THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



215 



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© Committee on Public Information 



ISSUING SUPPLIES TO TROOPS IN FRANCE 



'The American army is 3,000 water miles away from its home base, in a country that is 

 increasingly feeling the strain of more than three years of war" 



England, hole and corner, until enough 

 machine tools were found for the opera- 

 tion. France was practically cleaned of 

 her spare machine tools, but somewhere 

 in France the rebuilding process will be 

 finished by the time the Belgian locomo- 

 tives are finished. 



In England the Board's scouts work 

 with the government. Manufacturing is 

 the great business of the country. The 

 British are familiar with it. Early in the 

 war they took steps to earmark all stocks 

 of raw material, so that when the Board 

 wants a given thing it has but to say so. 



The permanent under-secretary, in 

 charge of three-inch screws, has but to 

 turn to his index to state whether he can 

 furnish the screws wanted and when and 

 how many and where. It is different in 

 France. The French are individual to 

 their heels. Instead of one large manu- 

 factory, they prefer many small manu- 

 factories for a given output. Each fac- 

 tory stands on its own bottom. Each 

 has its own supplies. 



Further, France has been so busy fight- 

 ing since the beginning of the war that 

 she has not had time to take govern- 

 mental charge of her deposits of raw ma- 

 terial. Her administrative energies have 

 been devoted to getting every valid man 

 in line and keeping him there. Coin-, 

 cidentally, her manufacturers have been 

 able to keep that line nourished with 

 every form of supply an army needs, but 

 it has been largely by private enterprise. 



The individual manufacturer has found 

 his materials where he could and the 

 women have done the work. It is the 

 women who will do the work when the 

 American Army's Purchasing Board goes 

 into the manufacturing business this 

 year. 



ARMY'S BUSINESS OPERATIONS FIGURED 

 IN TONNAGE 



Every business operation of the army 

 is figured in tonnage terms nowadays. 

 The great question is how the tons can 

 be saved. Almost as soon as the Amer- 



