rooms are attached and each of
these barracks will quarter two hun
dred privates. The buildings are all
of pine with waterproof roof, and
novelty weather-boarding. All win
dows are screened; ample staircases
are provided, and the structures are
ample in every way. Near by are the
officers one-story structures, and de-
tached in single-story frame build
ings are the shower baths and toilets.
Paymaster Hill in charge of the
paying has a dozen pay windows and
last pay day 1000 men were paid
off in less than an hour. This pay roll
does not represent those paid by