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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZIXT 



ties available. The greater part of the 

 present manufacturing potentialities of 

 France are already absorbed by the needs 

 of the government and the civilian popu- 

 lation. It would be a comparatively easy 

 matter to enlarge the factories now in 

 being, or build more, and equip them with 

 American machinery, but the labor is not 

 at hand. 



"WHY NOT IMPORT AMERICAN LABOR ?" 



"Why not import Americans ?" I asked. 



That has been carefully considered, it 

 appears, but the idea is not likely to be 

 put in effect on a large scale. Every 

 imported American must be fed and 

 clothed and provided for in France. Use 

 will be made of all the labor available on 

 the ground before the Americans will be 

 brought over. The Purchasing Board 

 once had under consideration bringing in 

 labor from Greece and Spain, but diplo- 

 matic considerations intervened. This is 

 a story that may never be told. 



Offhand one would think that many of 

 the things now being bought would out- 

 last the war. But things do not last in 

 war. Clothing wears out and tents go to 

 pieces and mules die and cars get shell- 

 shock. The chief purchasing officer 

 thought that the 1,804,000 tons which 

 were purchased in Europe in six months 

 (the total must run to more than 2,000,- 

 000 by the time this article appears) 

 would prove to be only a beginning. As 

 the army increases in France, so will the 



purchases. The 1 1111c will come, of course, 

 when the buying will be largely confined 

 to the raw materials available, but that 

 buying will account for practically every 

 pound the armies of the other allies do 

 not take. 



To the outsider the impressive feature 

 of the organization, apart from the dent 

 that is being put in the U-boat totals by 

 this organized and systematic develop- 

 ment of assets at hand, is the perfect 

 teamwork that prevails. Some members 

 of the purchasing department are Regular 

 Army officers ; others are business men 

 who have never seen an army officer be- 

 fore except in the Memorial Day parade. 

 Their methods and training and outlook 

 are entirely different ; yet they have dove- 

 tailed together perfectly. 



The complexity of their tasks may be 

 surmised from the fact that the first two 

 requisitions passed on totaled up more 

 than 3,000 articles, but competition be- 

 tween departments and governments on 

 prices had been practically eliminated. 

 These men have been suddenly called 

 upon to handle a business ten times as 

 large as that of United States Steel, and 

 they have handled it. Some have made 

 good and some have failed; but most 

 have made good. 



The chief purchasing officer remarked, 

 incidentally, that in his six months at the 

 job he had not found one case of dis- 

 honesty on the part of an army officer; 

 but he did not think that remarkable. 



