UNITED STATES.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1918, Page 5

UNITED STATES.

ARMISTICE PROPOSALS. PUCK TO DEAL WITH GERMANS. Received Nov. 9, 55 p.itL Washington, Not. 5. Jlr. iAnsing has notified the Swiss ainiiter that the United States has «peed to selecting Marshal Foch to receive the German armistice representatives. President Wilson has sent a note to Germany stating that Foch has "*** authorised by the United States and the Allies to receive the representative of Germany and communicate to them the terms of'armistice.—Aus. N.Z. C»ble Assoc. AMERICAN WORK IN FRANCE.

# GIGANTIC TASKS. (London Times)' Tbo in France are rapidly ashing to completion the longest, and in man y respects fie greatest, scheme oi communications ever used in warMi*. Their handicaps were multifold, weir task colossal. How splendidlv 'My attacked their problems and con* qnend one after another of the obstacles which confronted them stands out m clear perspective as one passes along tneir great lines of communication to-day. Siity days more will see the greater part of the whole vast scheme in fnll operation. Even now tM completed part of the system is equal to all demands made upon it, and with labor and materials available in fairly equable proportions, a* they are now, tb* actual construction work is going ahead more rapidly than ever. What the American forces in France Jiave accomplished thus far is almost incredible. For instance, out of the waste lands adjacent to an old French port they have constructed a splendid lil# of modern docks, where every day ■ow ships are pouring fertlh their carjoss of men and war material*, cars and machinery. This dock system is finished. It supplements tue old French dock system in the town, where still more ships are constantly difcharging American cargoes. A huge new warehouse system at this point 13 also neara completion; even now it is able to e care of the great flood of supplies whldh is constantly pouring in. In the old part of this :ame coast town the Americans have installed motor operation and cold storage plants, a motor reception park, and quarters for storing supplies for ordnance and aviation forces. These are more or less temporary quarters, and will be merged in the near future in the general scheme which is now being completed in the outskirts of the town. In addition to the new docks, warehouses and extensive railway yard." (Obese latter have a trackage of nearly 200 miles), work is well advanced on the new car assembly shop, where already, when I saw it in its incompleted state, 20 odd freight cars a day, of three different designs, were being turned out and put into immediate service. Another assembly plant has been constructed—at a different point—to handle allpteel cars, which are transported here from America downV—t!|it is, in sections, in order to economise shipping space. At this plant these steel cars are now being assembled at the rate of a complete train a day, and plans are rapidly culminating for a large extension of the work. Here, too, a huge eamp has been built ior the negro stevedores, also a remount camp, and two big rest camps, each providing for many thousands of American soldiers, who march thence from the boats, to be sifted and re-arranged for dispatch to the various training camps farther inland. Not far from here, work on a new 20,000-bed hospital is forging ahead, and 30 days from now it will be virtually completed. This is the largest hospital centre yet constructed. It is composed entirely of small, one-storey, light, airy, and attractive structures, divided into small squares, laid otit on a great open stretch of sand, surrounded by pine trees, and altogether promises to be an Ideal institution of its kind.

In this tame section is an immense new artillery camp all ready for the several brigades of artillery which were expected when I was there, and, like the boipital enterprise, it is in strong hands, and promises well. It includes a large' remount eamp, in which were several thousand horses at the time of jny visit. The work in this section whfeh ii typical of that at all the other lose ports I visited, is being vigorously and intelligently directed. Strong executive® are in charge, and the spirit of the j workers is excellent throughout. Everywhere the Americans are realising that they have "caught up with themselves." and now that they can visualise the completion of what a few months ago looked SO itmeh like an impossible underfekiig they are bnoyed up, happy, and impired by their success; they have conaMH** and overcome condi-

mifable spirit could possibly surmount. One realises, after inspecting the character and extent of the work at the several base ports which Che Americans have taken over, that here lies the strength of their future scheme of operations. These port schemes are great affairs to-day; but they are so workled out a 9 to be capable of almost unlimited expansion. This is highly important, for the war developments of the past two months have clearly pointed the way towards greater unity of effort by the Allies, and greater mobility of action by the French, British, and American fighting forces. The tendency is toward a pooling both of effort and supplies, the natural outcome of centralisation under a single command. This may easily resolve the American base ports in finance into main reserve centres, from which their channels of distribution will radiate directly to railheads oil all parts of the front, instead of mainly through the intermediate and advance area centres, which are now being constructed. These latter, in that event, would be utilised in connection with the great and ever-growing training centres through which, for a long time to come, the American Army of 2.000,000 or more, in the making, must pass. As at the base ports, bo I found condition; all along the hundreds of miles of the American lines of communication; everywhere the same kind of capable men in command, the same splendid spirit and energy, the same steady progress toward the ends in view, the same optimism as to the quick and successful working out of the plans as a whole.