The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1917-09-15
By EDWARD A. EVANS,
(Staff Correspondent for The Tribune
Touring the National Cantonments
and National Guard Camps)

Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville,
KY, Sept. l5.-"Give us few months
of training and we'll make the best
army in the world"
Private Davis Eli of West Frank,
fordii, Ill, was talking. Surrounded
by q handful of other southern Illinois
boys, he was seated on grassy hill
side in this training camp
Photographer Dorman and stop.
ped, our attention caught by Private
Ellis words. They came as near to
bOmbast, to Dragging, as anything we
had heard from a member of the new
national army.
TO me, one of the remarkable
things about this army is the lack
of braggadOcio. started on this trip
expecting to hear much on-tO-Rerlin,
Observation-Disclosures talk. heard
none of it at Camp Sherman, in Ohio
I've heard none of it here.
Private Davis Eli was very much
in earnest.
I'll tell you why this selective ser
vice army is going to be world
beater," he continued.
"It's because it's made up of just
average Americans. Were not West
Pointers. Most of us never intended
to be soldiers. But we're not loafers
or slackers, just good. average Ameri-
cans. And the average American is
the best man in the world"
We had further proof that Private
Davis ELI means business, an hour
later, when we saw him behind one
of the mess halls, scraping Justify at
Il grease-cOated cooking vessel
'"This is a new job for me- he said
grinning lack home I'm lawyer
scraped, quite as much as the way he
had talked, convinced me that Private
ELI and the thousands of others like
him among the per cent of the selec-
tive service soldiers already in the
camps which dot the country will rise
high in what he calls this "army of
averages
Officers tell me that most of these
first men to the camps will be cor
porals and sergeants- and later.
probaly, lieutenants and captains.
1t was raining when we reached
Camp Taylor, a slow dr.zle that turn
cd the Kentucky clay to a slippery,
foot-tangling mess. But the new SOL
diers seemed happy.
81 reckon veal amt agoing to
kick" drawled a Kentucky mountain
eer, in breathing spell allowed him
between drill. "We're here, and
we're here to stay. The way l see it,
there amt much we can do but grin
and take what's comm to us.
They tell here at the camp of one
youngster, scion of proud bluegrass
who baked at washing utensils
But he saw, after little talk from
the lieutenant of his company. And
he washed with will, plunging to the
elbows in steamy dishwater.
The new army, as we saw it today,
is still an army of motley garb. Uni
forms haven't been issued yet and the
men are still wearing the assortment
of clothing in which they came to
camp.
But the routine of camp days, be-
ginning with reveille at 5:45 a. N. and
ending with taps at $3.50 p. m., is de-
veloping in them a wholesome respect
for discipline They're learning to
obey orders. and to obey them with
snap and vim.
On the camps daily schedule find
the hours from 7:30 a. IN. to 1l:3o
a. M, and from p. m. to p. m. set
apart for drill. That means long per
iOds of marching on weary feet; long
periods of back-racking bending, back
ward and forward, backward and for
ward. But all that is very necessary
and very important.
And there are plentiful hours for
recreation Desks in the green build
ings of the Young Mems Christian
Continued CT Page six.)