Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-01-02
Signal Corps With
Army Makes Good

Correspondence Of Associated Press.l
Headquarters, American Expedition
airy Force. France. Nov. 2s-In an
army the size OF this. scattered thru
out the length and breadth OF France
from the seacoasf to the Swiss border
the problem Of communication Is sec
ond only IL not Of equal Importance to
that OF supplies.
When the American forces came TO
France 1t was one OF the first efforts
TO which American ingenuity and in
vention was directed and the Signal
Corps. under which communications
falls, met 1t as have the other orEani-
cations OF the American i.xpeditionary
Force. Existing French telegraph and
telephone systems we're overburdened.
There was little left for us and Briga-
der General Il. Russell. chief signal Of
f;cer. and his staff of experts tackled
the job.
What they have done in construction
Is shown in some statistics furnished to
the Associated Press. The signal corps
has built approximately 1.T60 miles OF
poles on which II has strung ATS
miles Of wire. In addition about 1000
miles Of American wire has been
strung on existing systems for our use
and ii has leased and operates more
tina n 5000 miles of French wire. Ex-
change lines to the extent of 1880
miles have 'een built and to operate
these lines 1t has PA telephone offices.
1895 telephone stations aud ZOE tele-
graph offices.
All through France. from the base
ports to the front lines occupied by the
American forces. throughout our train
ing areas. in fact nearly everywhere.
the shining. copper wires on American
cross bar poles, so different from the
European system, are new feature OF
the landscape and frequently one
hea I'd newly arrived American soldiers
exclaim That's American" On main
line systems with many wires tn
French customarily use two poles side
by side and the wires are strung on
cross bars between. aud others on sin
gle insulators fastened direct TO the
pole.
The long distance telegraph and tele-
phone system constructed by the sig
nal corps is entirely maintained by it's
own personnel and in addition some
3, 900 miles of leased wires are main
tanned by it.
All this construction has been made
by signal corps battalions with imple-
ments and material from the United
States with the single exception OF
poles, most Of which were obtained in
France. In construction. maintenance
and operation the standard practices of
the United States have been followed
and the American Expeditionary Force
has been given Service equal to the
best obtainable in the commercial
world and admittedly unrivalled in any
army. Its men have followed troops
wherever troops went. down front line
trenches. over shell swept and machine
gun raked areas TO lay and keep their
wires so that communications might be
maintained. The signal corps has a
long list of brave dead and brave
wounded, more honorcd perhaps, be-
cause they could not fight back
The telephone service OF the corps
was opened on June -. 1917. and since
then there have been handled nearly
nineteen million local calls and more
than one million long distance calls.
Since the signal corps telegraph sys-
tenn began to function on August 10 OF
last year more than five and one half
million messages have been handled,
aggregatinS more than one-third OF a
billion words.