Judsonia weekly advance., 1917-05-30
AMERICAN ENGINEERS SENT TO FRANCE WILL WORK CLOSE
 TO THE FRONT.
MAY BE OFTEN UNDER FIRE
They Will Be Trained Railroad Men and Are to Build and Keep Open the Lines of Communication Under Exacting Conditions.
By EDWARD B. CLARK,

Washington.-There will be rapid re- cruiting of nine regiments of army en- gineers for immediate service in France. The men composing the regi- ments will be trained railroad em- ployees under the command of colo nel of the regular army. They will find their way clear to do high service in Europe.
 Recruits who volunteer for this en- gineering work need not fear that their life is to be a humdrum when they get into France. They may be doing work to which they are accus- toned, but they will do it under new conditions and occasionally under those of fire. The railway men will see real service in France, and they will do their shell lodging on occasion with the men of the fighting line.
 Few Americans, perhaps, have con ception of the work which engineers have done in France since the begin ming of the war, nor is there any pres ent conception, probably, of the hard driving service which is ahead of the Americans soon to sail the submarine zone and to enter on the army life in Belgium and France from Ostend to the Fosges mountains.
 British railway men regularly enlist ed in the army today have charge of a large part of the rail lines of communi- cation in northern France. AS early as March, 1915, the lines from Bou- logne running to Amiens and from there north were almost wholly under the control of the British. The trav- eler in France heard English spoken along the routes of way through mile after mile of the embattled country.
 Will Relieve French Engineers.
 Farther east and back of the lines, and up to them from Paris to the Mo- selle river, the railroads were under the management of Frenchmen. It is understood that the American engi- neers will relieve the French of a large part of their work and thereby will re- lease some thousands of men for other service.
 When the Germans advanced to the Petit and the Grand Morin rivers south east to Paris, and there were struck by the forces of the British and French and hurled backward in retreat, the railway men of the islands and of France instantly began the work of road construction on the routes lead ing nOrthward, following in the imme- date rear of the advancing English and French. If the labor of the rail- | hoI In +ho of the Germans would not have been so rapid nor would the British and the French have been able to continue their advance.
 The Americans frequently will be under shell fire. They will get plenty of the excitement of war, and intend ing volunteers need not fear that they are going over to France to lead life ordinary in every way except that it will run through its hours in a new environment. The American engineers not only will hear the sound of the | guns of battle, but they are likely to | feel some of their effects. It will be real army life for the American rail- way men, and there can be no Ameri- l Cdu lO OOuDt llltJ tucy WILL UiecL lue new conditions and do their work, and their fighting like Americans.
 General crowder's Big Task. l President Wilson took the judge advocate general of the United States Army, Enoch H. Crowder, to make of him provost mar shal general. A man of fine legal attalnments and of force of character and soldierlike qualities was needed for the big job confronting the coun- try. The administration stood by the principle of selective conscription, and it must abide by the judgment of 1 the people upon it's success or it's fail- ure. General Crowder will direct the great work
 Heavy responsibility today rests on the shoulders of the provost marshal general. To him has come the great labor of raising armies for the United 1 States to fight for the principle of democracy and the downfall of despot- ism.
 There is no office in the city of l Washington today which is so studious- ly busy as that of the provost marshal general. General Crowder picked his subordinates. They came from vari- ous branches of the service and are known as men of discrimination, tact and executive ability, and as soldiers unafraid to do their duty.
 It can be said today that the ma chinery for the registration day op- erations is ready. It was planned, ad- justed and made ready for use by the