The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-03
ALL AMERICANS ID RETURN ID U. 5. BY
 SEPTEMBER |S PLAN
President Determined All Troops on German Soil Shall Embark as Soon
 as Peace Signed
By Assoc,ates Prs.s

By Associated Press .a.
 Washington, May 2.-Determinatfon of President Wilson, indicated in press advices from Paris. that no American troops shall continue on German soil for n longer period after the signing of the peace treaty than may be neccs- sary to embark them for home, Is borne out by present plans of the war department, which contemplate the re- turn of the entire American expedition- ary forces by September.
 Because of this General March, chief of staff, is making every effort to speed up the demobliaztion in this country An official announcement issued to- day as to the accumulation of surplus clothing for the troops stated that tie estimates were based on troop with drawal to be completed in September" The statement also said that Eff an army of occupation is maintained aft CT September. a portion of this sur plus will be needed"
 This computation was taken to re- fleet exactly the present information of the department as to future troop movements.
 The September date represents esti- mates by authorization officers az .5 the maximum possible speed in with drawing the entire force in Europe, including the troops holding the Cob- lenz bridgehead sector on the Rhine. If anything, officers anticipate that the movement vii be accelerated rath- CT than retarded. .The schedule has been exceeded recently and in increas- | ing measure from week to week. With an indicated monthly movement of | General March and his aides bid fai'. | 450,000 men. the best predictions of 1 it was said, to be more than realized. INSPECTION COMPLETED l General March returned today from a personal inspection of demopiliza- l tion centers in the southeastern depart 1 ment, completing the personal survey
 he began with Secretary Baker before the latter sailed for France At each | of the camps visited the chief of stair l went over the demobilization machin- l cry with the camp commander in de- tail. insisting that the 49-hour period
 for the passage of the troops from the camps into civil life be maintained, 1 and also checking up the semi-perma- nent demobilization personnel at the
 camps in an effort to reduce the num- Der of men who are being held in the l service for this work.
 It is believed that he will be able in l his interview with newspaper corre- | spondents tomorrow to furnish new figures showing the speed with which the breaking up of the army at home is being accomplished.
 Officers recently returned from France say the two bottlenecka. | through which practically the entire movement must pass, the authorization
 camp at Brest and the debarkation sta- tion at Hoboken. are now operating al a remarkable speed The system is said to be so precise that a unit or even an individual officer or man who loses step with the systems stride has a difficult time and probably never sue
 eeeds in catching up with ,the main | flow
 l An instance of the rapidty with which the machine is working was shown today by the fact that among the officers reporting to General March on lis return were some who started from. their sectors on the. Rhine with
 their command just 21 days ago.