ness of the country for defense prompted them to request that oppor- tunity be given them to prepare themselves so as to perform more efficiently their duties in case the country should unfortunately be involved in war. . . . Aside from the military instructions given these students and business men, I feel that the interest in prepared- ness which leads these men not only to give their time to the Govern- ment, but to incur the expenses of buying uniforms and paying for transportation to the camps, is of great value to the country and should be encouraged by the war department. These camps have passed the experimental stage and there can hardly be any question as to the advisability of continuing them and extending them where the conditions of service of regular troops are such as to permit the department to send troops and instructors to the camps. Men with means probably do not object to paying the necessary funds to get the military training which the Government expects to use in case of need. This, however, does not make it right. Men who are not so fortunately fixed financially should be permitted to show their patriotism and interest in preparing the country for war. If these camps are of value, which undoubtedly they are, and are to be continued, certain necessary expenses of the men willing to give their time should be met by the Government."
In 1916 a series of four camps, each for a month, was held at Plattsburg, N.Y. , a camp of one month's duration for boys at Fort Terry, N.Y., and a series of six camps of two weeks' intensive training at Wadsworth, N.Y., for the police of New York City; and a series of three camps, each for a month, at Oglethorpe, Ga.
When the United States entered the World War these has- tily but intensively trained enthusiastic men were invaluable. They furnished the nucleus of civilian officers with which to begin the great work of developing 200,000 officers, and added a valuable and indispensable force to the scanty number of regular officers and national guard officers available for the training of the men. In the spring of 1917 the Federal Government took over the whole task and established a series of camps for the training of officers for the war. Under authority of Section 54, National Defense Act 1916, the Secretary of War directed the establishment of 16 Citizens' Training Camps throughout the United States at the following points:
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NAME Plattsburg Barracks,
N.Y. (x) Plattsburg Barracks,
N.Y. (2) Madison Barracks. N.Y.
Fort Niagara, N. Y. Fort Myer, Va.
Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
Fort McPherson, Ga. Ft. Benjamin Harrison,
Ind. (i) Ft. Benjamin Harrison,
Ind. (2)
Fort Sheridan, 111. (i) Fort Sheridan, 111. (2) Ft. Logan H. Roots, Ark. Fort Snelling, Minn.
Fort Riley, Kans. Leon Springs, Tex. Presidio of San Francisco, Cal.
FOR CANDIDATES FROM Long I., New York City and adja-
cent territory. Long I., New York City and adja-
cent territory. Balance of State of New York and
part of Pennsylvania. Balance of Pennsylvania. New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
District of Columbia and Virginia. N.Carolina, S.Carolina and Ten-
nessee.
Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Ohio and W. Virginia.
Indiana and Kentucky.
Illinois.
Michigan and Wisconsin.
Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Minnesota, Iowa, N. Dakota, S. Da- kota and Nebraska.
Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
Oklahoma and Texas.
Montana, Idaho, Washington, Ore- gon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mex-
The training camps for officers were ordered to be ready for the reception of reserve officers about May 8, for candidates for commission May 14, and the course of instruction was to begin on May 15, 1917. Minimum age for attendance was 20 years and 9 months; maximum age 44 years. In addition to the foregoing, General Order 119, War Department 1917, established a training camp at Fort Winfield Scott, Cal., for the training of members of the Coast Artillery section of the Officers' Reserve Corps residing within the territorial limits of the Western Department, and a similar camp at Fort Monroe, Va., for the balance of the Coast Artillery Reserve Corps officers. These training camps began operation on Sept. 22 1917. A medical officers' training camp was also established in 1917 at Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Other camps for officers were
established at the headquarters of the various divisions, the courses being essentially the same as those at the former officers' camps. The period allotted for the development of an officer at the Government training camps was three months. The work was intensive and hard. It was an attempt, in the rush and confusion of war, to produce officers in the minimum period of time. The purpose was to turn out the largest possible number of platoon leaders and a limited number of company commanders and officers of field grade. The same general plan was carried out at the training camps for officers in the Quartermaster Corps, Medical Corps and other staff corps. The courses involved much hard work and were necessarily defective in some particulars, but they served to turn out many tens of thousands of officers with elementary training which was later supplemented by their work with the divisional organiza- tions to which they were assigned.
Theodore Roosevelt gave the full support of his great prestige and influence in the upbuilding of the camps and never lost an opportunity to impress upon the public their importance and to push forward their development. Men too numerous to mention, men who are leaders in every walk of life, cooperated to the limit of their ability in the upbuilding of these camps and in waking the country to an appreciation of the gravity of the situation and the need of preparation. The camps were al great force in firing the public conscience and rousing the people to a realization of their obligation to prepare the country for defence and to do their part in the great struggle then threaten- ing the world. (L. Wo.)
TRANSJORDANIA, EMIRATE OF, sometimes called Kerak, a dominion extending some 200 m. S. from the Yarmuk and from
the Jordan eastwards to the desert. It comprises Gilead,
Amman, Moab and part of Edom of the Old Testament, and
El Belqa, the southern portion of the former Turkish vilayet of
Damascus. After forming the independent kingdom of Ghassan
under a succession of Arab dynasties from A.D. 165 onwards
it was conquered by the Moslems during the joint reigns of
Amr IV. and Jabala V. and VI. in 637, and under the name of
Kerak became one of the six kingdoms into which Syria was
divided under the khalifs of Bagdad and the Seljuk Turks.
As the Emirate of Kerak it was a separate State during the
Middle Ages and again became an independent principality in
1920 with its capital at Amman (pop. 2,300). The other
principal towns are Kerak (pop. 2,500), Madeba (pop. 2,000),
Es Salt (pop. 8,000), Ma'an (pop. 3,000), Jerash (pop. 1,500).
Its inhabitants possibly number 180,000, varying according
to- the season and the movements of the nomads; they are
partly settled Arabs many of whom are Christians with
some colonies of Circassian Moslems and a number of nomads.
It contains many interesting classical and mediaeval ruins.
The physical features, flora and fauna are similar to those of
southern Syria.
During the Crusades Kerak (see 15.753) was the capital of the great fief of the Oultrejourdain and, of its Christian lords, the most notable were Philip de Milly (1161-8), formerly lord of Nablus (1142-61), who surrendered the fief in order to join the Templars, subsequently becoming their Grand Master, and Reginald de Chatillon (1177-87), a former Prince of Antioch (1153-60), who was beheaded by Saladin after the battle of Hattin (1187). Saladin's brother El Adil (" saphadin ") took Kerak in 1188 and was its emir until he became Sultan of Egypt (1200). His grandson En Nasr Da'ud, after being deposed from the throne of Damascus (1229), reigned in Kerak for 20 years and recaptured Jerusalem from the Christians in 1239. When the Ayyubid dynasty was overthrown in Egypt, his nephew El Mugith, a prisoner of the new Sultan Aibek, was released by his gaolers in Shobek and placed on the throne of Kerak (1250). He was deposed in 1262 (and later strangled) by Sultan Baibars of Egypt whose own son was glad to find a throne at Kerak after losing that of Egypt (1279). Berekeh's brother Ma'sud, who succeeded him in Kerak, was in turn deposed (1286) and another fugitive Sultan of Egypt, En Nasr, reigned in Kerak (1294-9) until his restoration to power in
