St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1917-02-24
HIGHWAYS IN NATIONAL DE.
TENSE.
(By Major A. A. Fries, Corps of En-
gineers, U. S. A.

FENSE.
(By Major A. A. Fries, Corps of En-
gineers, U. S. A.
Numerous instances might be cited
to show the effect roads or their alb
sence had on campaigns in the Civil
War, although their Importance was
infinitely less than now when the
automobile threatens to drive even
the world-famous army mule into Oh
livion. 1t is the automobile with
its speed and carrying power and
the wonderful flexibility for any army
using it, that makes roads so vitality
important in war today. A railroad
must be provided with side tracks,
turntables and yards which, for
hugh business such as war, must be
very large and take time and great
quantities of material in building.
Not so with automobiles, where
every foot of highway, unless in
deep cut or fill, is side track where
machines may unload and turr
around. Furthermore, in dry wealth
er, almost any field can be used fnl
unloading the machines so as not Il
longest the roads at the place When
men and materials are needed.
The answer to the question wheE
roads should be constructed to b :
of military value is, everywhere tina
a. considerable population, agricu,
tural. manufacturing, trading O.
mining, exists. In any great war we
shall have to marshal all of our re-
sources just as the European ma
lions are doing at the present time
Every product of our soil or fac
tories will be called upon for use,
and roads will be required on which
to carry them to the places where
needed. Fine roads along our coasts
and land boundaries will be of the
most immediate benefit, and should
be of the best and widest, since they
will have to bear the heaviest and
most concentrated traffic. There
are a number of roads proposed or
actually under construction that
come under this head. Such are the
Pacific Highway along or near the
Pacific Coast from Seattle to San
Diego, the Yellowstone Trail along
the northern boundary from the vi
cinity of the Great Lakes to the Co
lumbia river, and the Lincoln High
way across the north central part of
the United States.
While highways intended primari-
ly for military purposes should be To-
Gated near our boundaries, they must
not be so near that they can easily
be raided or captured by small
bodies of the enemy and thus likely
to be of use only to him and not to
us. All roads farther inland and
parallel to the border roads will be
of very great value as feeders to
those near the borders. Along these
interior roads men and supplies may
be moved long distances without fear
of interruption or observation by the
enemy, and thus contribute greatly
to the element of surprise so essen
tial to victory in nearly all cases.
There must be cross roads at rea-
sonably close intervals to enable the
traffic on interior lines to leave them
and cross to those places near the
border where needed.
So far as the writer knows there
areNno figures available of the
amount of material a>modern war re-
quires. but it is positively stagger-
ing in its total. The quantity OF
ammunition now used in one battle
is often more than formerly was used
in an entire war. An instance. was
the desperate attempt of the French
to break through the German line:
in the fall of 1915, whens they are
said to have fired at least three mil
lion rounds of artillery ammunition
to say nothing of millions of rounds
of ammunition used in rifles and ma
chine guns. 1t is not possible to
estimate accurately the weight OF
powder and shell used, but we know
that they have guns firing shells
ranging from three to twelve inches
in diameter. The three-inch shell
and the powder to fire. it weight
about Is pounds, to which must be
added at least pounds of acces-
series required in packing and trans
portation, so that each shot from a
three-inch gun requires the trans
portation to the front of 20 pounds
II all French guns had been three
inch only, the three million rounds
in one battle would have weighed
10000 tons. But as a Ax-inch
shell, for instance, requires seven
times as much powder, shell and ac-
cessories as a three-inch shell, t.
weight of ammunition actually va
much greater than 10000 tons.
During mobilization and me
stages of the war there viii DE mas
movements of large bodies of tsoC
Here roads and automobiles viii
deciding factors, for as every'acd
knows from the progress of the VI =
in Europe, the one who gets Il
start has an enormous advantae
that will cost the other side mar
times the original loss to overcome
Later, in the beginning of a cam
paign, when movements are rapid
and there is little opportunity to in
trench, three-inch guns and shrapnel
will be very largely used, but just
as soon as there is time to intrench
there will be an opportunity for the
larger guns to come up to fire high
explosive shells to drive the enemy
out of his intrenched positions. This