Bisbee daily review., 1918-01-29

phrase in the emergency military
legislation shows that the thing was
thought of as a possibility. vet in q
very short time we had organized en-
cheering regiments of railroad men
and sent them over there and were re-
building behind the lines of the Brit
ish and French the railroads which
were being carried forward with their
advance, reconstructing their broken
engines and cars. building new rail-
roads. both back of the French and
British lines, and those regiments
were of such quality that at the Cam
brai assault. carried on by General
Byng. when the Germans made their
counter attack our engineer regiments
threw down their picks and spades
and carried their rifles into the battle
and distinguished themselves by gal
liant action in the war itself
Nurses and Doctors
Very early in this war. Great Brit
ain. through Balfour and his assistants
and France, through JOffre. said to us,
Send rs nurses and doctors Why.
before We were scarcely in the war
American units organized in advance
and anticipation by the Red Cross.
which lras taken over into the service
of the United States through the sur
geOn generals office. were on the bat
tlefield and there are tens of thou
sands OF men in England and France
now who bless the mission of mercy
upon which the first Americans APP
peared in France.
Our surgeons have set up hospitals
Immediately behind the lines. They
have been made military in every
sense of the word. They have not been
especially fortunate in escaping attack
from the air. and our early losses in
this war. the losses of Red Cross
nurses and doctors and Orderlies and
attendants in hospitals and ambulance
| drivers who were sent over to assist
our allies in these necessary services,
not only rendering assistance but &C
quiring skill and knowledge Of the cir
cumstances and surroundings. so that
when our own tro0Ds came in large
numbers they could render like ser
vices to our own forces. But that was
not enough II was suggested that fur
Their groups OF mechanics might be
needed. Naturally we began to see
/ that we were going to be over there in
large force. and the question that then
had to be answered was. how will we
maintain an army in France? Special
studies had to be made of that prob
Z lem. and this is what they showed.
They showed that the railroads and
the facilities of France had during this
war been kept in an excellent condi-
ton; far better than any supposed pos
sible under war conditions; 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, il would be necessary for
US to build back of our own line an in.
/ dependent line of communication
IN other words, France was a white
/ sheet of paper so far as we were con
I cernsd. and on that we had not only
to write an army. but we had to write
the means of maintaining that army.
and the first time when a careful and
scientific study of the opportunities of
1 France to help us were made. from
/ that hour until this, we have been
( building in France. facilities. instru-
ments, agencies, Just as many as we
are here in the United States, and
more-many Of them OF the same char
acter. 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 il was
necessary for us to have independent
ports of entry in order that there
might not be confusion and admixture
/ of our supplies, going through these
ports of Decentralization with those OF
other nations. We were given several
ports. AS you perhaps recall. the port
OF France are tidal ports. ports with
deep water and tidal basins at high
tides with insufficient water for land
ing at the docks when the tide is out
Tells Of Construction
AS a consequence. the construction
of docks and wharves in ports of that
kind is very much more difficult thar
where you have a deep sea harbor
and all you need to do is to erect q
pile wharf We have had to build
docks: we have had to fabricate in this
country and send off dockhandling ma
chinery, we have had TO send from
this country even the piles to build the
docks. We have had to have gauntry
cranes manufactured in this country
and sent over to be erected on those
docks: we have had to erect over there
warehouses at the ports OF disembar
kation in order that these vast accum
ulations OF stores and supplies which
go over can be properly housed aud
cared for. until they can be distributed
into the interior.
! I'VE have had to take over. and are