The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-01-25

days and during the week furnishes
programs for the boys.
When Elk Present Taft spoke there
the building was crowded with thou
sands of soldiers, as the officers is
sued orders and the men were march
ed into the building in military style.
The Y. M. c. A. has ten buildings at
Camp Dodge, and about six men to
each building, including an athletic
director, making possibly sixty Y. M.
C. A. workers in the camp.
Knights of Columbus have their
main building in the civic center, and
have two other buildings in the camp.
There are three fire departments in
Camp Dodge, and the fire chief has
his headquarters in the civic center.
There are paved streets in the civic
center, telephone exchange and a
A big government theatre
is being built, capable of seating
many thousands of people. Here
the best of shows will be given, and
the soldiers will pay about fifteen
cents a seat to see the highest priced
shows.
Theatres Are Busy.
There are already three big thea
tres at the camp, and they. are al
ways busy. The Y M. C. A. Hos
tess House, now being completed
will be the finest building at the
camp, and fills a long felt want.
Camp Dodge is about twelve miles
northwest of Des Moines, and the
eight miles of Main street is paved
all the way through the camp. There
are about fourteen miles of dirt road,
which become very muddy at times.
The camp is about four miles long,
and there are enough buildings to
accommodate about forty-fve thou
sand men, on territory of about a
thousand acres The entire reServa-
ton covers about four thousand
acres, and there are about two thou
sand buildings. The camp was built
in hurry and sprung up as if by
magic. Rev Moss told the follow
ing story, which was vouched for as
true.
On the day the camp was being
built a farmer living near a little
place called Herold started in his cal
for Des Moines at s a. m. While
there he was asked if he didn't think
the new army camp would extend
almost to his property. He replied
that he didn't think so, and said that
they were building, but the opera
lions were quite a distance from Her.
old When he came home at 500 he
found the army camp had already
reached his doors. The number Of
men at the camp is a secret of the
army, and is variously estimated al
from twenty-five thousand to eight
thousand. The camp is expecting
many more thousands of soldiers tt
arrive soon.
Eight hours before they start fol
France or some other point is abou
the length of time which is given thu
boys to get ready when they are mott
fled. An officer will some in and cal
out list of names, telling them tt
get ready within eight or ten hours
and that is all the notice the men get
Regiments are broken up and oil
friends are parted by these orders
Rev. Moss explained that this wa
probably done for wise reasons.
an entire regiment should be wipet
|out by the enemy it would cause ter.
Tribe sorrow to the community tina
lost all of it's boys. But if the mem
bers of the regiment were picket
from widely different localities j
would not seem so terrible as thu
burden would not fall entirely upol
lone community.
Visits to the Sick.
Rev. Moss told of his visits to thu
sick at the base hospital which ac
commodities about 2 thousand pa
tients. The hospital has a larg
corps of doctors and about sixty Re,
Cross nurses. He also told of mum
Der of other notable places in tn
camp including the station wher
the horses and mules were kept, re
lquiring about 266 men to take car
of them. He explained that eac
regiment at camp had it's own head
quarters buildings,an that down tn
main part of the camp are five row
of barracks, each building accOmmO
dating about two hundred men. TIL
barracks are heated with furnaces O
the first and second floors, and tn
men apparently do not suffer froT
tcold The boys like monographs an
lin the brotherhood building phonO
graph music is going all the time
He described some of the drills, in
lcluding the bayonet drill, and tol
how the soldiers were trained in diff
lferent ways. He spoke of the fin
lbread made in the government bak
Iery at the camp, and explained thu
levery building at Camp Dodge ha
been built by the government.
Spent BY Lutheran Brotherhood.
! The Lutheran brotherhood had pal
1.-THE government $4,000 for the
building and have spent about $1,0(
flor equipment. Military training, /
! held, was a fine thing for any youn
imam.
1--WE are going to stay right wit
the boys said Rev. Moss I'VE al
going to follow them to France, an
have already rented large hotel
Paris" He then asked for the CT
operation of the mems society of Il
church with the Lutheran Brother
hood, as the church must support Il
work. He also urged that the pei
pie send jellies to his headquarte
at the camp for distribution amor
7 the boys, who seldom got sweets
eat, unless they received boxes
: mothers cooking" fro mhome
Y the conclusion of his talk Rev. No
!, answered number of questions fro
e interested people in the audienc
The program closed with the sin;
: ing of America" by the audience.
: Young men of the congregatit
Incur in tho TJnifa1 Cfofoc cnru;oo =