BARRACKS A. R. C AMERICAN RED CROSS 



461 



enabled me to be the first representative of the American 

 army (for in France the Red Cross is as much a part of 

 the army as any of its branches) to enter a dozen or more 

 places in France remote from the war zone ; and my 

 reception has everywhere been a convincing testimony 

 to the deep feeling of friendship which the French peo- 

 ple have for the Americans. It is greatly to be regretted 

 that my elementary knowledge of the French language 

 has not always enabled me likewise to carry to the people 

 of these remote places the assurance of the profound 

 respect which American people at this time have for 

 their French Allies. 



There are a number of conclusions which seem evi- 

 dent to me after more than six months of travel in the 

 forest regions of France which may be of interest to 

 readers of this magazine. 



It is said that after Nelson destroyed the French fleet 

 at Trafalgar, Napoleon's chance of invading England 

 was forever gone as there did not exist in France any 



ments of forestry troops in the French, Canadian and 

 American armies, besides numerous prisoners of war, 

 mobilized laborers of all kinds under the sun, and French 

 civilians too old or too young for military service, are 

 all found at work throughout the wooded districts of 

 France turning forests into "Materiel de Guerre" of all 

 sorts. These operations are largely, of course, on the 

 French national forests and are under strict supervision 

 of the French forestry officials, and the cutting is made 

 entirely on scientific forestry principles. 



Most of the timber which is used by various contract- 

 ing firms is cut from private forests. So great has been 

 the demand for timber for war enterprises not directly 

 under the control of the army that a great deal of 

 speculation in privately owned forests has resulted. The 

 Government exercises no severe control over these pri- 

 vate transactions and from a French point of view they 

 are lumbered therefore in a very reckless fashion, but 

 regarding them in the light of some of our own destruc- 



Underwood and Underwood British Official Photograph 



WORK OF THE BRITISH FORESTRY FORCES IN FRANCE STACKS OF CUT WOOD AT A SAW MILL 

 From such points all over France, timber in all manufactured forms flows in a steady stream to the various construction units, for wood is a 

 vitally necessary thing in carrying on both offensive and defensive activities. Now the American lumber and forest forces are backing up 

 the splendid work of the Allies, with sawmills humming night and day, there is no fear that this need will not be met. The supply of timber 

 needed will be constantly available, until the Hun is brought to his knees. 



forests capable of supplying timber for constructing 

 new fleets again to challenge England's sea supremacy. 

 Perhaps that was a convincing argument to the French 

 people of the need of a forest policy. At any rate, 

 one of the sources of strength to France today is her 

 forests. The demands which war makes upon the for- 

 ests for wood materials, ranging all the way from heavy 

 bridge timbers to poles and pine boughs for camouflage 

 screens, is enormous. If France could not in quite a 

 large measure supply not only herself, but her English 

 and American allies as well with these products, the 

 increased burden placed upon the world's ship tonnage 

 in transporting this material presumably from America 

 might be nearly insurmountable. As it is, several regi- 



tive lumbering operations they seem quite conservative. 

 All through the wooded regions of France new saw- 

 mills have sprung up to supply the demand for lumber. 

 Most of them operate on an exceedingly small scale. 

 Many are operated by water power and employ a few old 

 men and boys, and sometimes women work at the lighter 

 tasks. From our point of view these mills are exceed- 

 ingly primitive. I have not seen anywhere in France a 

 sawmill capable of turning out 75000 feet of lumber a 

 day. Most of them would scarcely turn out 2000 or 

 3000 feet. Many of them operate by old fashioned water 

 wheels and use "up and down" sash saws a form of 

 machine all but obsolete in America. Others have cir- 

 cular or light band saws. Many of the carriages are 



