The Nome daily nugget., 1918-04-01

that when our own troops came in large. numbers they could render like services to our own forces.
 But that was not enough. It was suggested that further groups of me- chanics might be needed. Nay, we began to see that We were going to be over there in large force, and the question that then had to be answer ed was, how will we maintain an army in France? Special studies had to be made of the problem 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 condition; far better than any other supposed possible under war conditions. And yet, that those rail take care of the needs of the French and the British themselves, and that when our army became a great army 1t would be necessary for Us to build back of our own line an indcpendant line of communication.
 In other words France was white sheet of paper so far as we were concerned, and on that WIG had not only to write an army, but we had to write the means of maintaining an army, and from tho first time when 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, facilities, instruments, agencies just as many as we are 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 their own supply. The channel ports havo been reserved for the British. When we came in it was necessary for us to have independant ports of entry in order that there might not be confusion and admixture of our supplies, going through these ports of disembarkation with those of other nations. We were given several ports. As you perhaps recall. the ports deep water and tidal basins at high of France are tidal ports, ports with tides with insufficient water for land ing at the docks when the tide Is out.
 AS a consequence, the construc- ton of docks and wharves in ports of that kind is very much more difficult than where you have deep-sea har- bor, 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 off dock handling machinery, we have had to send from this country oven the piles to build the docks. We have had to have guantry cranes, manufactured in this country and sent over to be erect ed on those docks; we have had to erect over there warehouses at the ports of disembarkment in order that these vast accrrmulations of stores and supplies which 80 over can be properly housed and cared for, until they can be distributed into the interior.
 "We have had to take over, and are In process of rebuilding and amplify- ing Q railroad GOO miles long in order to carry our products from our ports of disenbarltation to our general bas- es of operation. And all of that, gen tlemen has to be done, not only stud led out, as a necessary thing to do. here, the manufactures for those things have to be carried on in this country, and tho things shipped over there, nlils, cross ties, spikes. fish plates, engines, cars. buildings. We have had to build ordnance depots and { repair shops and great magazines of | supply in the interior. All of that problem has been carried forward step by step. The plans for Q single ord utOitCe IepdlE SliOp Nilloh cdN SOlllS time ago, covered acres and acres of ground, designed over here. the Iron work fabricated over here, disassem- bled, put in ships and carried abroad l to be reassembled over there.
 We have had to build barracks over there for our soldiers. and in the meantime to billet them around in the French villages. Building barracks over there and building them here Is q very different thing. gentlemen.
 When we summoned the lumber in- dustry of this country to produce the lumber to build our own cantonments, it came in a great and steady stream from all over the country; but whom