hat
our own army in France would require large railroad facilities both in
the operation of permanent railroads for the handling of our equipment
and supplies and in the construction and operation of temporary roads
behind our Army. In the meantime regiments of engineer troops, if
speedily organized and dispatched to Europe, could both render valuable
assistance to the British and French Armies and acquire the training and
experience which would make them valuable at a later stage to us.
Accordingly nine such regiments were organized and have for some months
been rendering active and important service along the actual battle
front. In addition to these, a tenth regiment, composed of men skilled
in forestry and lumbering, was organized and sent abroad, and is now
operating in a foreign forest cutting out lumber supplies for the use of
our associates and ourselves.

[Sidenote: Arrangements to operate our own railways in France.]

[Sidenote: Creation of entire transportation system.]

Concurrently with the formation of these special engineer troops the
department undertook the collection of material for the establishment
and operation of our own lines of supply abroad. The railways of France
have been maintained in a state of high efficiency by the French people,
and they are performing the tremendous transportation task imposed upon
them by the French and English military operations with complete
success; but in order not to impose a burden which they were not
designed to meet, by asking them to expand to the accommodation of our
services, it has been found necessary for us ourselves to undertake the
accumulation of railroad material for our own use in the theater of war.
This work is on a large and comprehensive scale. Any detailed
description of it would be inappropriate at this time, but it involves
the creation of entire transportation systems and the actual
construction and operation of railroads with the elaborate terminal
facilities needed for the rapid unloading and dispatch of supplies,
equipment, and troops.

[Sidenote: The Quartermaster General's problem.]

[Sidenote: Vast equipment needed.]

[Sidenote: Intensive production of food and clothing.]

[Sidenote: Associated nations must be supplied.]

[Sidenote: Emergency appropriation.]

[Sidenote: Great extent of purchases.]

The problem facing the Quartermaster General has been serious. For the
small Regular Army of the United States a well-defined an