The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-02-08

"The war department is eager to
profit by all helpful criticism, and l
thank the committee for the inquiries
which it has made and for the cooper
alton which it is giving and will give
in making our pre- aration increasingly
adequate and speedy.
"On the first day Of April, 1917. the
Regular Army ronnrised 579l officers
and l2l, 79T enlisted men; the national
'-'~.' ~ federal service. approximately
1888 officers and 1918 enlisted men,
and the refervc. 1000 enlisted men
There were also at that time approx
matrly 1873 officers in the Reserve. but
as these were on inactive duty they
can not properly be considered in esti
mating, the &Fength of the Army of the
United States at that time, On the
thrty,Grst day of December, 1917. the
regular nrmy consisted of l0250 officers
and 5O00.IS-listed men; the national
guard Of 1901 officers and 100000 en-
listed men; the nPtional army of $780,
600 men. and the Reserve Of ,575 off,
GERS and 1880 enlisted men. In other
words Nin nine months the increase has
been from@0 524 officers to llO,S56 of
fccrs; from POE, $40 to l.42S,G5O men.
"During the war, with Spain the
army Of the United Stata ~ it, maxi
mum strength aggregated 272,0OO men
and officers The armv now in the frld
and in training is. therefore. roughly
six times ~ great as thr maximum
number under arms in the Spanish
American War.
Largest Ever Modified
Al
military service is one ard half times
as large MS any force ever modified
Ivy this Umti0n.
"A substantial part Of our military
forces was selected by the operation Of
draft law. the execution Of which has
demonstrated both the economical and
the efficient way Of selecting soldiers.
The lpw itself was drawn, its execution
carried to a successful conclusion. and
the theory of the law. novel TO our
people explained and made popular, be
cause Of it's demonstrated fui! ness both
in plan and execution.
- For the training Of officers two
series of training comps were held, from
which about $4,000 officers were com
miSsionrd from civil fife. This number
~ nearly eight times as great as the
number of officers in the Regular Army
on the first day of April
For the training of these soldiers
sixteen camtOnments have been built,
costing %l34 ,O000c0, with an average
profit to the contractors of 2.9S percent.
These cantOnments contain water
and sewage facilities, refuse disposal
plants, Iaundries. storeh Ouses, barracks,
exchanges, post offices, and practically
all necessary cOnVeniPnces, comforts
and safeguards for soldiers The health
Of the men in training in them is be
vond comparison better than that of
any similar number of soldiers in our
history.
Death Rate Per Thousand
"Thr death rate in our forces in the
United States. from mid-September to
the end of December. averaged rs per
thousand, and is slightly less than
would have been the death rate Of
men of the same age at home. In 1898
the death rate pee thousand was 2O.l4,
or nearly three times as great. Our
death rate in the army during the
year 1916. lust before the war was five
per thousand. Leaving out the deaths
tue to nnnsIes and it's complications,
'o9r rate among all troops in the Inv
ted States, since September !, has been
about . per thousand. These figures
IRE properly comparable. The five per
houraud for 1916 means for the whole
y"nr. The two per thousand for this
veur means that if the number of
d"nthS since the LIST of September from
all causes, exclusive of measles and its
complications, should continue the same
Tor the following eight months. our
rat. for the end Of the wear would IA
about two per thousand.