Evening journal., 1918-02-27
WHERE WE ARE AT

ment
The development OF our military rail-
road in France has been under the dir
ection OF S. NJ FELTON,, president OF the
Chicago Great Western. FELTON, prob
ably has had more experience in direct
ing troop movements than any other
railroad man in the United states He
was in charge of the Queen ana Cres-
cent as receiver during the Spanish
war, and handled the bulk Of the men
moved to southern camps. Two wears
ago. because Of his knowledge Of Mex
lean railways. gained as president OF
the Mexican Central, ne organized rail-
way service sn the border preparatory
TO an expedition in force into Mexico
FELTON, personally assisted in design
ing the new type locomotives and cars
we are using in France, and - recruit
ing the first nine regiments Of con
st1ucting and operating engineers for
service abroad Oue Of his sons is now
in France with the 18th Engineers. an
operating regiment, which left Chicago.
July i3, in two trains OF i3 cars each
and marched through London on the
way to Paris on Aug. a. They're the
Lucky Thirteenth" FELTON, SAYS
Operation Of the road In France is
directed by w W. Aiterbury. former
vice president Of the PENNSYLVANIA. now
Brlgadier General Atlerbury. Operation
has Neen slmplifed by establishing
system whereby ALL TRAINS MOVE
AT a UNIFORM SPEED. with a GER
tain fixed headway For instance, 10
handle the 10000 tons Of supplies ne
"essary each day for an army of L.
900 men, 60 trains Of 500 tors each
viii be required. Five hundred
iOA on the Grades Of the French roads
is the maximum that can be depended
upon per train.
THIS MEANS ONE TRAIN EACH "a
MINUTES.
Instead Of rushing through some
trairl at fast speed-passenger or troop
ira ( for instance-all trains will pro-
&C 4 at the uniform speed OF IS miles
an nour, a new train starting ont on
It's run for the front each % minutes.
War was declared on April 6, 1917.
On April Z the purchasing once of the
engineer department advertised for The
procurement Of equipment for 20 lnfanz
try divisions. Within $50 hours AFR
war had been declared. awards had
been made covering the requirements
Of 100000 men-a total OF some $780,
600 items--including six miles OF pom
toon bridge. orders have since been
placed for equipment Of a total Of 40
infantry divisions
All engineer organizations that have
left for France have had issued to them
before leaving their full engineer unit
equipment.
On Aug. q. 1917. orders were issued
TO ship engineer equipment 90 the Nari-
Gus national guard and national army
camps and cantonments. TWO weeks
later all this equipment, totaling 2i000
tons. had been shipped
General engineer depots for The re-
ceipt, storage and shipment Of engineer
materials have been established at
Washington and at the ports of en-
barkation at Hoboken, n. j., and Nor
folk. Va.
The depot at Hoboken covers -
acres, with storehouses having a floor
space Of 10000 square feet, railway
tracks, wharves, docks. cranes and
trucks for handling materials. The Nor
folk depot covers i25 acres with stor-
age houses Of 100000 square feet floor
space and equipment similar 10 that at
Hoboken.
Smaller depots to assist in the hand
ling. and forwarding OF supplies, have
been established at Philadelphia. Balti-
more, Jacksonville. Mobile and New Or
leans.
The engineer purchasing ofilce placed
between April E. 1917, and Feb. 4, i9is
9231 separate orders. Of which l,6SS
have been completely 0llcd, 2.si0 par
TALLY filled and 1889 remain IN whole
TO be filled The value Of materials
bought aggregates Si7s,t03 35792. Of
this sum more than si20OO0.0O0 IS
chargeable TO the construction and op-
Grafton Of our terminals and line OF
communication In France.
Despite all tie work that has been
accomplished, however. both on this
side and in France, operations have
been hampered by lack Of ships. ~ a
total tonnage in engineer equipment Of
392. .5Oi tons that had been delivered at
the docks for shipment to France. by
Feb. 4. i65 iI6 tons had been shipped
abroad and 227O2s tons were awaiting
shipment. Of the tonnage shipped, i2a,
900 tons were Of supplies for the dir
ector general Of military railroads.