and that the requisite number of district engineers, selected for their knowledge of local conditions, be placed under the orders of each department commander for detail on these boards..

This memorandum laid down certain policies and standards to guide in the selection of the sites and stated that:

(1) Property owned or leased by the United States and controlled by the War Department should be utilized wherever suitable and available.

(2) Wherever practicable troops should be grouped by divisions.

(3) In case it is impracticable to secure divisional sites, efforts should be made to select sites for brigades or larger parts of divisions.

* * *

(4) Sites for commands smaller than a brigade will not be selected unless it is impracticable to secure brigade camp sites.

(5) It is impracticable to specify the amount of terrain that will be required for the training of commands of the various sites. It is essential, however, that

each camp site

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(a) Be of sufficient size to accommodate the command without crowding.

(b) Have an adequate water supply for both the men and animals to be encamped thereon.

(c) Contain within itself or be located within convenient distance of an adequate training area.

(d) Contain within itself or be located within convenient distance of suitable ground for target practice.

(e) Be located upon or near a railroad of sufficient capacity to insure the convenient supply of the command and its prompt movement in case of need.

(f) Can be leased (if not already owned or leased by the Government) for one or two years, with the option of renewal from year to year for about five years.

(g) Be immune from floods and inundations.

(6) The following very desirable features should be secured whenever practicable: (a) The soil should be sandy loam with good drainage.

(b) The surroundings should be healthful.

(c) An A and a B range within convenient distance.

(d) An artillery range within convenient distance.

(e) The site should afford natural bathing facilities, such as streams, lakes, or the sea. (f) The site should be adjacent to a city or large town containing facilities for healthful and attractive recreation.

(7) The following desirable features are not so important as those enumerated under (6), but they should not be overlooked as they tend toward efficiency, economy, and the welfare and contentment of the command:

(a) Roads, good or potentially good.

(b) Infrequent interruptions to training by inclement weather.

(c) Grazing for animals within convenient distance.

(d) Absence of insect pests.

(e) Good strategical location.

(f) Location central with respect to training area.

(g) Material for temporary shelter locally obtainable in sufficient quantities at reasonable prices.

(h) Mechanical, skilled, and common labor locally obtainable at reasonable wages. (1) Site and training areas donated or offered at low rental.

(j) Good markets at reasonable prices.

(k) Adequate local control of social evil and the liquor traffic.

(1) Adequate local regulations of monopolies and price-discrimination.

It recommended that cantonments for one infantry division, certain corps auxiliaries, and unassigned troops should be constructed in each of the 16 training areas.

It recommended that sites for 16 infantry divisions of the National Guard also be selected at once, and that sites for 14 of these National Guard divisional camps be located in the Southern, Southeastern, and Western Departments, and that two be located on the Pacific coast, where "training will not be interrupted by inclement weather." It recommended the number of these troops to be mobilized in each department, designating that there should be the following divisional cantonments and camps: One National Army cantonment in the Northwestern Department; 4 National Army cantonments in the Eastern Department; 3 National Army cantonments and 9 National Guard camps in the Southeastern Department; 6 National Army cantonments in the Central Department; 1 National Army cantonment and 5 National Guard camps in the Southern Department; 1 National Army cantonment and 2 National Guard camps in the Western Department.

On May 6 the Chief of Staff, by the direction of the Secretary of War, ordered the Adjutant General of the Army to proceed at once with this plan, to select the sites, to lease on behalf of the United States any selected tracts not already owned or leased by the Government and to make report of the sites selected not later than June 10. He also directed that the Quartermaster General be instructed to provide the shelter and other construction required on each site for the accommodation of the troops to be maintained thereon as soon as practicable after he was notified of its selection; and that the chief of each supply bureau be instructed to prepare to supply the organizations to be camped on each site.

On May 11 the orders to select these sites were sent by telegraph to the several department commanders. At the same time the Quartermaster General was directed to select and assign at least one thoroughly qualified quartermaster to take charge of the work and to do all the preliminary work such as the location of supplies of lumber and other material, the collection of labor, the blocking out of plans for the camps, etc., that could be done before the money became available for the construction work.

On May 12 another telegram was sent to each of the department commanders notifying them to take no steps toward securing supplies of lumber and other building material or attempting to collect labor, as this would be done by the Quartermaster General through the committee on sites of the Council of National Defense and through the large contractors of the country.

On May 29, by memorandum to The Adjutant General from the Acting Chief of Staff, by direction of the Secretary of War, the con

struction of the 16 divisional camps for the National Guard was postponed until otherwise ordered, as it was feared that the building of these and 16 divisional cantonments at once would be too great a strain on supplies, labor, and transportation. Moreover, at that time there were not sufficient funds appropriated for the carrying out of the larger program.

