Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-09-08
CAMP LEE NOW HAS
1900 NEW RECRUITS
Men From Pennsylvania and
West Virginia Arrive
in Droves.
SYSTEM is WELL ORGANIZED
Some Confusion Caused by Fail
ure of Local Boards to Send
Proper Papers.
SYSTEM is WELL ORGANIZED

4
entire quota OF 1900 recruits was in
barracks. Throughout the day men
from Pennsylvania and West Virginia
arrived in drovcs. for all but few OF
Nirsinia's men had reported between
Wednesday morning and Thursday
night.
| Thanks to the perfection of the sys-
| tenn for receiving the men, this great
! number Of recruits was transferred
from civil life to the new National
Army with no trouble save that caused
by the local boards of registration
who failed to comply with the instruc-
tions for forwarding the proper papers
issued by the War Department at
! Washington.
J There may be some documents in the
! department, but certainly there are
| none in the sixteen cantonments spread
| throughout the country. more impor-
/ tant than Form l64-A. which contains
| the list of names from each division
and is certified by the chairman Of the
| registration board. And on this form.
| the most important column or all is
that headed Date Ordered to Report"
meaning the date ordered to report
! before the local board to be shipped
to Camp Lee.
MUST SEND IN PAPERs
PROPERLY FILLED OUT
And the reason for it's Importance
| Is that II is on this date that the
army history Of every one of the re.
cruits for the new National Army be-
| gins. Until this date the United States
took no official cognizance even of the
existence of each prospective recruit.
! II Is from this date that the pay Of
each soldier begins. and 1t is from this
| date that the chief mastering officer
! credits debts each local reGistra-
| tion board with the number Of men
forwarded to Camp Lee. or whatever
OF the other camps may be the mobili-
| cation point.
| Consequently. 1t Is incumbent upon
the chairman Of the registration boards
/ to send Form 164-A. with the second
column properly filled out. If they
send no other papers. Indeed. sft
| would make very little matter If the
! other papers were not sent for tho
men must undergo physical examina-
| tion when they enter camp. and tho
| local boards physical cards and pink
| registration cards can easily be done
! without. But failure to send Form
l64-A prevents the quota from any
division from being accepted at tho
camp. necessitates much telegraphins
| between the chief mastering officer
and the delinquent local boards ana
compels the government 10 keep the
men in camp with practically no status
| whatsoever.
EIGHTY MEN IN CAMP
| WITHOUT CREDENTIALS
AT present there are some eighty
men held in barracks who came with
out Form 164A. While they have been
assigned to the different regimenta,
barracks according to the counties
| from which they came. they are sim
ply cluttering up the camp pending
the arrival of the missing papers. and
losing the drilling through which the
other men are already being put.
! The largest single body of recruits
came in about noon yesterday. having
been brought to Petersburg by a spe-
cial train of eight cars over the Nor
folk and Western Railway. They came
from Pennsylvania. numbered 266 men,
and were assigned to Regiments 319
and $50. Among them were some
twenty splendidly set-up chaps who
had been drafted from the PennsyI-
vania Railroad.
| 4 curious situation has developed in
regard to Prince George County, whose
| quota arrived at Camp Lee on We'd
nesday eleven men short. Yesterday
morning the chairman Of the local
board at HopeweH called upon Chief
mastering Officer Colonel Fitzhugh Lee
and told him that he had been riding
around the county for three days and
| nights trying to find the missing men
The chairman said that when the call
first came. thirty splendid chaps had
| on Cd ripa
Soon however. orders came from Ad-
jutant-General Sale not to send the
original thirty. but 10 draft another
thirty This was done-and when the
time came for them to report at Camp
Lee only nineteen showed up
| The situation is further complicated
by the fact that the population of
| Prince George County is normally
about 1000. Since the esta ablishmcnt
| OF the Du Pont powder concern at
| Hopewell. however. the population has
70 increased that when Registration
! Day came last June the county's quota
| was 500. MANY Of the Du Pont en-
ployecs are citizens OF States other
! than Virgin!a-and hundreds are con-
stantly coming and goinE-so that
when the missing registered men can
not be found. 1t behooves the local
board to go out and dig UP bona fide
citizens to make up the requisite num-
bcr.
VIRGINIA DoYs ARE
| FORMED IN REGIMENTS
The Virginia boys in Regiments 317
and ais. who came with proper papers.
are already hard at drill. Companies
A and e OF both regiments have been
flied. and officers assigned to them as
follows: at, Colonel Jameson. Cam
pany A-Captain John w. James; First
Lieutenants J. w. Craddock. Jr.. S. L.
Hamilton. George B. Reid: Second
Lieutenants H. W. Fink. N. n. AM
carrow and Boiling H. Handy. Com
pany E-!Captain p. NJ. Timmons; First
i - (Continued on SECOND Pagel ~ "a