The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-07-31
When Tommy Goes Home
The British Government Has Made Plans for
Generalization.

DemobiiGaGloH'
From The New York Journal of Commerce -,
Tnndon-Plans for the rehabilitation OF tnS
British fighting forces and the furnishing on CANn
employment for the men as soon as PosslDIe o
the war are being worked out by the govern"
rnent An official statement, just issued, says:
THE system involved upon the soldiers reacn-
ing dispersal stations is mo9e! Oh roti
and good order, and calculated to cause HlI ~
mum Of delay and Inconvenience. fEst, lile
men will be provided with substantial re1r tsa
ment brief fall in will be called, ana tnen
there is to be a handing in Of equipment: All
must be given up except the UNIFORM Wnlcn tIle
soldier is wearing, and his great coat, the 81
which each man is entitled A man VIII Dc sL-
lowed to keep his soldier clothes, with the eX-
ception Of the great coat.
At the receiving huts Of the dispersal depot
the soldier will be expected to hand over all ms
accoutrements. If he is minus a r1f!e' oayoneSI,
a sword or other weapon the officer In charge WIN
want to know the reason Why. Ihe explanation
may be that he lost it by accident or inadVert-
ence In that case probably nothing further Will
hannen But should he be without the weapon
as the result Of wanton action or culpable con
duct, the value Of it will be deducted from the
'N' Protection for Soldiers,
'TEe passes through other huts before he Is
sent on furlough. Each has allotted to it suf-
ficiency Of attendants to meet all requirements
with the utmost possible dispatch. In one he is
given his protection certificate, which contains
all particulars respecting his regiment length OF
service and destination. Great care is to be eX-
ercised in this matter.
Tn another department each soldier Is given
an advance, and at the same time he sets a
document, made out to the principal postofflce
Of the district to which he is going, enabling MIN
to receive in three equal tnstallments during the
period of his % days furlough, the remainder OF
the money owing to him either on deferred pay,
service gratuities or from any other sources.
ION his application the man is presented with
out-of-Work insurance policy which is valid
for year. It Is in the form Of a document
which entities the holder to receive fixed sum
for definite period when UNEMPLOYED, from
postoffice. The rate and the period will be fixed
when the time comes.
Finally the men are grouped into different
huts, each of which is occupied by those who are
destined for certain locality. Railway war
rants have already been distributed for the jour
ney The times of the trains are known by the
railway executives, and Wnen the locomotive
drags the empty carriages into the railway sta
rapidly carried away to their friends and rela-
TONS This is the never ending procession which
will go on morning noon and night, month after
Must Have Plan Ready.
'Tt seems a far cry to the time when demobil-
ization Of our armies will be imminent. But
whether the interval is short or long the event
has to be provided for in advance, and it is not
surprising to learn that the military authorities
acting in cooperation with the ministry Of labor,
are now perfecting a scheme by which our
fighters on land will be got back into civil life
with the utmost celebrity that efficient organiza-
"At a camp not far from London there has
been a rehearsal Of the methods to be adopted to
'disperse' the men. Big the job to get
will be bigger job to get them out of it, but
the country may be that everything that
can be done will be done to enable the soldiers
to reach their homes and get employment with
the minimum Of friction.
Need IS Million Blanks.
DAY and night INCREASINGLY a small army of
commissioned and nocommissioned officers, and
men and women clerks, will be occupied in re-
cetving the returned soldiers 1t will be a mann
moth business, involving among other things, the
issue Of 45,000000 forms and swallowing up no
less than $50 tons of paper.
eighteen dispersal depots to be estab-
nshed in England, Scotland and Wales They
will be chiefly in populous districts, from which
the majority Of the fighting men have been
drawn.
When the armies have been got away the dis
tribution Of the soldiers into civil employment is
feature Of the rehabilitation which rests with
the ministry Of labor. The basis of the whole
scheme an officer remarked, IS industrial re-
construction and not military convenience The
problem of the ministry of labor is to tell us who
the men are who are required first, and we have
devised a. scheme by which any man having his
job ready for him will be released early Those
VINO nave no occupations to go to will naturally
remain In the army little longer than those who
have Many may desire to remain with the COL
ors, and with those it may be necessary to gar
rlson India and to take the places Of men there
who Will be anxious to get home
lon the other hand, men in trade and IN
dustry will be released with the utmost speed
as we'll as men needed in the factories and in
other occupations which it is urgent shall get
INTO thelr stride as early as possible.
NO doubt when the Rehabilitation comes
about there will be many rough edges in the
scheme which will need making smooth but that
can only be done the result Of actual exneri-
ence' Inc rehearsals have been very successful
and in the opinion of those best able to Judge
give promise Of equally successful realization
when the moment of disbandrnent has been
reached.