4.32

78

81

3.30

134

93

2.85

62

43

8.83

67

53

3.09

46

1.62

24

56948

46

58

40

20

43

STATEMENT OF ENLISTMENTS AND REENLISTMENTS DURING APRIL, 1924.

A BULLETIN OF RECRUITING INFORMATION ISSUED BY DIRECTION OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE ARMY

JUNE 1, 1924

JUN 10 1924

3.38

84

72

3.74

112

92

3.04

4.

56

48

36

58

6.

29

15

STATEMENT OF ENLISTMENTS AND REENLISTMENTS DURING APRIL, 1924.

339

51

A. F. in

-China

Hawaiian

- Dept.

1

A BULLETIN OF RECRUITING INFORMATION ISSUED BY DIRECTION OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE ARMY

JUNE 1, 1924

T

HE War Department faces a huge Gigantic Organization Necessary

administrative task in order to comply with the provisions of the Adjusted Compensation Act. This fact has been recognized for some time, and elaborate plans have been kept up to date with every change in any proposed methods of compensation which might have an important effect upon the administration of the measure.

In the spring of 1922 the Secretary of War ordered Major General Robert C. Davis, who was then in command of Plattsburg, to Washington for the purpose of planning and reporting upon the methods which should be inaugurated by the War Department in case of the passage of the adjusted compensation bill then before Congress. The wide experience gained by General Davis in his war position of Adjutant General of the American Expeditionary Forces in France-the executive officer of General Pershing's headquarters—particularly fitted him for this huge undertaking which, because of its magnitude and the time limit within which it must be performed, makes it as large as, if not larger than, any single prior administrative undertaking of the Department, including even those performed by it during the World War. As is well known the bill then before Congress passed both the Senate and House of Representatives but was vetoed by the late President Harding and failed of enactment. The Secretary of War has again designated General Davis to be in charge of the administrative task occasioned by the measure.

The fact that the bill did not become law did not in the least deter the War Department from keeping up to date, in accordance with the many bills subsequently introduced in Congress, the plans so completely and carefully prepared for the administration of the measure. It is due to this foresight that the War Department is ready to put into operation and high gear the wheels of its machinery for the administration of the bonus act. Upon the granting to him of an appropriation by Congress in 1922 the Adjutant General accelerated the machinery to perfect the records of veterans and organizations of the World War contained in some 18,000 four-drawer filing cases, occupying about four acres of floor space, and consisting of approximately 165,000,000 documents, so that in the event of the enactment of any adjusted compensation measure, the information necessary for payment could be furnished with prompt

to Put into Operation Scheme

of Payments

ness and dispatch and at a minimum cost
of operation. Some 340,000 records of
individuals which were incomplete as to
certain information were brought to per-
fection so that today there is no man who
served, the essential facts of whose serv-
ice are not immediately available to the
War Department.

Upon the War Department now de

volves the task of distributing to the four
million or more men who served in the
Army who reside even in the remotest
corners of the United States and foreign
countries, the application blanks which
are at this moment being printed by the
Government Printing Office according to
form heretofore proposed in the War De-
partment and furnished the Public
Printer. It must receive the executed
application blanks from the veterans, com-
pare and verify the statements made in
them with those contained in the official
record of the veteran, compute the amount
in dollars due the veteran and prepare a
certificate for the use of the Veterans'
Bureau in preparing the check for the

veterans in the cases of cash payments or for the issuance of an insurance certificate in the other cases.

The great responsibility confronting the War Department in performing this duty is readily realized when one considers that its action forms the basis for the expenditure by the Government of an amount variously estimated at from $2,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,000.

The following figures on the World War army will further indicate the magnitude of the task and many of the considerations which enter into a determina

tion of the amount of compensation.

The proposed process for receiving and checking an application is outlined as follows: It will first reach a receiving station from whence a card is sent notifying the applicant of the receipt of his application. Thence it will go to examiners who will check to see if all required information has been furnished. If the application is incomplete, it will be forwarded to a correction section which will enter into correspondence with the individual. If a preliminary examination shows the application to be complete, it next will pass to that section which has charge of the portion of the general file where the particular individual's records are kept. This general file contains the records of approximately 6,000,000 individuals. There searchers will check the statements of the applicant against the records. If there is a discrepancy, notations on the case will be forwarded to the trouble division, where further checks will be made by elaborate and careful investigation, involving consultation of any pertinent records in the custody of the War Department or any of the departments or bureaus of the Government. Among such records are those of the organization in which the individual served, casualty records, selective service records, finger prints and muster rolls. After consideration has been given to all this corroborative evidence, final determination will be made on the record of facts obtained by this investigation so that the full interests of the veteran and the Government will be protected. The application will then go to typists

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