The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-05-18
CantOnments Cost 70 Per Cent as Much as Entire
 Panama Canal
By Associated Press

Washington, May 17..-Even in America,
 the greatest builder of the past no teat Of construction has ever approached that involved in the completion in 90 days of IF cantonments for the national army and Is tent cities for the national guard, says the official war ''materiel'' history made public today by the War Department. The task involved the erec- tion and equipment of B cities capable of accommodating 10000 persons each, with all the requisite water, lighting, sewerage, hospital and heating utilities, and in addition the preparation of the strictly military features, such as pa- rade grounds and rifle and artillery ranges.
 The creature comforts enjoyed by the American soldier of 1917 is contfasted with those afforded the man of '6i-'65. Substantial barracks, heated by steam or stoves. took the place of tents; chemic- ally pure water replaced that secured from the casual spring or stream; scien- tific laundries cared for the national army recruits clothing, and field bakeries gave him the modern successor to the ashy hoe-cake.
 Lumber used in the cantonments alone, the report says, was equivalent to a board walk 12 inches wide and one inch thick ito the moon and halfway back, ? while the nails of one popular size wocN "girdle the earth S1e times"
 The race between the contractors to complete the cantonments in time for the initial draft is eoquently described the builder of Camp Taylor, Louisville, Ky, winning by a marrow margin. The can tonments occupied 167 ,74 acres of land. which cost an average s3.9S per acre, and the contractors profits were given as less than 21. per cent of the gross cost of construction.
 Expenditures for the cantonments rep resented 70 per cent of the total for the Panama canal, but the time consumed was less than 90 days against 10 years for the canal. Supplementary buildMg projects undertaken by the department aggregated much larger project than the contonments and included enormous storehouses, factories for various pur- poses, proving grounds, army posts, em- barkaticn facilities, docks, magazines, railroads, aviation fields and hospitals. "On November II, 191S,'' the report says, ''the construction division was conduct ing 535 operations in AZ localities, in- volving an expenditure of $l ,000, ,000. .o00 These touched every state but one." As the construction crews developed teamwork remarkable instances of speed were reported. Precautions taken to as- sist the contractors included the detail of disbursing officer on the spot "wNh the check book ready so that materiG' could be paid on delivery, and 80 that special equipment could be obtained ae fair rental and steady flow of build- ing materials be insured. The last fea- ture finally necessitated the sending of soldiers into the forest to cut logs and piles and to load them on railroad cars which were guarded by soldiers to their destination.
 When a shortage of stoves threatened the health of the new army officers Qf the construction division were sent te the factories to speed up production with the result that the army obtained 15,- 900 in three months, although that num- Der is a years output of the industry.
 Fire prevention at the various army projects was so efficient that the per capita loss was only 46 cents compared with the civilian rate of $2.42