The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-04

ing steps have been taken in the last A hours to put the United States in readiness for war with Germany:
 1. The War Department completed plans for raising an army of l,240,- 00Q within the next few months The plans call for mobilization of 5OO,O0O men under compulsory universal training and for filling the National Guard to it's full war strength of 44O,OOO and the regular army to 3O0,- 900 under the provisions of the Ma tional Defense Act.
 2. Secretary Baker ordered the graduation of the first class of West Point .adets, numbering 125, on April 20 to meet in part the shortage of of- ticers in the army.
 3. The Council of National Defense laid plans for the formation of a Commercial Economy Board to mob- ilize the commercial interests of the country for effective economical dis tribution of commodities among the civil population.
 4. The Navy Department practical ly completed plans for spending the $133, 3,000,000 now available.
 5. Leaders of Congress in informal conferences agreed that most of the cost of the war should be borne by the present generation under sonic system of imme ediate taxation.
 6. Senator Chamberlain of Oregon introduced his amended universal mill itary training bill It calls for the compulsory training of about 100000 men of 20 years of age each year and, in the Presidents discretion, many thousands more up to 23 years of age.
 For the Larger Army.
 The bill drafted by the General Staff of the army is ready for intro- duction in Congress but probably will not be sent to the Capitol until after a joint resolution declaring war has passe1 It includes a plan for train ing a,s many increm ents of 5O0,OOO men each as may be required by the war. The number may run as high as 5.000.000.. although military ex- perts are not now figuring that far ahead.
 President Wilson will have full au- thority to resort to the draft" pro- vision of the National Defense act to develop the national guard up to it's
 
 the ircruments of the regular army. it is also believed that the General Staff's bill contains provision up- der which men may enlist in the reg ular army for the duration of the war; This provision may also be extended to the national guard and would have virtually the same effect as a call for volunteers.
 The army experts estimate 1t will require about four months to register the young men of any given age which Congress may designate for se- lection in the first call under compul- sorry universal service. After tho registration is completed it will not tae long to mobilize the first 500,000.
 It was made clear that 5O0.O00 is nowhere near the limit needed and that it is expected that more than 500, ,00G available may 1e fou1.d in the first classification.
 Maximum and minimum age limits for the first cass are fixed in the Administration plan, but will not be made public until it is presented to Congress. In recent discussions a minimum of Is years and a maximum of 23 years have been mentioned.
 As soon as the first 500,0O0 Is we'll started in training, the second will be called out. It is expected that the shortage of officers will be con- siderably reduced with the incoming of large numbers of men into the regular army and the National Guard and that other officers will quickly de- velop among the 500,000 national army recruits. At present not more than 10000 officers can be mustered, which would take care of about 800,- 900 men.
 Those With Dependents Exempt.
 The War Department announced that National Guardsrnen with de- pendent families will be mustered out of the Federal service, and has in- stlNcted department commanders to tha2 effect. Some guardsmen who came back from service on the Mexi- can border and have been again call- ed into Federal service are found to have relatives solely dependent ,on them. The department ruled that these men also must be mustered out.
 The department was informed of the organization of a cavalry regi- ment of Rough Riders by South Texas cowboys, ranchmen and farmers to be ready when President Wilson calls for volunteers.
 The plans of the Navy Department include the spending of $3,000,0O0 at the New York navy yard for the con- structDn of facilities for capital ship building including additional ways, shops and storage plants. This will come out of the $18,000,000 appro- priation for equipment of navy yards. At Portsmouth, N. H., facilities will be provided for continuous cOnstruc- ton of ten submarines at time, At Philadelphia approximately $6,000, 900 will be spent for ways and shops.
 In Other Navy Yards.
 At Norfolk new ways and shops will be authorized at a cost of about $5,000,000. A smaller amount will be given to the Puget Sound yard, and a sufficient amount will be allowed to the yard at Mare Island. The Charleston, S. C., yard will be re- fitted at considerable expense for the construction of destroyers and auxil- iaries.
 Of the $115,060,000 emergency ap- propriation SIG, 100000 has been set aside for the use of Capt. Henry B. Wilson in organizing the mosquito fleet' of submarine chasers and light patrol craft for inshere work. De- partment experts are also working on a plan for shipbuilding in the Great Lakes district. About 100 yards have already been examined.
 Tha Nauu Dnno rt m cfs,t ic oynaotod