Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-21
mecan Engineers Are Laying the Foundation for Victory i'm FRAN
American
by GEORGE H. SELDES.

Special Correspondence OF The Star.
PORT IN FRANCE, April II. 1918.
EIoDAY it is impossible to tell the
people of the United States spe-
officially what the American en-
q gineers are doing in France. but
generally the work may be summed up
in one line: they are guaranteeing VIC
tory for the American Army in the
fighting months ahead
This is a big thing to say. but these
are the days of great deeds and great
works also. with the hope of the world
set on the accomplishment of the
American Army. Its job is just begin
ming. The job their brothers of the
pick and hammer and shovel and riv-
eter began a few months ago has be-
come so extensive, so gigantic in plan
and realization. that it is not the heat
of patriotic fire, but the cold facts OF
steel and concrete and wood and stone
which inform the astonished eye tha1
the men of the rear are winning their
half of the war.
And yet the generals and the coioneis
and the captains who. with sweep OF
the hand and a nod of direction. ofuer
the making of cities and the deStruc-
ton of villages in their way. and who
have seen hills torn down and docks
spring up and locomotives arrive when
were ordered by mail, say merely. ne
work is going on as il to blanket the
enthusiasm of the visitor
And the boys fresh from home. young
lads whose hearts still beat In the
states, all those thousands who along
with their officers want America to
know what is going on in France. be-
cause they are proud of their work.
realize that for the present the facts
must remain behind the curtain of mil
itary secrecy.
For several days / have been visit
ing all the camps and works in this
French port. and of the things which
I have seen and of the operations the
engineers are engaged upon little can
Sbe told, for the greater they are. the
less must be said. This is a laundering
city. 1t is an American city, roaring
with work and with traffic and in
land for many miles in line that
3 leads eventually straight across the
heart of France to its battle front
the Americans are at work.
Railroads. wharves. docks. terminals.
locomotives-some have been built.
some are under way, some are yet on
blue print paper, and it is because
the job is still unfinished. and will be
for several months. that the men whose
duty 1t is to build Enthusiastically
frown upon enthusiastic reports and
say, wait until we are through and
have moved out of here to the 'front.'
The work is ''in progress they say.
and Just what part is completed can
not be told here, but perhaps this
statement made by an officer will Ill
1ustrate its magnitude.
IF we were in America" he said,
with all the facilities which America
offers, sure supply. men, everything at
the end of our fingers or telephone
wfre-we would require $4,000 men for
200 days to do this work.
+ Needless to say. there are not $4,000
men at this one port doing this one job,
but. on the other hand. records for
time have been and are being made
such as the United States never knew
at home But it will not be until the
last of the large plans still on paper
are realized. after months of still
harder work. that the American engi-
optimism of the civilian observer.
All energies are concentrated on pre-
pairing supplies for the American Army
Tonnage. Army tonnage includes
almost everything in the world of
peace and war-"of shoes and ships
and sealing wax, of cabbages and
kings" modernized into something like
"of tanks and trains and toothpaste
tins. of chewing gum and guns"
Provide for tonnage for 100000
men-that is the problem of the engi-
neers. Twelve million. because they
figure that If the nation puts 200O,-
900 men into France 1t will REQUIRE
exactly six times the amount of sup
to-