The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-09-06
IMMENSE ENTERPRISE
OF THE AMERICANS
FAIRLY REMAkI6 THE COUNTRY IN THE TERRI
TORY THEY OCCUPY IN FRANCE
American Port, Western France

/ ~AACl lANAl VI VCoCGIA
Correspondence of the Associated
Press. .)-There is the crash and bang
of a great cannonade, like a battery
of trench mortars in action. But this
is not the cannonade of the battle
front one hears here, but another
kind of cannonade. almost as fierce
and ear-splitting, of trip-hammers,
giant sledges and electric rivetters in
the gigantic American construction
camp which has suddenly sprung into
existence here.
Standing in the vast workshops,
about the dimensions of the capitol
in Washington, with the throb of
great work going on inside and miles
of activity stretching away outside in
railway yards, warehouses, docks and
camps, one feels this is after all quite
as essential part in the winning of
the war as the struggle going on fur
ther forward. for here is the very
fountain head of material for winning
the war. There are great 800 milli-
metre cannon like the 12-inch mon
sters on American battleships, with
all their ponderous mountings and
trucks, huge Cotton locomotives,
which are turned out with the incred-
ible speed of six to ten a day, ex-
ceeding the output of the great es-
tablishments in America, the fiat
cars, freight cars, box cars, tank cars
and all the other forms of railway
transportation turned out by scores
and hundreds daily as a baker turns
out cakes from his ovens.
What has been most astonishing to
the European observed is that all
this vast storehouse of American en-
ergy and production could be created
in few months out of practically
nothing. Last fall the site of this
present plant was vost marsh the
sea water going over it at high tide.
1t was necessary first to raise the
level of the ground five to nine feet.
This was huge engineering under
taking in itself. When it was done,
instead of marsh with the sea lap
ping it, the astonished townspeople
saw high and level plane adjacent
to the city, with big ocean piers be-
ginning to stretch out seaward for
the incoming migration of American
men and materials. Soon thereafter
rose like magic the huge buildings to
carry on the infinite diversity of ac-
tivities of this hive of war industry.
Under the escort of Baron Dornes,
one of the chief French officials con-
nected with the institution, the Asso-
ciated Press correspondent had an
to see the huge enter
prise in full swing. 1t was like go
ing through the Bethlehem or Carne.
gle works, with the same roar of pro-
duction on a giant scale, with fur
naces glowing, hammers and riveters |
beating, and armies of workmen-en-
listed American soldiers in their blue
jeans and overalls-in their many |
branches of work. Inside the main
building was like being inside the
Pennsylvania railway station in New
York, enlarged several times over.
There are 1400 men at work here"
explained the baron, "all of them
skilled American mechanics enlisted
as soldiers. working in three shifts |
continuously for "a hours"
To the left big trench mortars
hundred tons each were
being picked up by the giant fingers
of derrick and landed on their train
of trucks ready to be moved forward
to the front. To the right another
huge crane was bodily picking up a /
locomotive and passing it around to
its proper place. These locomotives
come from the United States in parts |
packed in crates. Looking at the long |
rows of these giant crates, they SEEM
ed to be streets of cottages or shacks,
and one wondered how they could |
ever be brought across the ocean with
all the shifts and storing between
decks.
We watched one of these locomo- |
tives as it was taken from it's seven
giant boxes, and gradually grew into
a massive engine. Soon thereafter