Evening star., 1917-09-22
HOlU American RQilrOQderS
Are Doing "Bits" in France
Win Praise of French for Their Efficiency and
Goodness With Which They Share
Dangers of Soldiers

a month are receiving the pay Of soldiers
and non-commissioned officers. Hail OF
the men have sent home all the money
they have been paid, except few francs
necessary for their smokes and laundry.
incidentally the men need tobacco. They
are a part of the French army, but army
from the American Army. Tobacco and
similar supplies are not on the quarter
masters list, and the engineers are not
on the list Of the many volunteer smoke
distributions. On account of their RAPID
movements, few letters have caught up
with them and no papers have been re-
CeiVed.
Learning French Rapidly.
The French are eager to assist in every
way. The men are picking up the Ian
guage rapidly and know enough of it to
operate the trains. They will do only
operating work and hundreds Of Chinese
coolies are doing the manual labor. Ul-
timately the Americans expect to oper-
ate with half the number of men the
French use as crews They are now re-
placing them man for man. until they
learn the run of the system. The roadbed
is said to be in as good condition that
OF any road in the United States, and bet
ter than most of them. The engines are
of a type of construction different from
that of the locomotives at home. Many
are old models, but they are in fairly
good condition.
The French officers were in the midst
of their dinner when I drove to the
camp where their headquarters are To-
Gated. 1t was a typical army railroad
city. Long strings of locomotives pas
tured on the tracks. big frame barracks.
bombproofs for the protection of aero
planes, big field hospital: a little
cemetery far up on a shaded hillside; in
the yards American orders being shouted
just as in any railway yard. coolies off
duty trying to crowd into every pic
ture American and Frenc hsoldiers and
trainmen around the barracks; the
humming of scout aeroplanes overhead
and the boom of guns not far dis
tant-all this made picturesque set
ting.
Toasted as Comrades.
Here is to our American and Brit
ish comrades Zone of the latter was
there) who have come to help u.s. was
the toast proposed by a French COM
mander as the dinner was finished.
Here is hoping that we will run
trains into Berlin before Christmas"
replied an American officer.
Everybody shouted ''Nive," the French
for the Americans, and the Americans
for the French. the toast disap-
peared.
The section of the road which the
Americans are operating is sixty miles
long. On account of the situation it is
a big task, and no comparison can be
made between the number of men
operating it and those operating an
equal mileage at homes Barracks are
scattered at different points along the
line. The standard American crew sys-
tenn of first in. first out, is followed.
There is much home sentiment among
the boys. Nightly they bawl out Casey
Jones" to the accompaniment of the
piano which they brought along, but
Casey Jones" never saw anything on
the Salt Lake line like lodging mur-
derous aeroplane. In the midst of
band concert may come a bombproof
drill, as they want the men to be
ready. The band is a development of
the situation. The officers subscribed
for the instruments and enough mate
rial was found in the ranks of the rail-
readers to make band.
Lone American Grave.
In the cemetery on the hill, in the
midst of French soldiers. coolies,
strange Arabic inscriptions, plain white
board head pieces on the big common
grave for the unknown dead. Is the
single grave of a young American. One
railroad man deciphered the name on
the little aluminium plate on the wooden
cross the first day. Now pansies grow
on the grave. The inscription under
circular tin piece with the tri-color of
France, the distinctive mark of a SOL
diers grave, reads:
John Dewlin. Ambulance companie