The Carlisle independent., 1917-06-21
FoRESTERS ARE TO BE RECRUIT. ED AND SENT ACROSS TO
 HELP FRANCE.
THEIR WORK IS IMPORTANT
Will Give Vital Aid to the Engineers In Rebuilding and Maintaining the Lines of Communication-Par of Regular Army.
By EDWARD B. CLARK

 hardened to the service of field and flood and representing the best of Mother Natures breed.
 It is wholly within the range of pos abilities that these trained woodsmen of the United States may turn the scale in some of the important opera tionS of the war. It will be the duty of the United States to "get out" ma terial necessary for trenches, bridges. railroads and other construction work of vital importance not only to the fighting line, but to the means of keeping it supplied. The foresters will be as much part of the military force of the United States as any other unit that we send save only that the men will be armed with the implements of their calling. They will not fight, but they must at times run the dangers of those who do fight.
 Some of the foresters who will go are engineers, but the actual work of rebuilding the railroads which feed the fighting lines and the bridges which make the advances over rapid running streams possible will be the duty of the engineering attachments of the United States army. The forest CTS, however, will get out and supply the tested material for the use of their engineer brethren. The foreSters who go into a wood like that of Bois le Pretre on the west front, which daily is shell-pOunded will know what it is to risk their lives for the cause of de- mocracy.
 French Railroads Have Suffered.
 Concerning the condition of the means of rail communication in France at the present time. this was written today:
 '.The French railroads, like those of Germany. have suffered terribly from the neglect imposed by the use of men on the firing lines. The German rail- cause of the lack of lubricating oils, want of which has played havoc with their rolling stock.
 However this may be, the French cannot properly care for their rail- ways without taking men who are vi- tally necessary for the defense of the country. The railroads which provide important avenues of communication between the base and the front for the movement of troops and supplies can not be neglected without seriously en- dangering operations against the en- emy. The engineers, the railway men and the foresters who will be sent to France by Uncle Sam will solve the gravest problem which has confronted the battling republic"
 The new forestry regiment will be commanded probably by coloneJ of the regular army, or by a junior of he service promoted temporarily to .he rank of colonel who will have with him a few other officers of the regular rs- tablishment to keep the organization n military trim and charged with the military spirit. The men of the regi- ment will act in cooperation with the French foresters and all the timber that is to be cut will be taken in such a manner a. to guarantee the perpetu- U.
 "Cold Steep in Warfare.
 A day or two ago an order was is- sued, or an intimation was given that it was to be issued. that the re- cruits of the new American army would be taught the British bayonet drill instead of that which has been in use in the American armies for good many years. The reason is quite plaiQ.
 1le lessons of the present war, in which there has been an immense amount of hand-to-hand fighting, have taught the British that new feints and cuts and thrusts with the bayonet- The war has brought a good many changes in fighting methods, and the change In the use of the bayonet has not been the least of them.
 Field guns and the bayonet will win the war for America and for its allies"
 This is the word frequently spoken by army men in Washington. Of course, 1t takes no thought of the pos sibility of success of the German sub marine campaign, nor of the possibil- ity of great German naval victory, for these two results, vital from the German point of view, are considered so remote of accomplishment that they do not enter into the military mans calculations.
 Bayonet by No Means Obsolete.
 It was only few years ago that the military authorities of the world came to think that the bayonet as weapon of offense was becoming obsolete. There has been complete reversal of opinion. The British and the French have won many trench and many a hand-to-hand conflict In the open by the use of the bayonet. Bayonets are gruesome weapons, but they quickly put an end to an opponents ambition to fight If he finds that he Is out