Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-14
lis TERROR TO DIAz[ army TEST ONLY
American Band, Led yCreg- Gen. Carter Denies Plan to
ton, Botherng Mexicans. Menace Mexico.
RAILWAY LINES KEPT CUT DECLARES TAFT SAID sol
Federal Held Up Isolated Told Him Departure Take
by Burning of Bridges. mand at San Antonio.
ONLY FORTY COMMAND OTHER OFFICERS NOT so SURE
Pons-Indans Said Ordinary
o Advancing
DECLARES TAFT SAID so
Told Him on Departure to Take Com.
mand at San Antonio.
OTHER OFFICERS NOT so SURE
Point Out Difference Between the
Present Movement and Ordinary
Practice Maneuvers.

SAN ANTONIO, March 14.-Maj. Gen.
William III. Carter, who is in command of
the divisional army now moblizing in
| Texas, said yesterday that the massing
of 10000 troops within striking distance
Of the Mexican border had no Interior
| significance whatever. and that the
movement was simply the outcome OF a
desire on the part of the general staff
| at Washington to test the new field
| service regulations.
| In making this statement Gen. Carter
| broke the scrupulous silence that he had
| maintained since his arrival at the big
| camp at Fort Sam Houston Saturday
| morning
Within an hour of the time that Gen.
F., Carter thus accounted for the hasty as
| sembling a trainlOad of cavalry recruits
| from Columbus, Ohio, pulled into the
| railroad yards a mile from the camp.
| The recruits and their officers did not
detrain, but stayed in their cars. They
| will leave over the Southern Pacific line
| for Eagle Pass on the Mexican border
today. They go to swell the number of
the Sd Cavalry now doing patrol duty
along the fighting zone.
Full War Strength.
With the arrival Of six other carloads
Of cavalry recruits from the same as
sembling post in Ohio yesterday the It'll
Cavalry, now on the ground at the camp.
is raised to full war strength OF 11ss
men and fifty-one officers. A part of a
| consignment of 200 extra horses for this
| regiment arrived yesterday, and the re-
rnairder Uifbin tun
| More than 200 recruits for the infantry
and Engineer Corps also came In yes
| terday, and everywhere on the great,
windy plain where the divisional camp
| has been established awkward squads
drill sergeants.
Although no official statement to that
/. effect has been issued by Gen. Carter,
| 1t was a matter OF common knowledge
| that before the end of the week every
regiment of each arm of the service rep
resented in the division which he com.
mands will be as nearly recruited to a
war footing as the exigencies of railroad
transportation will permit.
with Congress not in session." said
a colonel of a western regiment, land
with no appropriation to meet this con-
| tingency, this unusual movement of
troops and this recruiting TO war strength
would not be in progress unless there
was some good reason for it. I've been
in the service twenty-eight years and
I've never witnessed maneuvers carried
out under these conditions"
Quotes the President.
This is what Gen. Carter had to say
when he was found in the Offices of Gen.
Duncan, department commander OF
Texas:
1T is untrue that we are holding any
cars on the railroad lines for possible
sudden dispatch of troops anywhere, and
II the railroads are prepared to meet de-
| mands for the removal OF troops there
is no significance in that fact beyond the
clerical spheres Of the respective rail-
roads.
president Taft and Maj. Gen. Leonard
Wood both told me before l left Wash
| ington that the purpose Of the present
| mobilization was merely to test the new
| field service regulations covering this
| movement in order that it might be prov
| ed to the general staff that division
mobilization in quick time is possible.
Upon the success of this movement
depends the possibility of the mobiliza-
ton of divisions of militia also"
Gen. Carter was asked concerning the
report that the 9th and 18th Cavalry regi-
ments would shortly be sent to the
border.
''It is true" he replied. that some OF
duty along the border the Sd Cavalry
and the I'D Infantry may be relieved
of their duty soon by fresh troops. These
regiments have been on patrol duty for
some time and It is quite likely that they
will be relieved. But there will be no
significance in the sending of relief regi-
ments down there-none whatever
Some Ofacers Skeptical.
The officers Of various regiments in
- c,,1,-
stance of Gen. Carter's statement was
carried commented upon it guardedly
They said that while they did not doubt
that everything Gen. Carter had said
was perfectly true. it was quite possible
that he had not told all he knew: that in
their belief he was one of four men in this
country who really knew what was the
object of the present movement. the
others being Gen. Wood. President Taft
and Secretary Dickinson, and that it was
quite possible that President Taft in
ordering the mobilization had kept an
eye to disordered conditions in a neighbor
state as well as to the testing Of the new
field regulations and was not averse to
killing two birds with one stone
The report prevailed at the camp that
the 9th Cavalry from Fort d. A. Russell
in Wyoming, which has been caught in
the general delay in the mobilization Of
that posts strength, and which may not
arrive in its entirety until Wednesday,
viii not leave its trains. but will con-
tinue down to Laredo on the Mexican
border If the testing of the new field
regulations for the mobilization of the
army by divisions is the only object of the
present assembling of troops at Fort Sam
Houston and other points along the
Mexican line. it is becoming apparent
that almost unanimously the high army
officers already assembled are convinced
of certain potent defects which are being
exefnplified in the present mobilization.
Many of these officers do not hesitate to
viewpoint. the mobilization at Fort Sam
Houston has been a failure and that the
fault lies not with the individual regi-
ments responding to the call, but with
the present army system of distribution.
Difficulty in the Way.
One OF them voiced his sentiments on
this subject in this wise today:
"Stop and consider" said he, that it
is now seven days since the general order
for the mobilization was issued and that
right now one whole outfit-that from
Fort d. A. Russell-is missing. and that
fragments and parcels Of other regiments
are still on the way. In the case of my
own regiment, which had to travel over
1000 miles, the order came at a certain
hour and within five hours thereafter
the entire regiment was ready to move
and did move.
But that was because we happened
to be on q well equipped railroad line and
not isolated in some backWoods spot with
one track avenue of egress, and be-
ousr ,onf u