648 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



LUMBERING OPERATIONS WITH THE BRITISH ARMY 



In this picture is shown some of the work of the Canadian Forest section on the western front. The men are engaged in bringing in the timber 

 from the forests, ready for sawmill operations. The character of the logs shows the care exercised by the foresters in making selections, while the 

 trees in the background show possibilities for the future of French forestry. 



necessary to its construction. The machinery for his 

 purpose is all ready for its work. Through the agencies 

 concerneS with army supplies his material is provided bv 

 a businesslike organization geared to high measure of 

 efficiency. The Council of National Defense, through its 

 lumber director, designates the lumber that may be 

 delivered with least loss of time and minimum strain on 

 congested transportation facilities. This lumber is 

 promptly acquired through the W^r Department's pur- 

 chasing agencies and quickly delivered by railroads 

 trained to giving war-time priority to military shipments. 



Suppose, however, that this same commander were in 

 the French war zone where there are no sawmills and no 

 railroads, no Council of Defense and no transportation. 

 His one resource is the native forest. For his lumber he 

 must depend on the trees nearest at hand. To make 

 these trees available is not a problem for the man at a 

 mahogany desk in Washington. It is a job for trained 

 foresters and trained lumbermen on the spot, for ex- 

 perts skilled in the selection of timbers and their swift 

 and workmanlike conversion into building material. It 

 is a task for the ax and the sawmill rather than for the 

 council table and the issuing of typewritten orders. The 

 machinery which makes for efficiency in the United 

 States could not be utilized even if it were available. The 

 one thing that will solve the problem is the immediate 

 activity of such military units as the Forest Regiments, 

 contributed to the allied cause by the American Govern- 

 ment. 



It is to handle such needs of war that the 10th Engi- 



neers (Forest) has already been sent to France and the 

 20th Engineers (Forest) is being prepared to go across. 

 These organizations will provide lumber for the almost 

 endless needs of the allied armies. Modern warfare de- 

 mands the construction of wharves, warehouses, store- 

 houses, hospitals, depots, shops and other buildings nec- 

 essary to shelter the army and its ammunition and sup- 

 plies. The corps of engineers must build and operate 

 railroads connecting the wharves and shops with the 

 storehouses and depots and the latter with points as close 

 as possible to the scene of fighting. Roads must be con- 

 structed and repaired, bridges built, repaired and 

 strengthened and fortifications and other defensive works 

 constructed. For these purposes the trees of the French 

 forests must be felled and converted into railroad ties 

 and other timbers and much of this work must be done 

 by the engineer regiments of American foresters, woods- 

 men and sawmill men. 



The work that takes these men to France is essentially 

 the work of wartime emergency. Military leaders agree 

 that the man who provides lumber for use in the war zone 

 is performing a duty as essential as that of the man on 

 the firing line. This completely disposes of the criticism 

 in some quarters that the expense of sending these regi- 

 ments to France and maintaining them there makes the 

 cost of their lumber output from $300 to $400 a thousand 

 feet. The absurdity of such criticism is as obvious as its 

 lack of patriotism. Similar reasoning might be applied 

 to the work of the Red Cross and the ambulance service. 

 It might be pointed out that it is much cheaper to let men 



