The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-09-04

the elds. and with harvest time
well advanced this entire farming
section Will soon be turned into an
American camp"
In one Of the fields where we stop
ped to see the men, two battalions
of 500 men each. just marched In
and We're preparing to pitch their
tents The great stretch Of pioughed
ground. just cleared of grain. was
rain soaked, and the storm had set
in for the night. The men stood
ready, each with a half of a shelter
tent, to drive the stakes and lash
1t against the elements, and then
crawl in. 1t seemed an endless wait
for all the formalities of laying out
the camp with engineering exact
ness. yet all OF this was essential
to the smooth running OF such a
large concern. At last the stakes
were driven and soon the great field
was dotted with thousands of little
mans waist, called pup tents by
the soldiers probably because they
look like dog houses. Under the
tent there is just room for two lying
down, and il the ground is soaked
as it is tonight, the rubber pauncho
Keeps out some of the water and
kindly nature and the iron of youth
must do the rest. -
Only One Of Hundreds.
This was only one typical camp of
the hundreds lining the roads for
miles in this vast reception camp.
Field kitchens and water carts were
wheeling up to all the camps as the
tents went up. Filtered water is
brought in hogsheads and each COM
mand has its apportioned lot of
hogsheads. Later on there will be
a splendid water system OF water
mains for the whole camp. But here
are the men, and water system is
of waiting for 12-inch mains, the
primitive hogshead is filling the gap.
Each man carries his emergency ra-
ton for three days. Some of them
were nibbling it before climbing into
their pup tents. but most of them
waited for the smoking field kitchen
to get into action with its cooks,
serving out hot coffee and hot soup
and meat. The item of feeding an
army with precision is in itself
gigantic task. A-.
1--WE served 1,s0O,Ooo meals last
month, said Major *" or 500, 900
army rations of three meals to the
ration"
And besides all the feeding and
watering and sanitation there Is the
immense +"paper work" of such an
organization. There are 1928 separ-
ate organizations in the $4,000 men
just arrived. Each Of the 128 must
be sorted out and brought together,
and every individual soldier Of the
$4,000 must be identified and must
have his detail to one of the sectors
Of the fighting front. This paper
work as it is called, is prodigious.
and like everything military 1t must
be done with absolute precision. And
the paper work calls for paper,
which is very hard to get.
Map On. Brown Paper. -,
when headquarters called for
map of the camp the other day."
said the Major" they got it ALI right,
on the gonly paper which could be
found, which was brown wrapping
paper. But it was a good map, and
the wrapping paper map of the big
American camp will go into the
archives" -.
When taps sounded tonight every
man of this $4,000 was under can
vas, although this morning every
man had been afloat. It was the
record accomplishment in landing,
for while one body of arrivals had
been large, $4,000. the landing had
taken the best part Of two days,
whereas this hugh transfer was IN
the daylight hours of the first day.
And right on top of it." said the
general tonight, zone ship is arriy-
ing with $4,000 more men, and then
another flotilla of transports and
then another Icy
Thus this gigantic influx of armed
men goes on steadily and unceasing-
ly, on record time, with little or no
confusion. each man and organiza-
ton being cared for. and accounted
for as. they move forward to the
front, and all of the huge enterprise
Of docking, landing, transporting
and camping, with all their Infinite
details, created out of practically
nothing within the last ten months.