On the arrival of the candidates at Des Moines, civilian customs, thoughts, and habits soon gave way for the iron discipline involved in making officers. Men who had thought of the camp as the place for a summer vacation soon were undeceived. Colonel C. C. Ballou and his staff of officers put them through a daily program beginning at 5.30 a. m. with reveille and flag-raising and ending with taps at 9.45 p. m. From 7.30 to 8.30 a. m. there was infantry drill without arms, from 8.30 to 9 manual or physical training, from 9.15 to 10.15 infantry drill, from 10.45 to 11.45 a practice hike without arms; then dinner; from 1.30 to 2.30 p. m. musketry arms, from 2.30 to 3 semaphore signaling, from 3 to 4.30 conferences on care of equipment, and from 7 to 8 evening study on the organization of the regiment. As progress was made other work was taken up, including bayonet drill, trench-digging, manoeuvering, map-making and target practice, and lectures were also given showing the relation of the camp to the great national army. It was fully realized that success or failure in the crucial test carried with it far-reaching results. Colonel Ballou, in speaking to the men on one occasion, said: “This is a momentous hour, and the establishment of this camp is an epochal and unprecedented event in the history of the colored race. Your race will be on trial with you as its representatives, during the existence of this camp, and to succeed there will be required of you strong bodies, keen intelligence, absolute obedience to orders, unflagging industry, exemplary conduct, and character of the highest order.” With such incentive the men worked away at the most strenuous business in which they were ever engaged. And yet there were some good times--recreation in the form of baseball and other athletic contests and the privilege of visiting in the city of Des Moines on Saturday and Sunday. The Y. M. C. A. furnished motion pictures and programs on Saturday and Sunday evenings, and through its efforts some of the leading speakers of the country appeared. Of special inspiration in this connection was the presence in camp of one of the secretaries, the “grand old man,” Dr. George W. Cabiniss, who gave up a lucrative practice in Washington to be with the “boys,” and who spent himself unstintingly in their behalf.