The Nenana daily news., 1918-05-08
BAKERS VISIT TO FRANCE

only a flat car, hastily fitted at the lunch hour with pine benches), go- ing through the railway yards of the American forces, which spread over the lowlands bordering a cer- tain waterfront in France. They will be the biggest thing of the kind in Europe when misunderstanding to bring railway engineers from afar in France to see.
 The trackage will be 22S miles and will provide for 2,500 incoming freight cars and 2,5O0 outgoing cars as we'll as 3,200 on the interior switches.
 Dredges are at work along the waterfront, and nearby warehouses of steel and galvanized iron are ris- ing. This development is purely for American military requirements and will provide a rather small port in France with potentialities equal to those of Hamburg, as one of the French officers said to the cores pondent.
 With the sole object of winning the war, the Americans are expend- ing in this region on permanent works about $4,OO),OOO.
 Secretary Baker watched for some time in another yard the assembling and setting up of the parts of Ameri- can-built locomotives. One hundred and seventy-two have been put to- gether so far, but it is intended to send out from these shops HOO.
 Bray Taken Out of Mule
 The secretary visited the remount shop, which for the most part con- sisted of immense mule stables. Here the Americans have adopted French veterinary practice, extract ing the "bray" from a mule by a slight surgical operation on the nose, so that the silvery bray, which could be heard a mile or two on silent nights at the front, will become d harmless wheeze-not enough to awaken the enemy and draw his shellfire.
 Mir. Baker also visited wounded Americans, talked with them and listened to mems experiences.
 At the end of the day, back aboard the train, Gen. Pershing said
 "I had long urged the secretary to come to France. Now that he is here we are delighted that he means to take the time to master the details of our situation. As our chief, who carries all our military effort at home and abroad in his mind, he is seeing with is own eyes what we are doing on this side, and his visit is personal inspiration to every officer and man."
 Secretary Baker said to the cor respondent:
 "These days have been worth my trip across the Atlantic in the infor- nation and encouragement which they have given me. I have seen only the effort in two ports, only the receiving depots of the great war plant which we are constructing. But I have seen enough to convince me that we now have an organization which will meet the problem, with its increasing volume of demand of coupling up the ports of embarka- tion at home with the ports of de- barkation in France"
 ''I find that the written reports have given me an inadequate idea of the difficulties, which the enemy said we could not overcome, and which we are overcoming. After her long and stout-hearted defense France could spare us little material or labor for our purposes except by ill-advised diversions from her own organization. She could offer us land on which to raise our structures and the right of way for our com munications.
 "I should like to pay a tribute to the men who began last summer and fall to bring into being the blue prints of great conception, which is now advanced enought to yield oon,,;,%;oo of c,,ooa.e %o -oux, oh