The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-15
FRANCE IS WELL EQUIPPED
FROM MILITARY STANDPOINT
Annual Expenditures On Her Regular Army Immense
Her Officers Well Trained in Great national Military
Colleges-Pioneers in Air War.

Tx III no 49,
of France toward Paris. in grim ODE
dience to the orders Of the German
war lord, recalls the investIture OF
the city by the Seine in the war of
1870, when the inhabitants Of Paris
were brought to the verge Of starVa-
ton before the city surrendered, when
the Prussians hemmed it round So
ightl with a wall of bayonetS that
the MY method Of communication
with the outside world was by carrier
pigeon and the only road OF egress
which the PruSS3anS did not control
was the sky. Carrier pigeons in the
impending siege will be replaced BY
wireless. with which no hostile army
can permanently interfere. The bal
looms which served to carry rench
men from Paris in the war of 1870
will be replaced. if flight by the sky
becomes necessary. with the swifter
and more certain acceptance.
A Picture OF the Capital.
A graphic picture of the elaborate
preparations being made for the in
yestiture of Paris by the Germans is
drawn by the. Paris correspondent Of
The London Lancet, himself a French
physician, writing Oh the eve Of de-
parture for the front with the French
medical corps. With the abandonment
Of the city by the government au-
thoritieS and the closing OF the gates,
Paris is now practically in a state
of siege. The military and medical
authorities control all that goes on.
Elaborate sanitary arrangements have
been made for the care OF both the in
habitaDtS who remain to face the I'M
certainties of a siege and the wound
ed who are brought into Paris on
their way to hospitals beyond the
probable dvanc Of the invaders.
The aspect of Paris is entirely
transformed. The suppression OF
o~mnibuses, the extreme reduction in
the number of tra1ncarS and hackney
vehicles. the closing of nearly all the
shops whose prOprietorS and employ
ees alike have one to the front, have
already given to the immense city, or
dinarily teeming with life and hustle,
IN entirely unfamiliar aspect. Many
automobiles bearing the Red Cross
flag to Indicate that they are engaged
on hospital duty or that they belong
to a medical man, move rapidly about.
The greater number of medical men.
even those Of mature age, in Paris
have already one to take up their
posts in the Army Medical Service,
and your own correspondent is writ
ing you this, his last letter for some
time to come, only a few hours previ-
ouSly to his departure to take charge
OF an ambulance corps, as medecin
chef in the Army Of the East.
Arranging for Doctors.
L attend to >the needs OF the
population of Paris lists of medical
men remaining in town, with their
addresses, have been posted in the
mairies of each quarter. The night
medical service on duty at each police
station has been especially strength.
ened. Medical men in charge Of
hospital services have for the mos
{ part remained at their posts, but il
{ military tenue. Many hospitals have
been evacuated and their patients as.
signed to others, which will be re
served for the people of Paris, VIII
| are less numerous at the preSen
time, since the city is emptied OF hal
! its population. The others care 70
e the wounded, who are now beginning
to arrive, though at present in small
numbers. The military direction doe
: not intend to discharge them all int,
Paris.
8 If the fortune Of wal shout.
: cause Paris to be besieged that woul,
mean too many mouths to feed, an,
e IN case OF distress too manv patient
to be transported from the city. Tn
evacuaous offers mad by the resident
CT large mansions, and by the proprie
q tors or the huge shops to transforr
their premises into private hospital
n have been superabundant, so that tn
greater part Of them have had to b
e declined by the administration.
n Certain of these persons, it az
pears. moreover. in making thes
d charitable offers have thought to re
d tain their automobiles. and, owing I
h the protection afforded by the Re
Cross flag, to avoid the requisitio
which pitilessly falls upon all thes
vehicles.
e ImprOvised Hospitals.
1t An innumerable quantity {
k palaces, with beds, material and De
al sonnet. has been put at the dispos;
is OF the Government. The Faculte c
Medicine with its vast halls and built
of lngs Of the practical school of I'll
IN faculty are henceforth converted in
as ambulance stations as we'll as all IL
ne lycees, the public and private school
n. The wife of the Minister Of w;
he has established by public subscriptie
IN a vast ambulance organization in Il
ed premises of the Ecole Polytechniuu
be under the control Of Professor Cha,
- 4 a n 49,