The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1917-05-26
NOT 1 PEACE JOB.
AMERICAN ENGINEERS SENT TO
8 FRANCE WILL WORK CLOSE
81 TO THE FRONT.
MAY BE OFTEN UNDER FIRE
They VIII Be Trained Railroad Men
end Are TO Build and Keep Open
the Lines Of Communication Under
Exsctino Conditions
BY EDWARD D. CLARK.

BY EDWARD 3. 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 EN-
ployees under the command Of colo
mel Of the regular army. They will find
their way clear to do high service In
Europe.
Recruits who volunteer for this en-
cheering work need not fear that
their life Is to be humdrum when
they get into France. They may be
doing work to which they are accus-
toned, but they will do II 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.
q 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 Vosges mountains.
| British railway men regularly enlist
ed In the army today have charge Of
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 trnv-
eler In France heard English spoken
along the routes Of way through mile
after mile OF the embattled country.
viii 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. 1t is
| understood that the American engl-
neers will relieve the French of 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 NORM 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. II the labor of the rail-
road men had been lacking the retreat
Of the Germans would not have been
so rapid nor would the British and the
French have been able to continue
their advance.
France today back of the fighting
lines proves the point of the figure OF
speech which concerns itself with a
network of tracks," Even the
French, accustomed to do things quick
ly when necessity imposes, did not be-
lieve that railroad construction could
be carried on as rapidly as 1t was In
the days Immediately following the
battle of the Marie. The American
engineers may see the Germans take
up another retreat like that which fol-
lowed the Marne fight and therefore
may be able to prove that Uncle Sans
men can do work as rapidly and as
well under squirting conditions as the
French did 1t in September, 1914.
The crown princes army in lts nd
vance in August Of the first year OF
the war swept from Verdun, the Ar
gonne forest, and st. Mihiel down Il
the country about Barbecue ant
vitry.le-Francois. There they were
struck by the force of the French com
mander, who now is in Saloniki, ant
were driven back to the line they nov
hold.