The first problem was met by the Selective Service Act, May 18, 1917, which among other items allowed the regular army at once the full war strength of the 1916 Defence Act, provided for drafting into Federal service all members of the National Guard and its reserves, limited voluntary enlistment to four infantry divisions and authorized the conscription of a force of i,000,000 men. June 5, 1917, there were registered for the draft 9,925,751. July 3, 1917, the President called into service the entire National Guard which totalled 379,323 in the Federal service by Aug. 5, 1917. The summoning of the first draft was delayed by lack of shelter and supplies, especially woollen clothing, until Sept. 5, 1917, between which time and the spring of 1918 some 687,00o reported. Dec. 15, 1917, all registrants were placed in five classes, according to personal qualifications and national needs. Out of some 3,700,000 men in the army at the end of the war, about 2,800,000 had come from the draft, which had furnished a practi cal, uniform and just supply of recruits.
The second problem was met principally by three sets of reserve officers' training camps. The first series of 16, which began May 15, 1917, at 13 army posts in the United States, enrolled some 38,00o qualified applicants. Aug. 11, 1917, at the conclusion of the course, commissions in various grades up to colonel were awarded 27,341 graduates. The second series of eight camps, be ginning Aug. 27, 1917, enrolled over 20,000 candidates. Nov. 27, 1917, commissions as in the first series were awarded to 17,237 graduates. These two series were composed largely of college men. A special school for coloured candidates at Ft. Des Moines, Ia., between June 18, 1917, and Oct. 18, 1917, graduated 63o captains and lieutenants.
The third series of 27 camps, which began Jan. 5, 1918, partook more of the nature of schools, since 9o% of the applicants were former enlisted men. From this series there were graduated April 19, 1918, 11,659 men, who were pronounced eligible for appointments as second lieutenants. The total output of all the series up to this time was over 57,000 graduates. After May 15, 1918 officers' training schools in the United States and its pos sessions replaced the camps until the end of the war.
separate administrative agency directly under the President, with Bernard M. Baruch as chairman. The new board, plenipotentiary in character, co-ordinated and controlled resources, industry and transportation so as to produce an adequate flow of supply to the army and navy without impeding unnecessarily commercial activity in the United States. In its deliberations there took part representatives from the army, who controlled for the service through the operations and the purchase, storage and traffic divi sions of the general staff.
By an interlocking organization of these and other co-ordinate and subordinate agencies, tedious, duplicating and extravagant systems of supply were gradually eliminated. Partly by appeals, partly by autocratic means the country, as it approached the end of the war, was made into a smoothly working plant with an output directed to meet the situation in Europe. The flow of materials to the Western front is pictured in the 9,000,00o tons of cargo that had been sent by the embarkation service at the time of the Armistice over a 3,500 m. line of communications. Shortly after the inauguration of the system of control made by the inland traf fic service, the freight congestion in the United States was re moved. Between May 1917 and the Armistice the railways trans ported 8,714,582 men. In addition to providing for i6 officers' training camps and 16 National Guard cantonments, the construc tion division was called upon to build 16 national army canton ments with a capacity of 640,000 men. By Nov. 1, 1918, it had 130,000 employees engaged upon 448 projects. (W. A. G.) American Expeditionary Forces.—The Secretary of War gave Major General J. J. Pershing his letter of instruction, May 26, 1917. This letter put him in command of the land forces of the United States in continental Europe and directed him to pro ceed there to organize and to lead those forces in co-operation with the troops of the Allies but preserving the identity of the United States forces. (See under UNITED STATES, section History, The A.E.F., p. 839a.) The greatest number of American fighting men in France at any one time was 2,057,907. Of these, something over 1,390,00o came under fire, suffering a loss of 50,105 killed and died of wounds, 193,606 wounded, or a total of 243,711 battle casualties. The greatest number of American fighting men in action at any one time was during the second week of October 1918, when 29 American Infantry Divisions, the equivalent of 58 average French, British, or German Divisions, were in action. The maximum front held at any one time by the American forces was BD miles. The U.S. Marines maintained one of the two Infantry Brigades of the second U.S. Infantry Division. The other Infan try Brigade, the Artillery Brigade, and all other troops were from the Regular Army. 21,571 Marines served in France. The A.E.F. captured some 63,00o prisoners, 1,378 cannons, and 9,65o ma chine guns. See also MARINES : United States Marine Corps.