The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1918-01-10
J.. S. Engineers Work Like
Ants, Somewhere in. France

ed Stats and in some respects, perhaps,
better. The boats will be discharged as
they arrive by means Of the most
modern systems of discharging known
to the genius of the American invento..
AS far as l could see, there was no
waste of energy in railroad construc-
ton, the lines existing apparently salts
Tying the engineers-anyway, for the
time being. What they are doing is to
feed the main lines by means of a sys-
TEN of branch lines.
Far away from the scene of these
wharf operations was a long line of
railway workshops. l should say they
were about equal to those at Trenton
or Wilmington. Here l saw American
railway experts swinging sledge-ham-
mers, shaping red-hOt iron into various
wagon and engine parts, painting, re
pairing, banging away at anything
"bangable"-strong, stalwart young
men, all happy and contented and busy
Some of the chiefs were the sons of
well-known railway magnate3 in New
York and Pennsylvania and Chicago.
They have come over to France to do
their bit, and they look as IL they were
doing it very we'll
French ThorOughness.
Interviewed by the Herald cores
pondent, one of the American engineers
said: 80 many things are different
over here from our American ways that
| hardly know where to begin to tell
you what you want to know. Take the
rails; why the rails here are about 80
ton rails; ours go to 100 tons on main
lines. Look at those French truck cars
They will hold from Is to 20 tons while
ours have 70-ton capacity and we
have some 10O-ton cars Our engines
will pull from 60 to 100 cars. Here Is
box car which we built in ten days.
Why, it would take about half that time
II we had the material ready. AS far
as l can explain to you the difference
between our railway system and that
of the French, the latter are about 10
years behind us. On the other hand.
while they take their time about it the
French workman turn out the most
splendid valve work. They cannot be
beaten for nice fine work. In America
we would not take the time. Their
workmanship Is Slow but perfect when
finished. Their fire boxes for the en-
gines will last about eight years, while
ours will last about five years. This
shows you how the class of work diff
fers. But the French fire-boxes are
made Of copper while ours are Of steel.
We want speed in construction and our
moneys worth for the time employed.
The French workman, so far as rail-
way construction goes, turns out work
in repairs that costs about three times
| what our work costs on account of the
copper used and the labor involved.
Our American engineers and workmen
have nothing to learn from the French
workman except spending time on the
job. AS an item of time wasted, ac-
cording to our views, take the painting
of an engine. Here 1t takes about
three days. With us, the parts are
painted as the engine is built Again
you see here engines lying idle for DAYS
waiting to be repaired. This loses time
and capital. Speed is our motto In
constructing"
Passing along the great workshops, ]
asked various American workmen how
they liked it in France, and all were
contented. They worked side by side
with the French workmen and are
learning their ways fast. 1t seems thai
these American workmen referred tc
are waiting for the arrival of others
and in the meantime are lending q
hand to the French workmen. NOTHING
definite could be ascertained on the
subject of future operations, but Il
seems probable that these enormous
workshops in question will be taker
over later on by the American engin
GERS. Some of the American workmer
are learning as much French as they
can while circumstances permit. On.
OF them showed me some phrase.
which he was committing to memory
The expression, "Je vous remercie inf
niment" had first place.