The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1918-01-31

weso rooou4 no&f26 - I>s6 of
the British ~ YromoA - roflr -
which were ho1ng earr1ea forvcra
with thaff advance, roeonstructirr
their broken engines ana cara. bp1la-
Ing new railroads. both back Of the
French and British Hines, ana those
regiments were OF such quality that
at the Cambria assault carried on by
Gen. Byng. when the Germans made
their counter-attack. our engineer
regiment threw down their picks and
spades and carried rides into battle
and distinguished themselve by gal
liant action In the war itself.
Very esrly In this war, Great Bri-
tian. through Balfour and his assist
ants. and France through Joffre, said
to US, Send US nurses and doctors.
Why, before we were scarcely In the
war American units organized In ad-
vance and anticipation by the Red
Cross, which was taken over into the
service OF the United States through
the surgeon generals office. were on
the battlefield and there are tens Of
thousands Of men in England end
France, now bless the mission of mer-
| cy upon the first American appearing
| in France.
Our surgeons have set up hospi-
tails Immediately behind the lines
They have been made military in ev-
cry sense Of the word. They have not
been especially fortunate in escaping
attack from the air, and thus our
early loss In this war, the losses OF
Red Gross nurses and doctors and or
derlies and attendants IN hospitals
and ambulance drivers, who were
sent over to assist our Allies in these
necessary services not only rendering
assistance, but acquiring skill and
knowledge Of the circumstances and
surroundings, so that when our own
troops came in large numbers they
could render like service to our own
forces. But that was not enough. 1t
was suggested that further troops OF
mechanics might be-.needed. BY May
we began to see that we were going
to be over there in large force, and
the question that then had to be an
swered was, how will we maintain
an army in France Special studies
had to be made Of that problem, and
tnlS Is Wnat tney SnOWeQ.
They showed that the railroads
and the facilities Of France had dur
ing this war been kept in an excel
lent condition, far better than any Of
us supposed possible under war con-
ditions. And yet, that those railroads
were used to the maximum to take
care of the needs of the French and
the British themselves, and that when
our army became a great army it
would be necessary for us to build
back to our own line an independent
line of communication.
I'm other words France was a
white sheet of paper, so far as we
were concerned, and on that we had
to write an army, but we had to
write the means of maintaining that
army, and from he first time, when a
careful and scientific study of the op-
portunities of France to help us were
made, from that hour until this we
have been building in France facili-
ties, instruments, agencies, just as
many as were here in the United
States. and more-many of them or
the same character. For instance,
the French had naturally reserved
the best ports in France for their
own supply. The channel ports have
been reserved for the British. When
we came in 1t was necessary for us to
have Independent ports for entry in
order that there might not be an ad-
mixture of our supplies through these
ports Of Decentralization with those uf
other nations. We were given ports.
AS you. perhaps, recall. the ports of
France are tidal ports. ports with
deep water and ideal basin at high
tides. with insufficient water for land
ing at the docks when the tide is out
"As consequence the construction
of docks and wharves in ports of that
kind is very much more difficult than
where you have a deep sea harbor,
and all you need to do is to erect a
pile wharf. We have had to build
docks; We have had to fabricate in
this country and send over dock
handling machinery; we have had to
send from this country even the piles
to build the docks; he have had to
have cranes manufactured in this
country and sent to be erected on
those docks; we have had to erect
over warehouses at the ports of as
embarkatian in order that these vast
accumulations of stores and supplies
which go over can be properly housed
and cared for until they can be dis
tributed into the interior
I'VE have had to take over and are
in process of rebuilding and emplify-
ing a railroad six hundred miles long,
in order to carry our products from
our ports of Decentralization to our
general bases of operation. and all OF