The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-07
THOUSANDS SIGN } TEST DAY CARDS IN BIRMINGHAM
City To Witness Display Of Potential War
 Strength <.

National Defense Test Day-Friday, September 12-will see a demonstra tion of Birmingham's potential war strength, sponsored by all civic, fra ternal patriotic and general organ izations of the city. Col. T. o. Smith, general chairman, and Col. k. DuPont Thompson, chairman of the arrange ments committee, announced Saturday that final plans are being completed which will assure hundred per cent" showing of Birmingham's defense strength.
 Three hundred and eighty-four of ficers and $500 men will march in the Defense Test Day parade. That is the quota which Birmingham will be called upon to furnish in the event of a national emergency. The purpose of Defense Test Day is to demonstrate how they will be mobilized if war oc- currs in future to make it necessary.
 It will be a civilian-not a military demonstration The men who will march in the parade are not the men, necessarily, who would be called in event of war. They will merely be men representing, in numerical strength, the military units which Bir- mingham would furnish. Under the
  tive service system of war time re- cruiting is retained. Birmingham would furnish 40 units of these troops, now known as the organized reserves. De- fense Day will bring out, not the men who would be called, but civilian volun- teer marchers who will appear in groups equivalent to the number that would respond in case of actual ener- gency.
 Civic Clubs In Line
 The civic, fraternal, patriotic and other societies will furnish most of the marchers. Every man. of military ak. between IS and 45-is invited to march with some one of the units. The various organizations are undertaking to obtain the necessary quotas" of marchers.
 The local units of the Alabama na- tional guard will participate in the parade. but they must be brought up to war strength-9S2 men-by civilian marchers. The five civic clubs of Bir- mingham Rotary, Kiwanis, Civilians. Exchange and Community are to spon- sOr these units, furnishing the number of men required to muster war strength. The place of assembly for these marchers will be the national guard armory, old post c-., build Ing. All other units, comprising the organized reserve, are to assemble at West End park, corner Fifth avenue and Seventeenth street, at 80 p. m. on Defense Test Day.
 The parade will be a representatio tion of Birmingham defense strength in practically every branch of the service
 s..fA oI,sT ir Ice and so on. It will demonstrate the plan of mobilization which the war department will follow in future emer gencies Instead of being sent to dis tant camps without training, scattered to various points and assigned to serve with troops from other states, the service men of the future will be mobil ized right in their home neighborhoods. Birmingham men will be assigned to Birmingham companies. The volun- tlur system will be in effect for 24 days after the declaration of the emergency, and men may select their own companies or branches of the service. Thereafter, the Guo. s will be filled by the selective service system. The war department is retaining the machinery used during the World war, and members of the selective service boards in JeffersoA county comprise the general committee in charge of De- fense Test Day. ]
 Furnish 40 Units
 Birmingham must furnish 40 units of the roganized reserve and eight units of the national guard, and the Defense Test parade simply will demonstrate the numerical strength of those units. Also it will demonstrate to the public that Birmingham troops, in the event of war, would serve ill Birmingham companies. In like manner, every coun- ty in every state of the Union will have it's Defense Test on Friday. The war department is testing the feasibil- ity of it's plans for local mobilization that is all. Those who march in the parade are under no obligation of any kind. They are simply volunteering their presence in order to make it pos si Ie to demonstrate how men would be mobilized for national defense in the event of an emergency. Marchers rep resenting fraternal organizations will appear in the uniforms of their vari-