Evening star., 1933-05-01
BY WILLIAM w. CHANCE,
STAFF Correspondent of The Star.

Stan correspondent OIL Inc star.
CAMP ROOSEVELT, GEORGE
WASHINGTON NATIONAL FOREST,
PAGE COUNTY, Va, May with
the attention of American officialdom
focused upon them, anxiously awaiting
the outcome of the conservation ex-
pertinent. 200 forestry army recruits
enrolled from the Nations Capital are
going blithely forward, youthfully con-
fldent of success.
To say they realize fully the impor-
tance of making this initial camp a
success would be exaggeration. But
these modern frontiersmen have i'm
bibed from the mountain freshness a
pioneer spirit of their ancestors. They
have determined to succeed, and
wracked muscles and blistered hands
and feet daily bear agonizing testimony
to that determination.
And for soft bunch of city boys
they already have progressed amaz-
ingly. even surprising their own boss,
Capt. Leo Donovan, who has broken
in many an Army rookie and who
knows intimately the difficulties of
training green recruits.
L never in my life saw so much
work accomplished in so short a time"
said the officer as he surveyed Camp
Roosevelt less than two weeks after
he had brought his cosmopolitan
charges to the mountain fastness.
Work Overtime.
"These boys never want to stop work
ing. Every evening they work long
overtime just to get their home in
shape, and last week end they worked
Saturday afternoon and most of Sun
day, when they could have been off"
The rapidity with which the camp
has been built has been due principally
to desire to get it up before the next
Spring rain. The boys have been work
ing against time-gambling on the
weather. They know from sad expert
ence how rain transforms their camp
site into a sea of oozy mud, ankle deep
and treacherous underfoot.
Yea" recalled one lad, when it
rains. We have steam heat and running
waterfall modern improvements. The
steam comes from the water running
under our tents and hitting our stoves"
BY driving tortured muscles, these
civilian conservationists in three days
floored 40 Army squad tents. paved
the camp site throughout with stone
hewn from the mountain side, con-
structed combination mess hall.
kitchen and storeroom and built tool
house-all this done by youths Of from
18 to 25, most of whom had never held
g hammer or carpenters square in
their hands, professionally, at least
It's the old story of necessity be-
klg the mother of invention" ex-
planned one college man. who ended a
fruitless search for work by joining the
Civilian Conservation Corps at Wash
ington. 1T only goes to prove that If
you put man out on his own. no mat
ter how much he lacks in experience,
he will make home for himself and
will get along somehow
Make Most of Chance.
These boys here are average city
kids, thrown together by necessity.
Most of them have nothing in common
except the desire to work and eat and
live like decent human beings. Now
that Uncle Sam has given them that
opportunity, they are making the most
of it."
The speaker, Robert Laban who spent
four years in college, two devoted to an
academic course and two to law, was
particularly bitter about "the way the
newspapers are making so much over
the misfortuneS of these kids"
But at that, aren't they better off than
If they continued to walk the streets,
eventually becoming bumS?"
Unlike Laban, who has clerical job,
many of the men are too tired after
days work to devote much thought to
their present condition or their lmme-
diate future All they are interested
In for the moment are three squares a
day" work and sleep. Many of them
turn in by $50 at night, too exhausted
even to sit up and bull with their
comrades
For them the day begins at $50 am.
when first CALI is blown. Then comes |
reakfast-heaping dishes of eggs, pota- |
toes, sausages or bacon and coffee and !
bread. Work starts at and lasts until |
noon. when the dinner whistle is |
sounded for an hour of eating and re- |
Taxation.
And what a meal these once under |
fed young men can pile away. Lieut. |
r. B. Carhart. assigned from Fort |
Washington as supply officer, says they !
eat nearly twice as much as Regular !
Army men and Capt. Donovan expresses |
at where they put it all"
A pound of meat a meal is eaten, on
the average, by every man in camp, to I
say nothing of huge tablespoonsful of
potatoes and green vegetables, great /
hunks Of bread and dessert. +,
Like to Exchange Stories.
At o'clock the men go back to their
tasks and work until 4, completing an
day. From quitting time /
until or 6, when supper is served, is