Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1917 — 100,000 TO GO TO FRANCE THIS YEAR [ARTICLE]

100,000 TO GO TO FRANCE THIS YEAR

Part of the National Guard In Franc® By September—Drafted Men Go In January.

Washington, D. C., May 29. —Approximately 100/000 American soldiers will take part in the fighting in France before the close of the 1917 upc-atlons, if the government is able to carry out its present plans. The division of regulars under the command of Maj. Gen. Pershang will be in action’ before additional troops are sent forward, and the solution of the problem off transportation in the case of (this first contingent is expected to make it possible to maintain a steady stream of reinforcements by the end of the summer.

The government contemplates beginning to send' national 'guardsmen to Europe early in September. Gen. Mann, chief of the bureau of militia affairs, has advised the general staff that many units of the national guard need only a month or six weeks of preliminary training in this country before being sent to the intensive training camps in France. Of the 125,000 national guardsmen who have received a fair amount off Ideal training in 'the handling off arms, it is estimated that from 50,000 to 75,000 will be readiy to go forward in the fall. Those units showing the best form in the southern training camps will be dispatched first. Two months of intensive training in France is expected to turn out efficient soldiers. The selective draft units will require a much longer preliminary training, and ithe present plans call flor their dispatch .to France beginning in January. All plans for the registration are now complete. Reports indicate that 90 per cent of the men from 21 to 30 years old will be registered on June sth. The administration is now turning its attention 'to the appointment of the local and district exemtpion boards wfhic hwill eliminate the men not needed for the army. An elaborate program of recreation for the army training camps has been worked out by the commission on training camp activities recently appointed by Secretary of War Baker. Baseball will be the principal game relied upon for the amusement of the men in training.