Demobilization : $b our industrial and military demobilization after the armistice, 1918-1920Crowell, Benedict
History
Demobilization : $b our industrial and military demobilization after the armistice, 1918-1920
Crowell, Benedict
United States. Army. American Expeditionary Forces -- Demobilization; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
From the pay-roll teams the certified sheets went to another set of
finance teams for “change-listing.” The final payments to soldiers were
made in cash. The “change-listers” took the pay rolls and computed
precisely how many bills of each denomination, how many half-dollars,
how many quarters and dimes and nickels and pennies, it would require
to pay off all the men without requiring one of them to make change
at the window. The aggregate change lists went to the camp disbursing
officer, and he procured the cash from the nearest bank. The banks
nearest to some of the camps were miles away through desolate
country, and sometimes a disbursing officer had to bring back in his
automobile as much as a million dollars in currency. He rode under the
escort of a heavy guard and was further protected by armed men in his
camp office. Losses incurred through robbery were insignificant.
[Illustration:
_Photo by Signal Corps_
DISCHARGED SOLDIERS RECEIVING FINAL PAY]
[Illustration:
_Felix J. Koch Photo_
MAKING OUT DISCHARGE CERTIFICATES]
Every morning the disbursing officer turned over to his assistants the
exact quantity of bills and small change needed to cover the payments
to be made that day. The men reported to the pay office in companies.
Their officers called out their names one by one, and when each man
had verified his cash he received his discharge certificate, on the
back of which was endorsed the amount of money just paid to him in
final settlement. At that moment he was no longer a soldier. He could
do as he pleased from that time on, but he usually yielded to the good
influences of those urging him to proceed directly to his home.
The Seventy-seventh Division was paid off and discharged at Camp Upton
in two days. There were 27,000 men in the division as it reached the
demobilization camp. The problem of the finance officers was simplified
by the fact that practically all of the men resided in New York City,
which made it easy to compute mileage. Each man received an average
of $100, including the bonus, an amount which is probably a fair
approximation of what was paid to the average overseas soldier upon
discharge. The advantage of speed in demobilization was not all to the
soldier. It cost about two dollars a day to maintain a private soldier
in the Service. Each day’s delay, therefore, in demobilizing the
Seventy-seventh Division cost the Government $54,000.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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