"They are a war factor. His Britannic Majesty's Chinese Labor Corps now behind the battle line in France is almost as large as the total Chinese population in the United States. The French Republic has recruited a force of similar dimensions, bringing Chinese manpower overseas for non-combatant and industrial work. Even teeming Russia, before its tragic collapse, had drawn upon thousands of Chinese for work as far west as the Ural mines. In 1914 there were but 7,000 in this rich country, but a fourfold increase brought the total to 30,000. All told, 200,000 Chinese are 'carrying on' in the war zone, laboring behind the lines, in munition works and factories, manning ships. "Though the pages of no White Book say it, the break between the Chinese Republic and Germany was precipitated largely by the Allied drafting of China's manpower. Even in its beginnings, the French and British mobilization of Chinese labor caused a diplomatic battle royal." ECONOMIC VALUE OF AMERICAN ARMY TO FRENCH INDUSTRY Permanent economic improvements were one result of the presence in France of the American Expeditionary Force. An industrial movement was created that will probably continue long after the war is over. In various French seaports, docks had to be constructed to handle the enormous tonnage of supplies needed for the American troops. A letter in the New York _Journal of Commerce_ gives a picture of the transformation in the transport system in France made in order to handle with speed and certainty the various supplies on which the American Army depended: "Our project comprises nearly 1,000 miles of railroad construction, but not continuous. France already controls on her lines such facilities that she has been able to support her great military burden and not break. Their local development in the way of sidings and so forth is chiefly in the big towns, and small engines and cars are used. To meet our larger needs, it is necessary to establish terminals outside the towns for the change of engines and for our great storage warehouses. Our great railway construction in France, apart from a few cut-off lines, is in the way of storage yards. We have practically the use of two trunk-line tracks. The French run over them, too, for there is a tremendous civil population to be supported. The French are necessarily supreme, and we simply have the right to run over their railroads subject to their rules.