The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-04
Arrival of Amerocan Troops in Franco

American Port, Western France, | Sept. -(Correspondence of the As | sociated Press)-There are all kinds i of armies these war days and today | we saw an army of automobiles drawn up in brigades and regiments, every conceivable kind of motor vehicle for 1 carrying on the many war activities. These were ammunition cars tank cars for carrying gasoline, steel trucks by the hundred, ambulance cars for the wounded, signal service cars with complete wireless outfit and all the equipment for field signalling, recog- niZance cars on which IS men make a recognizance into enemy country, battalion after battalion of touring ears for headquarters and other branches of the service, and motorcy- cles for the despatch bearers. It was Ike half dozen big automobile ex- positions rolled into one and all de- voted to the one big buisness of carry ign on the war.
 The commandant led the way through Wilson avenue of the huge plant, and then turned into Roosevelt avenue. On one side stretched away a half mile square of motor vehicles | in such a vast array as to be fairly | bewildering but all lined up in reg ular formation like soldiers ready to move fordward to the front On the l other side stretched away acre after acre of buildings for the innumerable | branches of this work, and between | them on the open spaces armies of soldiers in over-alls setting up all i kinds of motor cars. Every where were stacked the masses of knock | down" parts just arrived from the l United States; mountains of wheels and sides. motors, batteries, radiators. and block after block of huge crates ] containing the big classics of the many types of war cars.
 As the commandant passed along he : summed up the magnitude of the ] work, Sixty-two complete trucks and , cars have been turned out in one day. i This is the record at the start, with 1 monthly output of l, 200 cars and ] 500 motorcycles, and a much greater [ production when the organization gets under way. In theory. these are all 1 standard parts which need only to be 1 fitted together. an easy task appar- 1 ently as most of the preliminary con- struction is done in the factories in l America. But in fact so say those 1 who do the work, these parts do not 1 fit; they have to be shaped and fitted | after arrival Then there are many 1 factories sending many kinds of parts. l Some factories send complete equip 1 ment. such as bolts and the heavy wooden sills for trucks. But other ] factories do not send the bolts or sills.
 There Is no time for these missing parts. for war is going on and cars are being mobilized like men. What is not here must be made. And from this has grown huge industry of | government war production, with big workshops and machinery for making 1 bolts and sillS and all the ~variouS parts, and for testing and making over l dynamos and generators, an even for 1 constructing the trim bodies and frames and thus turning out practical ly an entire car.
 1 A long line of ovens was passed ln l which we saw some of the delicate | parts of the mechanism being baked
 and dried to sure them from the
 dampness of the sea journey. The
 sea plays many tricks on these parts
 We saw the field windings of genera
 tors covered with sea rust and green
 mold. All of these have to be baked
 and made over. Fiber is considered
 in America as one of the best non-
 conductors for automobile construo
 ton. But on the sea journey this
 fiber swells and becomes almost use
 less. Radiators also suffer much on
 board ship.
 In the workshops long lines of "al-
 lied machinery indicated how the
 war was bringing the nations together
 in industrial production. Each lathe
 and mechanical tool bore this allie0
 mark. with the flags of the allied na-
 tions entwined and the marks of Paris
 Turin, Petrograd and the centers of
 great world production. But below
 the casting showed the allied machin-
 cry came from Waynesboro, Pa, Gin
 c:nnati and the other centers of Amer Y ican production.
 Over section four of the big shopd
 waves large American flag.
 That represents something more
 than patriotism" said the command
 ant "The section that makes the
 biggest output has the honor or carIy ? ing the flag for 8 week, and if there is slack time there is day off as
 bonus.
 When the big German offensive
 began there was a tremendous de- : mand for trucks to get our materia.
 forward We called the men together
 and gave them litle talk on the par
 they were to play in the crisis EN cry
 man was keen to do his part. The e flag was made the prize for turning
 out the most work. Before that day t | closed we had turned out 63 complete
 trucks. These are the things whict
 are helping to win the war, and the! 1 show how the men behind the line! r are doing their share of the fighting.
 Just now scores of ambulances ar, l. being turned out daily. They com'
 from America crated 1R huge boxes y IS feet long and six feet across, a
 large as a good sized room; usually il '- three parts, wheels, body and chassis s Cranes from huge beams reach dowl l and lift the parts into place, the chas e sis on the wheels and the body on tn II chassis, until soon one of the ney o type of ambulances takes form out o S the mass of boxes and material. W y JEEs 7EEIssIEI "a Izs IS