The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-23

be in any hurry to start. They enjoy the lazy side of soldering. but they dislike fighting as much as they dis like work.
 Torreon, the prosperous center of the cotton growing district, was taken by the revolutionists in September. After denying for a week that it had fallen, the war office admitted the truth, but said that it would be retaken in few days. For a month or so nothing hap pened. Then 1t was announced that "a blow would be struck" General Ve- lasco would start at once and the reb- els would be driven out of Torreon The government had been urged to act vigorously, because in the cotton dis trict a record crop was in need of being picked. They responded by put ting a new tax on cotton "to meet the cost of warlike operations and by doing-nothing
 For six weeks after l saw General Velascos brigade in it's five trains, Torreon remained in the hands of the rebels The forces which were to re- take il advanced and retreated, march, cd this way and marched that Gen eral Velasco was frequently reported Saltillo Not until December 10 was Torreon retaken, and then only be- cause the rebels had drawn off and left the garrison very weak.
 l have mentioned before the absence of any fire discipline. Large numbers of men do not even raise their rifles to the shoulder. They fire from the hip-into the air. They scarcely ever charge They are never put through tactical exercises. Some of the regi ments which are kept in the capital. such as the TwentyAninth, upon which the government confidently leans, have few commissioned officers who un- derstand their duties. Among the com pany officers there are some who know that everything is wrong. They do their best with their own men, but what are they among so many who neither know nor care?
 The Mexican idea of making sol dier Is to cram him into a uniform, give him rifle and let him fight as best he can. Even if the men were " iiihE lO StiN'i tilis pldn Nouiu Dt disastrous, seeing that most of them are Indians from the fields. very low in the intellectual scale. But when W, consider that soldering is looked down upon as disgraceful, that the federal ranks are recruited by the press gang, and that many criminals are turned out of prison into the army, we see at once what a tragic farce the civil war in Mexico is
 The Mexican army has no army serv- ice corps, no medical department to ment. no supplies. Watch a field force break camp at dawn First there go pattering off horde of women laden with pots and pans, blankets some times babies. These are the solda- deras, the camp followers, the com missarat of the force. That they move as quickly as they do is mi racle. Whatever the days march may be, they are always on the camping grounds before the men arrive. They rig up shelters, they cook tortillas and frijoles, they make coffee. You see them mending their husbands coats. washing their shirts, roughly tending flesh wounds. Without these soldade- ras the army could not move. While President Huerta was seizing hundreds of men by night in the City of Mexico and other cities in order to swell his forces to 100000 he also had women pressed" to go with the new soldiers and take care of them. Cradas (maid servants) were positively afraid to go out after dark