The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1918-02-01

are tens Of thousands Of men in
England and France, now bless the
mission of mercy upon the first
American appearing i'll France.
"Our surgeons have set up hos
pitals Immediately behind the lines
They have been made military in
every sense of the word. They have
not been. especially fortunate in
escaping attacks from the air, and
thus our early loss in this war, the
losses of Red Cross nurses and doc
tors and orderlies and attendants in
hospitals and ambulance drivers,
who were sent over to assist our al
lies in these necessary services, not
only rendering assistance, but ac-
quiring skill and knowledge of the
circumstances and surroundings, 80
that when our own troops came in
large numbers they could render like
service to our own forces. But hat
was not enough. It 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 ques-
ton chat then had to be answered
was how will we maintain an army
in France? Special studies had to
be made of that problem, and this
is what they showed:
Need of Railroads.
"They showed that the railroads
and the facilities Of France had
during this war been kept in an ex-
cellent condition, or better than any
of US supposed possible 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 it would be necessary
for us to build back of our own line
an independent line of communica-
ton.
"In other words, France was a
white sheet of paper, so far as we
were concerned, and on that we had
not only to write an army, but we
had to write the means of maintain
ing that army, and from the first
time, when a careful and scientific
study of the opportunities Of France
to help US were made, from that hour
until this we have been building in
France facilities, instruments, 'agen-
cies, Just as many as were here in
the United States, and more-many
of them of the same character. For
instance, the French had naturally
reserved the best ports in France
for the British. When we came in it
was necessary for US to have inde-
pendent ports for entry in order
that there might not be an admix-
ture of our supplies through these
ports of Decentralization with those
of 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 landing at the docks when the
tide is out.
Docks and Wharves.
"As a consequence the construc-
ton of docks and wharVes in port
of that kind is very much more diff
cult than where you have a deep
sea harbor, and all you need to do is
to erect pile wharf. We have had
to build docks; we have had to fab
ricate in this country and send over
dock handling machinery; we have
had to send from this country even
the piles to build the docks; we have
had to have cranes manufactured in
this country and sent to be erected
on those docks; we have had to erect
over there warehouses at the ports
of Decentralization in order that
these vast accumulations Of store
and supplies which 60 over can bt
properly housed and cared for unit
III az, oon ha distrih,,tad into tho in