356 THE AMERICAN FOREST ENGINEERS IN FRANCE 



another thing which the French forester kept close at heart and which 

 the impatient American was apt to put aside. Thoroughgoing repairs 

 on all of the roads used in our operations, however, were made by the 

 forest engineers before they left France. 



French Difficulties in Supplying American Requirements. — In 

 judging the effectiveness of the cooperation of the French with the 

 American Forestry Section, it must not be forgotten that the war brought 

 many difficulties and problems to the forest agencies of the country, 

 and that these were vastly increased by the presence of the American 

 Army. Not only did France have to supply her own vast military re- 

 quirements from her limited forest resources as well as the bulk of the 

 lumber needed by the British, Belgian, and American forces; she had 

 also to meet the urgent needs of her civilian population and she had to 

 foresee and provide for the restoration of the sixth of her territory which 

 the Germans occupied. Moreover, the French are an exceedingly 

 democratic and individualistic nation. Forest conservation and the 

 sacredness of property rights are two of their most cherished and deeply 

 rooted characteristics. The war administration had to hold the political 

 support of these people during four and a half years of stress and sacrifice. 

 Any source of dissatisfaction or unrest strengthened the "defaitists," 

 who sought an early peace at any terms. 



Discontent over the inroads upon French forests was already rife 

 during the winter of 1917. During 1918 it assumed the proportions of 

 an organized movement. It became the subject of interpellations on 

 the floor of Parliament. The opposition of the turpentine workers in 

 the Landes against what was regarded as a depletion of the forests upon 

 which their livelihood depended necessitated a change in the spring of 

 1918 in the methods of purchasing timber in that region. Thereafter 

 all forest acquisitions in southwestern France had to be passed upon 

 and approved by a local commission on which the "resiniers" were 

 represented. During the summer of 1918, when the Germans were at 

 the very gates of Paris, the whole system of acquiring forests for military 

 requirements in the Zone of the Rear had to be reorganized, with new 

 officials representing the "opposition" in Parliament in positions of 

 control. 



Effectiveness of French Cooperation. — In consideration of these 

 difficulties with which the French Government was confronted, its 

 cooperation in supplying the American Army with timber must, in all 

 fairness, be regarded not only as a vital factor in the success of our 

 military operations but also as effective as the circumstances permitted. 

 It was inevitable that the French should view the cutting of their forests 

 for war purposes differently from the Americans; and that their inborn 

 attitude toward forests and their training in forest conservation should 



