Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1918 — REPORT SHOWS MILLIONS SPENT ON CAMP SHELBY. [ARTICLE]

REPORT SHOWS MILLIONS SPENT ON CAMP SHELBY.

Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Miss., Feb. 4—The immensity of the work of preparing army cantonments for troops is shown by a report on the building operations of Camp Shelby, which 'has just been made public by a field auditor for the war emergency bureau. The total cost of the great camp for Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia national guardsmen was $3,300,000. This great camp was practically built in the short space of sixty days. On last Dec. 1, 20,930,019 feet of lumber had been put into the buildings in the camp. It took twentynine freight car loads of roofing paper to cover them. It cost $225,000 to buy the plumbing fixtures which were placed in the buildings.’ Ten car loads of nails were driven into the lumber to hold it together, and a car load of wire screen was used to keep flies and mosquitoes on the outside.

There is a total of 1,555,997 feet of electric wiring in the camp. There were 9,746 electric lamp sockets required. A total of 191,565 feet of iron pipe was used in the water system, in addition to 1,469 feet of clay pipe. During the building of the camp the average number of men on the job daily was 3,500. The highest pay roll in any one week was slightly more than SIOO,OOO. It took 2,904 freight ears to haul all of the camp. The camp is now complete in every respect, thoroughly sanitary and able to take care of the entire division. Frequent changes and additions are necessary, however, because of changing conditions. The boys at Camp Shelby believe they will soon leave this great camp for the battlefront of France. It' is not considered likely, however, that they will start before March or April. When the southern camps are vacated* they will not be a total loss. It is understood that further increments of draft troops, encamped in the north in the summer, will be sent to the southern camps for winter training.