The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-04-21


 took me to see the work here, not as a spectacle to impress strangers, but in the course of his daily round of su- pervision. First We went where were the docks of the city, with huge ships unloading their cargoes from America with negro stevedores in the old U. S. A. uniforms, singing as they worked, and the cranes creaking and the loads falling uninterruptedly and with heavy sounds into the freight cars or on the docks.
 The dock was an American dock. The cars ran on Ameriacn rails, laid by American engineers, for one of the first Jobs was to revolut4onize the old peace time French rail system. The French used little turntables, which were good enough for small cars and plenty of time. The Americans knew they had to get the loads out of the ships quickly. for tonnage depends largely on speed in loading and unloading ships and getting them ready for a return trip. So loop system was built for big cars, andarranged tos hattionoa-vsta cars and arranged so that many ships continually are supplied with freight cars which roll away immediately as soon as burdened, to be immediately replaced by empties.
 In these docks and yards are several of the 60 cranes which were ordered in America several months ago and which are now some of the reasons why this port will ha the biggest and best equipped in France. From dis tance these cranes, with the old ones or Detore the war, resemble a huge forest or waving. swaying, giant trees, and the puffing and creaking and changing is a deafening chorus of American industry-the sound of the great wind blowing through their branches.
 In the harbor the dredging is con- tinuous. The two years accumulation of mud and debris which was hinder ing large ships, has been cleared by the American engineers. All along the docks there are some minor works go- ing on.
 As we left them, we motored along the new railroad lines connecting with the great yards the engineers are building for the direct supply of the American army. We passed group of surveyors and men putting in d new switch. The captain got out of the car and looked over the job.
 Yes he said. that's so. Right through. Through that brick house, You go right through"
 It was a little red house on the out skirts, the hearth and palace of some French workman, and it had to go, because the engineers cannot alter, railroads for sentimental reasons. But they can and did pay for that red prick house before running rails through it's ruin.
 Do you have many cases ot this sort"' I asked the captain.
 VILLAGE CANCELLED
 Well, mo- ne replied, 'sbut further up bit we had to cancel a village be- cause we had to have that ground for part Of the main yards, and these vii. lases in France are so thick you can't build anything without pumping into cne or two"
 The village is no longer there. Tn It's place are miles of new track and cars and material for war.
 mile or two out, we came to a sunctlon of two new rail lines, one leading to the inlet which before very long will be the site of four large docks where 16 of the largest ships afloats may rest at ease at any time while they unload their stores made couDly precious by the submarine men. ace they have escaped
 All about this inlet there is prepara- ton. Here barracks are going up. nearby barges are being built There IS the pile driver resting idly now on the earth, but soon to journey out into the water for the simple purpose of forcing 29,000 piles into the earth as foundation for the docks. The railroad men are at work. Tracks are being lad Long trains filled with sand are arriving over them and dischargtng shelr fine cargo. I asked what the sand was for.
 We are raising this country 1s lnches," said my guide Further on we are removing mountains of sand or this purpose. I will show you that work Iater.'
 How How much sand are you bringing?.
 DIX million cubic yards,'' was the re- We climbed the barges. One to housa the pile driver is 70 by 100 feet. solidlv punt or great timbers which came from sne forests of northwestern United States and from Russia.
 These barges are worth their weight In gold" said the captain.
 from this point on the country for lnlies apout Is covered with American work. From the top of the barges we could see yards and warehouses;. soma only in skeleton form, cranes moving ana locomotives puffing, trains coming in with materials and groups of men as far as the eye could see, all engag ged in the erection of this central terminal and warehouse system When these yards are completed there will be enough rails in this one place to lay a direct road from here to Paris.
 There will be 150 warehouses. each 50 py 4oo feet long. each built on concrete piles and with concrete floors and steel roofs and sides-75 Kilometres of met alied roofs, sight to amaze the birds and the aviators.
 Railroad yards are railroad yards. the whole world over, and the yards we soon entered in this center were like those in many American cities. But while the work IS the same, all the difference in the world lies in the fact that every thing here is operated by men in khaki, who, like all the materials they use, came from the states. This Is a wonder ful thing. carload of locomotive parts is no special marvel in Altoona or Fort Wayne or St. Louis or Butler Pa. but hero it is significant of achievement in ocean transportation, success over the submarine, a promise of long and vital assistance to an army The elec- tric crane in this yard. picking up an acre of keys of railroad spikes, becomes an instrument of war against the com mon foe and therefore a thing of fear and wonder.
 There is also this difference, that every thing completed means greater odds and handicapS overcome than face the engi- neers at home. For example, it is notori- ous that locomotives are thirsty beasts. Now. the water at this place is not only unfit Cor human consumption, but it is dangerous to the health of engines. so one day the order was given to build reservoir along creek wh9e an ample