NEW CAMPAIGN FOR RECRUITS

One hundred thousand dollars with which to finance a campaign for recruits for training camps next summer is to be raised by the Military Training Association. The money is to be expended under the supervision of a committee including Mayor Mitchel, President Lowell, and presidents of Yale, Princeton, Cornell and other leading educational institutions, and representatives of the Plattsburg Business Men's Camp Association, and the various camps that have been held for the training of college students.

Experience has shown, according to a statement of the committee, that recruiting for citizen camps must be conducted through strong civilian organizations, and that if results are to be accomplished "a thorough and well-organized campaign must be conducted."

The fund will be expended under the supervision of a committee of twenty-six members. Among the members are President Lowell, Presidents Hibben of Princeton, Hadley of Yale, Schurman of Cornell, Denny of the University of Alabama, Drinker of Lehigh, and James of Illinois, Mayor Mitchel, Robert Bacon, William Marshall Bullitt, Philip A. Carroll, Grenville Clark, J. W. Farley, R. M. McElroy, George Wharton Pepper, William C. Proctor, and W. McM. Rutter. Among the representatives of the student camps on the committee are A. B. Roosevelt '17, A. H. Boardman of Yale, and G. H. Gaston, Jr., of Princeton.

Regarding the scope of the work, which is just beginning, the committee in charge of the fund says:

"There are in the United States nearly 1,000,000 young men coming of age each year, and of this number about 750,000 are conservatively estimated to be fit for military training. Between the ages of 19 and 25 there are over 4,500,000 men fit for service. Of these men it is estimated that there are in the colleges alone not less than 200,000 of proper age and physique. The actual male attendance in colleges in 1914 was 237,562 in high schools 541,486. In addition there are at least 700,000 young business and professional men who are fit for and would be benefited by a reasonable amount of military work.

"While it is not practicable at present to reach directly through private agency all the young men of the country, it is entirely feasible to bring the "Plattsburg idea" directly to the attention of over 1,000,000 college, high school and young business and professional men. A considerable proportion of these men are ready and eager to equip themselves to serve their country if only a practicable plan is presented to them. Such a plan is the summer training camp of the regular army.

"The aim of the military training camp is to give men of average physique four or five weeks a year of intensive military instruction under officers of the regular army, so that at the end of that time men of no previous military experience will at least have learned the rudiments of military organization and discipline, close and open-order drill, use of the military rifle, become familiar with the clothing, equipment, feeding, sanitation and transportation of an army in the field, and the handling and control of men in manoeuvres under conditions approximating those which they should be prepared to meet in active service in time of war.

"The work of the training camps is supplementary to the work of the militia of the States. The military camps afford opportunities to those men whose business or professions or home ties do not permit them to attend at regular intervals, over an extended period of service in the National Guard, but who are able to devote a few weeks a year, under field conditions, to preparing themselves for the privilege of sharing in their country's defence in time of need.

"The Military Training Camps Association proposes to put the training camp idea, its opportunities and advantages before the great constituency of young men above described. This will be done by distributing circulars through the medium of the college and graduate lists, Young Men's Christian Associations, commercial and professional organizations, etc., by sending speakers to the colleges and larger cities, by organizing local recruiting committees, and by other similar means.