THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



425 



those camps, where the hodge-podge of 

 European immigration assembles, Pole, 

 Galician, Greek, and Sicilian are woven 

 into the woof of the nation. 



But before analyzing in detail the na- 

 tional transmutation brought about by 

 the call to arms, let us consider how the 

 War Department, for the whole of this 

 gigantic work has fallen upon that exec- 

 utive branch of the government, met the 

 physical problem involved. 



The tales of the mushroom growths of 

 mining cities in the West and in Alaska 

 fail in interest when compared with the 

 story of the creation of the 16 great mili- 

 tary cities that today dot the United 

 States. National life is turned from its 

 channels. Whole populations gather, 

 move, and gather again in new centers to 

 begin life that to them is as new as would 

 be the conditions of the mining camp to 

 the tenderfoot. 



HOW THE BUILDING OF 1 6 SOLDIER CITIES 

 BEGAN 



But in the cities of the National Army 

 cantonments no detail was left to hazard. 

 The garish, irregular outline of the bo- 

 nanza camp, that symbolized its equally 

 loose and careless organization, finds no 

 duplicate where our citizen soldiers train. 

 Everything is regular and in order here, 

 and the first view of one of these camps 

 must impress the selected soldier with the 

 system that created them, the system 

 combining the fundamental element of 

 military life — order through efficiency. 



To understand something of the sys- 

 tem employed in the construction of the 

 National Army cantonments, it is neces- 

 sary to go back to the very beginning of 

 the plan of creating the soldier cities. 



That plan was the outcome of the pool- 

 ing of ideas by the best town-planners, 

 water-supply experts, sewerage experts, 

 architects and builders summoned from 

 the length and breadth of the United 

 States to meet and consult together at 

 Washington. When these gentlemen ar- 

 rived in Washington they found a quar- 

 termaster colonel and three assistants 

 struggling with the colossal task of cre- 

 ating 16 cities, each of 45,000 population. 

 These officers had taken over the work in 

 the line of duty, and were pushing bravely 

 forward with the outlines of an orsrani- 



zation far beyond the scale of the Steel 

 Corporation. 



STANDARDIZATION HASTENS CANTONMENT 

 CONSTRUCTION 



The civilian experts volunteered their 

 help, and out of their joint deliberations 

 the plan and specifications of the stand- 

 ardized division cantonment were evolved. 

 In order that the work might proceed 

 with regularity and speed, every detail of 

 construction from the elevation and in- 

 terior of division headquarters to the 

 specifications for train stables and sheds 

 was fixed to standard. W'alls, windows, 

 doors, even locks and hinges, must con- 

 , form to one model. It was decided to 

 provide for every detail of barrack-build- 

 ing, road-building, sewerage construction, 

 pipe-laying, and street-planning with the 

 greatest care in one model cantonment, 

 and then to let that carefully considered 

 scheme hold for the building of all 16 

 camps. The ground, or the terrain, as it 

 is called in military phraseology, would 

 in some cases necessitate variation in the 

 outline of the streets of the camps ; but 

 the standardized shape was to be similar 

 to the letter "U," division headquarters 

 to be situated at the bend of the letter 

 and the soldiers' houses to spread regu- 

 larly through the branches (see page 



437) • 



It is seen at once that this plan gives a 

 highly centralized city location. Although 

 the measured outline of the branches of 

 the; "U" equal 2 J/2 miles, and sometimes 

 more on the ground, all units are com- 

 pact; in themselves and closely united to 

 headquarters. Of additional military 

 advantage is the fact that the camp is 

 located so that the receiving depots and 

 supply warehouses are built facing rail- 

 road spurs, paralleling the long side 

 branches of the "IT," thus making for 

 the rapid distribution of supplies in the 

 present, while assuring the facile em- 

 barkation of troops in the future. 



THE "MAIN STREET" OF THE SOLDIER CITY 



This is the ideal outline. Needless to 

 say it has been varied. There are "V"- 

 shaped camps, which maintain the same 

 principle, while Camp Lee resembles a 

 huge "J." These variations are due to 

 the accidents of the around selected for 