On June 28 the department commanders were notified of the cancellation of previous orders, which were to the effect that the "National Guard divisions in the north would not be sent south this summer," and were directed to complete leases for National Guard camp sites already selected.

On July 13, 1917, The Adjutant General of the Army was notified by the Acting Chief of Staff that the Secretary of War directed:

(a) That the department commanders concerned be directed to expedite the leasing of National Guard divisional training camp sites.

(b) That as soon as leases for these camp sites had been entered into the necessary preparation of such sites for occupancy be undertaken.

(c) That all construction and preparation of National Guard divisional training camps for occupancy be carried out under the supervision of the officer in charge of cantonment construction, Quartermaster General's office.

(d) That no National Guard unit be ordered to its divisional training camp until the camp for such unit has been reported ready for occupancy by the Quartermaster General.

(e) That the Quartermaster General be directed to prepare and submit estimates at once for cantonment construction at the National Guard training camps. (f) That the Quartermaster General and Chief of the Militia Bureau all department commanders be notified in accordance with the foregoing.

REAL ESTATE.

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*

and

The sites for the 16 National Army cantonments were leased for one year with the privilege of annual renewal in all cases except three Camp Funston, on the Army reservation at Fort Riley, Kans.: Camp Pike at Little Rock, Ark.; and Camp Lewis, at Seattle, Wash. In the last two cases the land was given to the Government by deed on condition that the Government maintain permanent Army cantonments at those places, the land reverting to the original owners when abandoned by the Government.

Some of the sites were covered by a single lease running from a local board, such as a chamber of commerce or a special organization, acting in the interest of the community. In other cases the site comprised a number of parcels leased from several owners. In nearly every instance additional land was needed, and for this leases were made by the Government with the owners.

The sites for the 16 National Guard camps were also leased, with the exception of Camp Doniphan, at Fort Sill, Okla., and Camp McClellan, Anniston, Ala., which were built upon Government reservations.

Other camps were built after the completion of the National Army antonments and 16 National Guard camps. Of these the site for 'amp A. A. Humphreys, at Accotink, Va., for the Engineer Corps, and the site for Camp Abraham Eustis, Lee Hall, Va., for the Coast Artillery, were purchased; and the sites for the embarkation camps, Camp Mills, Long Island, N. Y., and Camp Merritt, Dumont, N. J., were leased. These leases were renewed in 1918.

TABLE 1.-Data on National Army and National Guard camp sites.

NATIONAL ARMY CANTONMENTS.

COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY CONSTRUCTION.

Coincident with the selection of the sites it became evident that the Government must undertake a large construction program in order to house the National Army and the federalized National Guard to be raised by the selective-service act.

This act, authorizing the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States, was approved May 18, 1917. The problem of housing and training the troops was brought to the attention of the General Munitions Board of the Council of National Defense early in April. For its consideration the committee on emergency construction of buildings and engineering works, later termed committee on emergency construction, was organized on April 28, 1917, with the following personnel: G. W. Lundoff, Cleve land, Ohio, chairman; M. C. Tuttle, Boston, Mass.; W. A. Starrett, New York, N. Y.

The resolutions defining the duties of the committee were, in part, as follows:

To suggest forms of day's work contracts applicable to the construction of canton. ments and similar enterprises where rapidity in construction is essential; to formulate plans and methods of expediting the construction of housing facilities in connection with engineering and construction work and activities essential thereto.

This committee was formed after several interviews of Mr. M. C. Tuttle with Mr. F. A. Scott, chairman of the General Munitions Board, to whom he pointed out that the Government would have a vast building program, not only in connection with the cantonments which would shortly have to be built to house the Army to be called. but also for manufacturing all sorts of war material. The committee's study of the probable requirements of the Government indicated that the building work would be Nation-wide in its scope and practically coextensive with the war. Mr. Lundoff was appointed chairman of the committee and served in that capacity for the first week or two. Maj. William Kelly, Corps of Engineers, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted were made members shortly after the formation of the committee. The committee was later reorganized, and Mr. W. A. Starrett, who had received a major's commission in the Corps of Engineers, United States Reserves, was made chairman. One reason for this change was that the report of May 9 indicated that the duties of the committee would include dealings with the contracting industry. Messrs. Lundoff and Tuttle were builders, whereas Maj. Starrett was an architect and engineer by profession and might be considered to occupy a more disinterested position. Mr. Tuttle and Mr. Lundoff withdrew their concerns from consideration by the committee on emergency construction for any work on the Government's building program.

Early in June, 1917, Mr. Lundoff resigned, and in the latter part of July Maj. Kelly was ordered into the service in France and ceased to act as a member after about August 1, 1917.