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Show I RAILWAY ARMY TO" BE SENTTOFRANGE TWELVE THOUSAND VOLUN-TEERS VOLUN-TEERS SOUGHT TO COMPOSE ENGINEER DIVISION. Nine New Regiments of Trained Railway Rail-way Workers to be Sent to the Front as Soon a3 Organization Organiza-tion Can be Effected. Washington. Nine new regiinent:-of regiinent:-of nnny engineers, to be composed ex-ilusively ex-ilusively of highly-trained railway men. will be the first American troops sen; to France. They will go "at the earliest earli-est possible moment," the war department depart-ment announced May 7. for work on communication lines, but speculation us to the exact time when or to what points they will be sent Is forbidden because of the submarine menace. The new forces will he volunteers, raised at the nine great railway centers cen-ters of the country. Kaeh regiment will he commanded by an engineer colonel of the regular army, aided by an adjutant. All other officers will be railway engineers or officials. The expedition will have n total strength of between 11,000 and 12,0011 men, each regiment being composed of two ln r 1 11 Hons of thrv companies each. Kvery branch of railway workers necessary neces-sary to the building or operation of lines will be represented and the war department expects a response to the call that will insure a force already trained to the minute, an army of exports ex-ports In railway operations. Recruiting will be directly under the colonel of each regiment. Recruiting machinery of the regular service or the national guard will be placed at their service and it Is hoped the enrollment en-rollment of the troops will take little time. The recruiting points will be New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Iioston. 1'ittsburg, Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco Fran-cisco and I'hiladolplna. Officials believe the great railroad brotherhoods will co-operate, throwing the strength of the unions behind the recruiting efforts. The railway companies com-panies already are so organized under the council of national 'defense that their co-operation is assured. The engineers en-gineers and officials of the lines who offer themselves will be selected in such manner as not to cripple the operating oper-ating forces of any company. |