The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-05
TAFT WILL ATTEND
HOUSING CONGRESS
Arrives i'm Cincinnati to
Address Meeting
Today

Cincinnati, December 4.-Former Presi-
dent william Howard Taft arrived in his
native city late today to attend the meet
ings of the National Housing association,
at which he will make an address tomor-
row. He was accompanied by Robert w.
association, who also will speak tomor-
row.
Many topics of interest to city dwellers
were discussed during the day. the hous-
ing problem being attacked from many
angles. As a practical demonstration OF
the tenement house problem and what can
be done to ameliorate conditions in these
districts the city authorities today took
the delegates on an automobile tour
through the densely populated portions Of
the city.
In the afternoon at one section of the
conference, j. Frank Beer, president of
the Toronto Housing company of Toronto,
spoke on How to Get Cheap Houses"
For cheap houses, Mr.. Beer said that
sary to have cheap land, building ma
terials, labor and money. He advocated
taxing unimproved land more heavily than
improved and exempting from taxation
houses costing $1,000 or less.
He favored cities lending their credit to
corporations building cheap houses. Cheap
labor and building materials. he said,
would depend largely on the city.
John R. Richard, chief housing inspec-
tAr Of ,;tx
of the conference on 1.-The Problem of
the Old House" Discussion of this adj
dress was participated in by G.. A. Webb,
Richmond, Va.
Tonight with Rabbi David Phillipson OF
this city presiding, Frank b. Williams,
chairman of the city planning commission
of the City club of New York, described
the restricted residence and business dis
tricts in German cities.
c. l.. Close of New York gave an Illus
trated address on the housing of workers
at industrial steel plants.
The conference will close tomorrow WITH
several addresses during the day and a
banquet at the Business Mems club at
night.
the level plains to the rough country
around TERRA Blanca, and here was
real fighting, where all the forces were
brought into play. The rebels would
advance a machine gun to the head of
a ravine and it would sing it's song of
death until the federals were either
killed or had run away
1t was certainly faeinating to hear
the roar of the cannon and the sharp
crack of the rifles. The battle ragged till
long after dark. The rebel artillery,
from it's commanding position, drove the
federals farther into the hills. The fed
eral officers, seeing defeat, deserted
their men, and escaped on one of the
trains, leaving the men to shift for
themselves.
After Fighting Was Over
Now we come to the narrowing
scenes on the battle field after the fight
ing was over. Wednesday morning was
cloudy and foggy, very unusual thing
for this country, and 1t was several
hours before we could see much. We
had almost given up, when about 10
O'Clock the wind drove the clouds away,
the sun came out bright, and the fog
lifted like a curtain rolling up from a
giant stage, and the panorama of the
battle stage was before our eyes. Some
will not realize how this looked, but
one who has seen it has the horrible
scene pictured in his mind for life.
While the dead and wounded were still
on the field, we found a hand car be-
side the track and placing 1t upon the
rails we made the trip from one end of
the field to the other. Here and there
would be a wounded soldier begging
for water. The federals had been fight
ing for near "a hours without food or
water. The dead We're everywhere. Some
with their heads blown off, some minus
their legs and arms, some torn to
shreds by bursting shells. One poor fell
low with gaping wound, through
which his bowels were protruding, was
begging for water, crying, aqua, ami go
aqua" The field was covered with dead
horses, others wounded and straggling
around looking for food and water.
The rebels captured Is cannon, sew
eral cars of ammunition, and train
load of supplies These and their dead
and wounded they were taking to
Juarez on the trains. We had to derail
our hand car several times to let trains
pass. The federal dead they would heap
in piles and cover with sand. They were
not even particular and many were left
with heads, hands or feet sticking out
Sometimes one would be covered up
alone, sometimes Is or 20 in heap.
In one place soldier had fallen some
distance apart from the others, and in
covering him they had left one arm
sticking straight up, the fingers point
ing toward heaven as though asking
for help from above. We called it the
lone hand upon the desert. 1t was a
gruesome sight, indeed. At another
place a dog was lying beside a mound
perhaps the last resting place of his
master. We tried to coax him away, but
he was still faithful to the dead.
Thanksgiving Day on Field
We visited the field again Thanksgiv-
ing morning, after the wounded had
been removed and the dead covered up.
The sun beat down fiercely upon the
desert, a vulture flew here and there,
and the dust devils chased each other
over the sands. One would hardly think
that the day before men had fought SO
hard for possession of this same ground
Dotting the field were the little mounds
that marked the last resting place of a
dead rebel or federal. They were COW
cred so shallow that the vultures had
feasted on many of them. eating away
the exposed portions of the body. Before
many months the wind will whip the
sand from the mounds. leaving the
bones to bleach in the sun that shines
so fierce on the deserts. The rebels
killed nearly all the federal wounded,
using what they call the shot of mercy.
They also executed all federal volun-
teers captured.
Returning We visited the railroad
yards in Juarez, viewing the captured
spoils of war. We saw them remove sew
eral dead from the box cars. These arc
some of the things that we saw and
heard. Words cannot tell it all but this
will give you some idea of the affair.
guess this will be about the last of
the fighting along the border in this
vicinity for some time to come. But If
ANYTHING worth wbile happapS 1ye will