ANOTHER FOREST REGIMENT FOR FRANCE 



DO you see that sawmill ? Now rub your eyes. The 

 magic carpet has lifted it and is carrying it twen- 

 ty-five miles away. This is not a fairly tale. It 

 is a story of the American foresters in France. A 10,000 

 capacity mill was buzzing away merrily one day in the 

 woods of France. Forty-seven hours later it was operat- 

 ing at a point twenty-five miles away. 



More men who can do things like this are needed on 

 the other side. They are needed to bring victory 

 quicker. That is the reason why there is being organized 

 what practically amounts to another American Forest 

 Regiment for service in France. With the growing 

 demands of the army for lumber of all sorts it was 

 found necessary to add to the force of workers who are 

 getting out the railroad ties, the trench timber, the wood 

 for new buildings and for a hundred other purposes. 

 Whether the 

 new regiment 

 will be formed 

 into a separate 

 o r g a nization 

 or i n c o r p o- 

 rated with the 

 10th and 20th 

 Engineers 

 (Forest) is not 

 yet certain. 



It is expect- 

 ed to have all 

 the new men 

 on the other 

 side in a short 

 time, within 

 the next month 

 or two at the 

 outside. The 

 officials on this 

 side who are 

 selecting the 

 members of 

 the new regi- 

 ment are working with some of the same speed which 

 the rustlers on the other side are showing. 'The officers 

 are being selected from experienced logging superin- 

 tendents, mill operators and superintendents and others 

 in civil life who have been accustomed to handling entire 

 operations in lumbering ; the enlisted men will be chosen 

 from among drafted men whose trade in civil life has 

 been that of lumber jack, saw mill man or forester. In 

 a camp in this country they will be given a month or so 

 of intensive instruction in military drill and in the duties 

 and responsibilites of soldiers. 



The principal qualifications for the officers who are to 

 be in charge of the new regiment is that they be able 

 to take charge of logging and lumber manufacturing 

 operations immediately on their arrival in France. 



88 



AMKRICAN SAWMILL IX FRANCE 



It is in plants like this that millions of feet of lumber are being turned out for all sorts of army uses 

 The mills are being driven day and night with ten-hour shifts at work. 



Organizers and administrators with experience in all 

 branches of lumbering and manufacturers who know 

 all the processes from the stump to the car, are the class 

 from which will be selected largely the commissioned 

 officers. Men are needed who can rustle equipment and 

 supplies and do it under abnormal conditions, where 

 time is worth more than money and men easier to obtain 

 than machinery and where breakdowns must be patched 

 up with whatever is at hand. For convenience in 

 handling all such applicants, as well as those selected 

 from civil life for commissions in other branches of the 

 army service, there have been established by the per- 

 sonnel branch of the General Staff agencies in a number 

 of cities through which applications must be handled. 

 These agencies are at the district headquarters of the 

 recruiting sub-section and the offices of the Military 



Training 

 Camps Asso- 

 ciation in the 

 following 

 places ; New 

 York City, 

 Boston, Phila- 

 delphia, Atlan- 

 ta, Chicago, 

 Cleveland, St. 

 Paul, Dallas, 

 Kansas City, 

 Portland, Ore- 

 gon, San Fran- 

 cisco and Los 

 Angeles. This 

 new procedure 

 has the great 

 advantage that 

 it saves those 

 desiring com- 

 missions the 

 i n convenience 

 of coming or 

 writing to 

 With more than 2,000,000 American sol- 

 and with several hundred thousand 



Washington, 

 diers in France 

 being added to their numbers each month, it is neces- 

 sary for the foresters to keep pace with the rest of the 

 army. In fact, they must keep ahead and anticipate 

 the demands of the fighters. They must prepare months 

 in advance the timber of all kinds which will be called 

 for. While they work in the rear they really lead the 

 army. When the long lines of khaki-clad boys arrive 

 they must find barracks ready to receive them, hospi- 

 tals erected, Y. M. C. A. huts, and in addition many 

 millions of feet of lumber to be employed in construc- 

 tion work essential to their advance. Many of the loyal 

 foresters who are felling trees would prefer to be felling 

 Germans, many of fhose who are guiding the logs 



