The Nome daily nugget., 1917-11-10

of the front from the North Sea tO the Swiss frontier until at the present
 mament any fighting units arrive at almost any part of the line finds a habitabe dug-out awaiting it.
 The correspondent of the Associated Press has seen and been inside dozens of these subterranean citics-for such they may be termed at many places, and, even where all the natural con- ditions are difficult he has found the shelters commodious wcll-drained and talon finds accommodation in a single shelter, and each man lodged in it is provided with a simple bed consisting of a wire netting foundation supported by wooden uprights On this the sol dier lays his regulation bundle of straw and, covering himself with his army blanket and great coat. can sleep with freedom from anxiety as to any bOm- bardment in progress outside. The shelters are provided generally with electric light or acetylene lamps, sani- tary conveniences, and, in some cases, with complete shower baths.
 First aid posts and dressing stations with all modern surgical appliances are also to hand, so that the surgeon attached to the unit may attend inn mcdiately to any wounded men brought In from the nearby battlefield.
 So well are the shelters protected from the view of the enemy that, al- though in many cases the underground lodgings covers an area of 5000 square yards. not once in the course of the past year has one of them been de stroyed by the cncmy's fire. They have many exits, the plan being to provide one for each section or quarter company so that in case one exit should be hit and blocked, the mon inside may escape through another opening
 At the beginning of the war the sol diers actually in the fighting line made their own shelters, which were just holes in the ground and covered with tree trunks and earth and afrordng very little protection besides taking up much of the time of the soldiers and costing very much labor and mon ey for transporting the necessary tim bcr.
 It was then decided to utilize the older classes of the reserves of the ter ritorial army who had been called to the colors and who, despite their pre- vious military training had been found unable to bear the strain of campaign ing. Several companies of them werr formed and they were first given tasks of constructing shelters in the Somme district and around Verdun Their of fcers were chosen from the engineers corps and from men who in civil life were engaged in similar undertakings, such as builders and miners, Most of the men were peasants used to digging in the fields and their work was very satisfactory, but this kind of cXcavat- ing work was different and they suf- fered considerably from the unusual motion of having to throw the earth upward or wheeling it in barrows up steep inclines.
 One of the officers overcome this try ing difficulty by inventing an apparl- tus for carrying loosened earth or rock to the surface by use of electric power, By this arrangement two men can do the work formerly done by ten. When the earth has reached the surface it falls into barrows and is wheeled away along the level and distributed about in such a manner as not to attract the attention of enemy's airmen always fly ing about the lines to observe what is going on in the opposing camps.
 Special army saw-mills have been started to provide the props and plank ing for the shelters and everything is done at minimum cost.
 The veterans so employed have sus- tained losses when working in exposed positions. but no danger appears 10 daunt them and they continue their job as though they were working in the fields at home. They have adapted themelves to the use of the most mod ern tools. and although the great ma jority of them had no previous expert ence of electric drills and borers they