All of those selected who became attached to the organization in an official capacity gave up responsible and remunerative positions to give the Government the benefit of their services. They all being over the draft-age limit and representative technical men of repute and standing in their community, a splendid precedent of patriotism was established. The assembling of an organization and the planning and execution of the work was undertaken with a view of accomplishing all that human ingenuity, engineering, and constructing skill could devise in the brief time available. [Sidenote: The plans formulated.] [Sidenote: Magnitude of the task.] Plans were formulated by engineers, architects, and town planners who had given much thought to the particular problems involved. Camp sites comprising from 2,000 to 11,000 acres each were selected by a board of Army officers under the direction of the department commanders. Names of responsible contracting firms were secured and every effort made to perfect an organization competent to carry out the work of completing the camps at the earliest possible moment. The magnitude of assembling an organization for carrying on the work and securing the labor and materials therefor can in some measure be realized by reference to the following table, showing quantities of the principal materials estimated to be used in the construction of the National Army cantonments. [Sidenote: Approximate quantities of materials.] The approximate quantities of principal materials used in the construction of the various National Army camps are shown in the following tables. This does not include National Guard, embarkation, or training camps.