The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1918-04-16
Three Towns Behind the Lines
in France Hold Great
Stores.
BAKERY SYSTEM A FEATURE
Forty Shipments Of White Bread Made
DaiIy-AlI Facilities Being En-
Iaroed-one Town ls Stor- >
age Center.


continued arrival Of American troops
and their occupation of definite front |.
sector, yet in its way quite as impor-
tant for their success, has been the
steady development of the system of
keeping them in the myriad supplies
they must have.
Keeping pace with the increasing
training camps there has grown up a
storage, transportation and distribu-
ton system that not only accurately
and efficiently supplies the needs of
all our soldiers but is continually be-
ing enlarged against future needs.
Neither troops nor supplies can come
too fast for it.
The various functions of the system
bakery, refrigerating plant, ware
houses for clothing, non-perishable
foods and similar supplies, and the
main distributing plant-are located
for convenience sake in three towns
or cities situated respectively at the
three corners Of an obtuSe triangle,
and near enough to the training camps
and front so that supplies can reach
the furthest points in "a hours.
Bakery Is Great Industry.
No link in the chain between "a port
in France" and the American front Is,
perhaps, more interesting than the bak-
cries.
The supplying of the American
troops in France with white bread has
become great industry and is growing
all the time. The few bakers origi-
nally here have grown into companies;
the relatively small daily quantity Of
bread turned out in July has increased
to scores of thousands of pounds, and
entire shiploads of flour are arriving
weekly and are being stored away in
warehouses with capacity Of millions
of pounds as reserve against the
arrival Of still more troops.
The American army first took pos.
session of huge bakery in central
French city, formerly operated by a
German, and having capacity for
storing 1,500oOG pounds OF flour, in adj
dition to a not inconsiderable daily
output Of bread from its coke ovens.
These making the arrangements
knew that the time would soon come
when the city bakery would be inad-
equate, so they went outside of the
city and leased from the French tract
of land consisting of several thousand
acres, upon which the conventional mil
itary wooden shacks soon sprang up
and where there is room for an in
definite aumber of additional field bak-
cries as the need may arise.
BY the time the city bakery had
reached its capacity the shacks were
fully equipped with the very latest in
baking machinery.
Spur tracks have been constructed
out to the field from the city, and over
them carloads of bread leave each
morning and afternoon for the training
camps and the front.
Forty Shipments Daily.
Each baking company has for some
time been exceeding the limit of 10000
pounds day and has been turning
out from $4,000 to $4,000 pounds. The
men, 1Ol to company, work in two II
hour shifts. Their product, chiefly
great, round. hard-crusted loayes, con-
stitutes about forty separate shipments
that are made daily-by train, motor
truck and horse-drawn vehicles.
The bread is supplemented by bis
cults and rolls at breakfast and sup
per.
In the city itself the Americans
found one of the largest refrigerating
and meat storage warehouses in
France, and absorbed it last July,
though it was then many times larger
than their needs. Its capScity is close
to two million pounds, and while it
has at times been nearly full, the sup
ply is never permitted to fall below
haif million pounds. There are more
than 100000 pounds there now.
Direct railroad lines lead not only
from the bakery and the refrigerating
plant to the camps but also from the
seaports and the city.
Several miles westward, at the low.
er apex OF the triangle, lies another
French town which has been all but
podily taken over by the Americans
as storage center. Here non-perish-
able foods--canned goods, salt, sugar
and vegetables other than those bought
fresh from the French peasants-are
stored.
one OF the largest buildings which
the Americans have taken over is de-
voted to equipment. Here are stored
many thousands of uniforms and .ey-
cry article of clothing from shoes and
caps to buttons and handkerchiefs.
Inc needs of the troops is estimated
at several pairs Of shoes year and
three or four uniforms.