The Washington times., 1917-12-02

The creation of q citizen army OF half
asminion msn, q hoatiag population OF
peaceful -youths, who had little or no
tnon5edge Of the war game. has ap-
psSred 10 lhe people Of this country a.
20 sthpendous a task. says the Scientific
Amsrfcan. that they have scarcely
needed the greatest Of the Gov
ernmenf,s aehIevementsii In prsparing
eantonment5 for the accommodation Of
the army. This work had to BE- done
from The selection Of the ground up With
In thres months. Under the Government
sixteen c4ties, with all proyision for car
ing for from 500 to 1000 men each In
modern scientific fashion, have arisen.
one In each Of the military districts into
which the country Is divided
Z The work was done under the 4coun-
Il " National Dsfsnse thFppEh. the
cona1mittes ron emergency eoAstruction..
ths chairman Of which was Aai6r W. A
starfstG Colossal Isaac w. Little. Of the
ouarfermastsr,s Department 7 of the,
army. took charge OF the plans with.
An once forca Of 200 men The Aneri-'
can Institute sof Architects prepared
lists of contractors, who set 10 build
ing on an arrangement allowing them
fromi 6 ITO 10 per cent proit as soon as
ne aitss had been selected BY the gen
sral star Of the army.
/, "a zTeIIs sG canD DersnS.
ssssBy way Of Illustrating what the
building Of these eontonments
means, we have selected the FIRST of
the camps to be started and finished.
namely, Camp Devens at Aver. Mass.
The selection Of the site was recon-
mended on Nay 26. work was start
ed op June Z and the camp. which
can accommodate $1,000 men, was
completed within three months
time. The camp Is situated aboat
one mile and . half from the rail-
way station At Aver, and the site
Of rolling country, with. q
sand and gravel surface covered
with q growth OF timber.
"a survey was made and reported
Immediately. The contractor aud
the contracting quartermaster went
to the site together and started the
surveyors driving the stakes where
the main points would be. Through
the prompt activities of the lumber
which has done most ex-
cellent work In the matter of regu-
latIng prices and getting deliveries
on time, and with the aid OF the
railroads, deliveries began to arrive
carly at the site. and the contractor
started In throwing up
sheds for storage. A working force,
which ultimately increased to over
1000 msn, was quickly gathered to-
gether. . branch line railroad was
run on to the site, and very quickly
the whole vast work was swinging
along in well-ordered activity.
Magnitude Of Purchases.
''The following list serves to give
an impression, OF the magnitude of
the purchasing, transportation and
constructive operations involved in
building q cantchment Of this size
in the short space Of time allotted:
Length OF camp ....2 miles
Breadth OF camp. ....1h miles
Number of buildings. ], 500
Roads !aid.... 20 miles
Electric wiring .......,4 400 miles
Heating pipes. 80 miles
shower paths. ................2,3 900
Lumber used. ...24, 1000 900 50. It.
Maximum men employed per
uay '...'..'.... ...... :. .9,17o
Capacity for officers and men, $1,000
Just here we would like to say a
word on the question OF prices, and
emphatically refute the wild rumors
which some. unfriendly influence,
quite possibly the enemy propaganda.
has disseminated. to the effect that
e~horbitant prices were being paid
for material and labor. and particu
larly the latter. Sufficient refutatIon
OF this II found in the fact that these
camps were built, as we have al
ready indicated, by the biggest and
most reliable and experienced con-
tracing firms of the country; and
they were built upon A basis Of per-
eentase, which In cases OF the larger
reduced the ultimate net
pront OF the contractor. after figuring
his overhead, to about 81 per cent.
Labor Well Paid.
Now the question of labor and
prices was determined not by the
Government but by these contractors
themselves, and It was based upon
tne prevailing rates which they are
accustomed to pay on any of their
large contracting Jobs. We know
that II is the prevailing law that la
oor which works more than eight
houfs day must be paid for time