Connecticut western news., 1917-05-10
RAILR0hD CORPS
 FOR FRANCE SOON
Var Department to Recruit
 Force Ot 1O,8OO.
NINE REGIMENTS PLANNED,


 fieer From the Engineer Corps, but Rest of Personnel Will Be Entirely Civilian - Trained Mon to French Front as Soon as They Can Be
 Raised.
 An expeditionary force of 1O,S00, composed entirely of railroad workers. under the leadership of officers of the engineer corps, U. s. A., will be the first large body to carry the Stars and Stripes overseas.
 They will be sent to France to take over a large part of the work on the lines of communication behind the bat tie front. Orders 10 recruit the force immediately have gone forward from the war department.
 Nine regiments will be formed, each ofiicered by colonel and adjutant from the engineer corps. The other officers will be selected from the ranks of the recruits. Not even the officers reserve corps will be called upon.
 The first 10000" as they are al- ready being called in the war depart ment, will be separate from any unit or organization in the service. They will be secured entirely through volun- teer methods and will not be a rart of the engineer corps even though flying the colors of that organization.
 May Go In Seized Ships.
 As separate corps of experts in one special line of work-railroad building and operating-they will he transport ed to France, probably in several of the great German ships seized by this government and now being repaired and made ready for use.
 Although almost entirely a special body, the railroad corps will wear the United States uniform and fly the American flag. They go to France on a special mission to build up the rail- roads of that country, which are re- ported in poor condition as a result of overuse and the impossibility of secur- ing sufficient men from the firing line and for the plants to replace broken down equipment.
 The great railway centers of the United States will be recruiting points for the new force. Special offices have been established in New York, Chicago. St. Louis. Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Atlanta, San Francisco and Philadel- phia for examination and enlistment of recruits
 The war department has issued the following statement relative to the new corps:
 "The war department has sent out orders for the raising as rapidly as possible of nine additional regiments of engineers, who are destined to pro- ceed to France at the earliest possible moment for work on the lines of com. munication.
 Similar Corps For Russia.
 Tt is requested of the press that no speculation or rumors regarding this force be carried by it other than those given out by the war department. All details with regard to the force will be released by the department as fast as compatible with the public interests.
 "Two officers from the regular corps of engineers will be assigned to each regiment, but the names of these ofii- cers will not be announced at the pres ent time"
 The railroad corps is the same as that proposed by Daniel Willard, presi- dent of the Baltimore and Ohio rail- road and a leader in the Council of Ma. tional Defense. Instead of sending the workers as a mere semigovernmental enterprise, however, it was decided to enlist them in the regular service.
 On the same lines an carly announce. ment is expected of orders to recruit a similar force for use in Russia. The Russian railroads are declared to be in even a worse stat than those in France, and the usefulness of the Rus sian army is tremendously hampered by lack of adequate communication and transportation facilities.