The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-04-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKlN. Director.
Washington. D. c.
THE ARMY ENGINEERS.
Washington, D. c.

L., April Hc
| army engineer corps is now larger
than the United States army was at
the beginning of the war. Thousands
of engineers are staging the war in
France. attending to all the work of
construction for the American army
from building wharves and piers at
| the ports of Decentralization to the
installation of water pipes in the first
line trenches. Thousands are still in
this country, working on military in
ventions training>in the training
camps. and awaiting the order to sail.
Modern warfare" says an officer
, of the army engineers corps, has
largely become a conflict between the
engineers of the countries engaged"
Time and again has victory depended
| upon the alert intelligence and prompt
action of a company of engineers; time
! and again have engineers saved the
day in an emergency. Bridges have
been demolished to prevent the ad-
vance of an army, and engineers have
calmly gone to work and built them up
| again; railroads have been hastily
! thrown across agricultural areas to
A., facilitate a sudden movement of
| troops, and in some places modern fill
structed where troops had to remain
| for a week or SO and where the drink
ing water was tainted
!
| like a theatrical business manager.
He must attend to all the practical
| details of the play-the scenery, the
electrical lighting apparatus. But the
| modern army is road company of a
strenuous order. Its acts are always
| unexpected and always different, so
| that the engineer never has any idea
| what will be demanded of him next.
| In this new western drive a company
of American engineers were suddenly
| called upon to fight, and instantly they
| dropped their tools, with which they
| had been building a branch railway
| connection, and picked up their guns.
| By the swift decision of their COM
| mander these engineers entered the
/ battle at the psychological moment
the town. He had acted upon his
own initiative-the engineering initia-
tive. which is seldom wrong. "Hey.
| boys, we've got to get into this!" was
all he said
| The magnitude of the engineering
| appreciated by the 1ayman. Little, so
| far, has been said about that phase of
it. The engineer is invariably mod
est. shy of publicity-a1ways a man
| like most scientists, the engineer
claims special or superior knowl-
| edge of the universe. Engineering,
| he will tell you, is merely the use of
common sense, and be quite uncon-
| scious that he is claiming for his pro-
| fession one of the most extra ordinary
things in the world.
| Perhaps this is why engineers may
| be relied upon in an emergency-
in the midst of bursting shells, flame
| and the noise and din of an inferno,
| the engineer stands calmly watching
the proceedings and cody figuring out
| the sensible thing to do. Of course
| it must be remembered that engineers
are trained for war as no other men
are trained for it. Even in time of
peace, the engineer is the fighter of
the race. The things that he fights
are varied, such as disease, mountains,
| rivers, floods. deserts, but always his
fight is constructive. He fights to
| build, not to destroy.
| And, to a great extent, this is the
| fight of the engineer in war. Sup
pose, for example, that the American
| army of several hundred thousand
| men suddenly decide to camp in a
| stretch of woods in the midst of sew
eral nice but old-fashioned farms near
| your town. There would be no bar
! racks, no drainage, no drinking water
no lighting facilities. no connection
| with base of supplies ten miles be-
| yond. rather helpless situation for
| an army, isn't it?
Yet that is what would constantly
occur in Europe if it were not for the
| engineer. Out of this stretch of woods
and old-fashioned farms the engineer
must build a military city. with hous-
ing facilities for the soldiers; Shelter
for munitions; pipes for drinking
| water with several pumping stations;
artificial scenery to mis1ead the
enemy; lighting facilities that extend
even to underground dusouts along
the line of the trenches, and narrow
gauge railways connecting with the
| nearest base of supplies.
The French government has set
aside seaports for the use of the
american army. Hence. one of the
first tasks of American engineers
reaching France last fall was to put
these ports into perfect working condi-
ton for the landing of supplies and
troops. Following the first company
of engineers which sailed from New
| York. went also ship1oad of engi-
neering machinery. According to the
chief of engineers of the army. the
value of the railroad materials and roll
ing stock alone purchased in advance
of the American occupation in France
was about five times the values of all
the supplies bought in this country
for the Panama canal during the past
four or five years.
Both France and Great Britain have
constructed many new railroads thru
out France since the war, but these are
already so sorely overtaxed that the
Americans could not hope to make use
of them. American railroads with
American trains, locomotives and rails
are now being operated by the railway
division of the American army engi-
neer corps in France from the ports
of Decentralization to interior point
within short distance from the west.
ern front. Over these troops and sup
plies are now being hurried to the
scene of action. The wounded are also
| removed by these railways, as well as
the salvage of the battlefield, for mod
ern military economy requires the
| rescue and re-usage of cartridge cases
| and metal pieces.
In the forests about the fighting
zone American foresters are cutting
huge quantities of timber. and Ameri-