Judsonia weekly advance., 1917-06-20
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-Part 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 these experts of the forest service 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 1t 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 detachments 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 wood like that of Bois le Pretre on the west front, which daily Is Shell-pOunded, will know what 1t is 10 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- roads have suffered most, perhaps, be- cause of the lack of lubricating oils, a 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 colonel of the regular army, or by junior of the service promoted temporarily to the rank of colonel who will have with him few other officers of the regular es- tablishment to keep the organization in military trim and charged with the military spirit. The men of the regi- ment will act in cooperation with the French foresters.
 "Cold Steel" in Warfare.
 A day or two ago an order was is- sued, or an intimation was given that 1t 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 plain.
 The 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- tipped rifle are an essential to success. The war has brought 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 it's 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- 1 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 a weapon of offense was becoming obsolete. There has been a complete reversal of opinion. The British and the French