OCR Text |
Show ASK FOR RECRUITS SIXTY THOUSAND VOLUNTEERS ARE WANTED TO FILL RANKS OF REGULARS. IULY 15 IS THE LIMIT DATE Army Officials Hope Decline In Recruiting Re-cruiting After Registration Means Men Understand There. la No Disgrace Dis-grace Attached to Conscription. By EDWARD B. CLARK. Washington. Things occasionally, go wrong with the calculations of the experts. Thero was no war department depart-ment man but thought that ns soon ns registration day was over the rush to enlist In tho regulnr service would bo so great that n week's tlmo only would he necessary to sccuro the yofcng Americans needed for tho regular establishment. es-tablishment. About 00,000 nro needed to bring tho regulars to wur strength. It Is known that the oillclals hold no strong hopo that till the men needed can bo secured se-cured by July 1C, but there will bo contentment con-tentment If, In existing circumstances, liO.OOO men can be enlisted for the Infantry In-fantry and B.OO0 for the artillery within with-in the limits of tho time fixed. Army officers and many civilians with them all over tho country, with the npprovnl of Washington, ore "driving" to securo recruits for the regular army. Things havo gone counter to expectation. expec-tation. Itecrultlng fell off after registration regis-tration day and lu ono way tho nrniy officers think tho fulling off signifies something worth while. Tho first thought in the mutter wns that recruits re-cruits would rush to the regular army because they desired to avoid being known ns conscripts. Tho heart desire de-sire of the war department has been to take from conscription everything suggestive of compulsory service. Kvery effort has been inndo to let tho young men know that they would bo held In us high honor under the selective selec-tive plnn ns always has been tho cliso under tho volunteering system. No Disgrace In Conscription. Army oillcers believe now that young America has given over tho Idea' that tho new nntlonal army Is to be looked on as n conscript army nfter tho lann-ner lann-ner In which drafted men of the past were viewed by the gcnernl public. If the decrease In the numbers of men applying for service In the regular army Is duo to the fact that no longer Is conscription regarded ns onco It wns, tho army otllclnls will bo not only satisfied but grateful. Itecrultlng for the regulnr army. It Is believed here, wns quickened nt tho first by the belief of the applicants thnt they would seo first service, lu France. Now thero seems to be n feeling feel-ing thnt the regiments which first' were brought up to war strength will be the first to go and thnt tho regiments which are to be filled by tho recruits of this nnd next month will not get to the front much more quickly than men of tho Natlonnl Ounrd", while some of them may be held until the first organizations or-ganizations of the new national nrniy which show themselves ready for service serv-ice uro sent abroad under convoy. Army men sny that thero never wns such nn army In personnel ns that which tho country will havo when tho recruiting Is completed. Men who havo applied for service hnvo In tho main been of n high type, physically and mentally. They have shown In tho training camps 11 pride In their work und n patriotic spirit which knows no tiring. Recruits of High Grade. The regulur recruits do not lmvo to be roused to the work, for they had roused themselves before they went to the enrolling olllces. They ore taking hold of the thing readily. Their Intelligence Intel-ligence Is high nnd It Is directed to the best ends by each of tho enlisted ones. If by July 10 the necessary 283,000, or thereabouts, men nro not secured for the service tho rest will bo taken In by tho drafting operations. It Is not believed, however, that tho regular servlco will contain more thnn 11 or 4 per cent of drafted men. Itecrults for tho regulur nrmy lire being given 1111 opportunity to express their preference concerning tho brunch in which they would Uko to serve. It Is lmposslblo to put nil men where they would like to be, but many of tliein, especially those who show a marked nptltudo for certuln lines of work, nro being sent to tho artillery or the cavulry, or to the other branches for which they seem best fitted. The Infantry, of course, still will be tho backbone of tho American nrmy, nlthough this Is known us un artillery nnd un engineering war. The Infantry mnn todjiy, however, Is not like the Infantryman In-fantryman of old. Ho must learn 11 lot of new tricks and somo of them uro of the spcctiiculur kind which, In training train-ing ut uuy rate, appeals to the uthletlc youngster. lly mid-July, or certainly shortly thereafter, Undo Sam will havo a regular reg-ular uriuy of nearly 300,000. In the year 1S01 nt I'lno nidge, S, D., theru were gathered together uhout 13,000 men of tho regular nrniy. At that time It was freely predicted, for such wus the good cheer concerning 11 lasting last-ing pence In tho world, that It was likely that never again would there couio together such un "urmy" of regulars regu-lars of the American service. Seven years thereafter camo tho Spanish-American Spanish-American war, und now has come tho greatest wnr of ull time. When nrmy oillcers spoko o( nn urmy '.ill years ago they were thinking of a few thousmuls of men. Today they uro tiiluking of mllllpns. . , |