352 THE AMERICAN FOREST ENGINEERS IN FRANCE 



management and placed most of these cuttings at the disposal of the 

 war-time supply services as preferred purchasers. 



Early Negotiations with the French Government. — Rather extended 

 negotiations were necessary before the work of supplying the American 

 Army with timber was adjusted effectively to these existing forestry 

 organizations in France. Not alone were the means of obtaining forests 

 for American operations involved; other questions, such as the advance 

 of lumber and railroad ties from French stocks for the most immediate 

 and urgent needs of our Army, the control of American wood purchases 

 by the French Government, and the loan of American troops and equip- 

 ment to the Inspector General of Timber, had to be settled. A satis- 

 factory adjustment of these matters was reached in the latter part of 

 August, 1917, and reasonably effective cooperation with the various 

 French agencies then developed. 



The Interallied Timber Committee. — A committee which had 

 existed previously for correlating the forest purchases of the French and 

 British supply services was expanded into the Interallied Committee on 

 War Timber, with French, British, Canadian, Belgian, and American 

 representatives. This committee functioned under the French In- 

 spector General of Timber and served as a clearing house for the con- 

 sideration of all requests from the various armies for the purchase of 

 forests in the Zone of the Rear and for adjusting conflicting demands. 

 The purchase of any forest for a particular army had to be passed upon 

 by this committee before action was taken through the competent French 

 agencies. 



Once the purchase of a particular tract of timber was approved by 

 the committee and sanctioned by the Inspector General, a direct cession 

 was obtained from the Waters and Forests Service in the case of State 

 or communal holdings, the cession specifying the quantity, price, and 

 cutting requirements. If the tract was privately owned a commission 

 of French forest experts undertook the estimate and appraisal of the 

 stumpage and the negotiations for its purchase. If a friendly purchase 

 could not be effected a request for the requisition of the property was 

 made to a still different war-time organization, called the Standing 

 Committee on War Timber. This board was composed of the Inspector 

 General, representatives of the Department of Agriculture, members of 

 Parliament, and prominent French lumber manufacturers. It had been 

 created in the course of the war as a means of developing and controlling 

 the general policy of the French Government for meeting miUtary 

 demands for forest products, and was the final court on the condemna- 

 tion of private forests. 



Forest Acquisitions in the War Zone. — At the same time that officers 

 of the Forestry Section took their places in this somewhat complicated 



