FORESTERS AND WOODSMEN IN WAR WORK 



ALLIED leaders in Europe have given cordial wel- 

 come to the first contingents of American foresters 

 and woodsmen to arrive in the war zone and take 

 up service in the forests of France. The first arrival was 

 the 10th Ent^ineers (Forest), which went oversea in 

 August. This regiment was followed in November bv 

 the first and second battalions of the 20th Engineers 

 (Forest). By French and British war leaders these men 

 are looked upon as a vital contribution on the part of 

 the United States to the allied cause in the great conflict. 

 The requirements of the fighting forces in the way of 

 timbers for trench building 

 and lumber for other forms 

 of construction are such as 

 make these trained worker-; 

 indispensable to military 

 success. 



No figures are available 

 as to the amount of timber 

 which has gone into shor- 

 ing up trenches and dug- 

 outs, into the building of 

 miles and miles of trench 

 sidewalks and corduroy 

 roads and into artillery and 

 trench screens. Nor is it 

 possible to estimate the 

 quantity used in railroad 

 and bridge construction 

 and in the building of 

 warehouses, barracks, hos- 

 pitals and other structures. 

 Exi)erts agree that it totals 

 many millions of feet along 

 the hundreds of miles of 

 front. I'Vom the statement 

 of a French colonel it is 

 learned that as high as 

 thirty thousand trees have 

 been used in a single day 

 by one French army corps 

 alone. This emphasizes the 

 worth of tiie American 

 Forest regiments, which 

 will be charged not only 

 with sup])lying timbers fo: 



military use but with i)roducing the material along such 

 lines as will best serve the purpose of perpetuating the 

 French forests. 



Along a part of the French front white fir will be the 

 principal timber available for the use of the American 

 regiments. This lir is described as of good quality and 

 fairly goocT stand, resembling the balsam of the American 

 northwest. It grows in a region of good roads and com- 

 ]->arative ease of logging operations. In another section 

 the timber is akin to Norway |)ine. but with smaller yield 

 per acre. JLlsewhere is found short leaf i)ine, somewhat 



718 



ONLY A VOLUNTEER 



By a Private in the 20th Engineers (Forest). 



WTHY didn't I wait to bs drafted 

 ' ' And led to the train by a band? 

 Or put in a claim for exemption? 



Oh! Why did I hold up my hand? 

 Why didn't I wait far the banquet, 



Why didn't I wait to be cheered? 

 For the draftee receives all the credit 



While I only volunteered. 



But nobody gave me a banquet, 



And never a soul a kind word. 

 The puff of the engine, the grind of the wheels 



Were all the goodby that I heard. 

 Then off to the training camp hustled, 



To be trained for a good half a year, 

 In the shuffle, abandoned, forgotten; 



I was only a volunteer. 



Perhaps some day in the future 



When my little boy sits on my knee 

 And asks what I did in the world war. 



As his big eyes look up to me, 

 I will have to look into those eyes 



Which at me so trustfully peer. 

 And tell him that I wasn't DRAFTED 



But was only a volunteer. 



like Florida pine in size and yield. Ojierations in this 

 timber will be conducted in swamps and sand. In some 

 places the Aiuerican forces will find such hardwoods as 

 beech and oak, of growth smaller and thicker than the 

 hardwood timber of the western Api)alachians. 



Mid-December found the third and fourth battalions of 

 the 20th Engineers (Forest) completely recruited and or- 

 ganized for service in the war zone. No definite an- 

 nouncement is made as to the time of embarkation for 

 France, but it is understood that in line with the genera! 

 policy for the formation of the regiment the two new 



units will soon be at work 

 in the French forests. 



Each battalion of the 

 20th contains three com- 

 panies of 250 enlisted men, 

 a large proportion of whom 

 are foresters, woodsmen 

 and sawmill workers. 

 When the ranks of the 

 third and fourth battalions 

 had been filled there was a 

 considerable overflow of 

 available men and these are 

 being utilized in the forma- 

 tion of the fifth and si.xth. 

 It is probable that two bat- 

 talions will go forward 

 each month until the full 

 strength of the regiment is 

 completed. This will re- 

 quire ten battalions of the 

 character of those already 

 organized. To increase the 

 efliciency of the trair.ed 

 workers in these battalions 

 the regiment will also have 

 nine service battalions, 

 composed of laborers. The 

 aggregate strength of the 

 regiment will be close to 

 17,000 officers and men, 

 making it the largest regi- 

 ment in the world. 



Col. \V. A. Mitchell, U. 

 S. A., is in command of the 

 regiment and is in charge of the work of organization at 

 American University cami)us in the District of Colum- 

 bia. Colonel Mitchell has had broad experience which 

 qualifies him admir.ably for the leadership of this force. 

 His work has included road building in the Phili])pines, 

 mapping at Fort Leavenworth and the designing and 

 construction of dams in the Ohio river. He has served 

 as instructor and assistant jirofessor in military art and 

 civil engineering at West Point. With the outbreak of 

 tlie recent Mexican trouble he was sent to Arizona with 

 a view to taking over Me.\ican railway operations if ;he 



