The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-08-19
SOLDIERS TIRE
OF VERA CRUZ



longer doubt about il, Vera Cruz is
dropping. only rarely now is seen
that pleased. bright and antlcipatory
smile which was the rule some two
months ago, when everyone was
thankful that it had fallen to his lot
To be here. Whatever his particular
reason, whether hrigadier- general
| refugee or correspondent, every Amer
| lean bore that expression which is the
mark of those who consider them
selves for the moment the chosen of
| the gods.
Now all is changed. Even the wealth
er has joined I'm the conspiracy TO
make Vera Cruz hate itself and ask
why, oh, why an unknid fate con-
demned SO many good Americans 10
drag out dreary existence here. on
the damp front door step OF Mexico,
into which all the world but an Am
erican citizen is privileged to enter and
receive a welcome: where there is
nothing TO do but eat three meals a
day which nobody really wants, and
endeavor To cling to what was once a
certainty but now only an attenuated
hope. that the days OF action and life
will return.
The almost constant rains have
drenched the soldier In his camp, the
unrelenting north winds almost en-
tirely cut on the sailor man from the
shore, while both keep the civilian
practically a prisoner within running
distance OF his habitation. The daily
trickle OF news from the states. which
offers the only legitimate excuse for
getting up these hot and damp morn
ings, so eagerly scanned over coffee,
is tantalizing in it's meagerness and
exasperating in its daily promise of
action which has not yet been full
filled
Move? Yes, Move Anywhere.
Two months ago every one was
awaiting with calm assurance the or
ders to move in: now all are still wait
ing for the order to move, but cynical
ly and with the utmost Indifference as
to whether the movement is to be into
or out of Mexico, so long as it is TO go
somewhere. The navy, abandoning
hope OF its being called upon for more
than mere watchdog service in the
Mexican situation, wants to go home,
unanimously The army, holding To
the belief that Mexico cannot be re-
generated without it's services, wants
TO go in. but would like, If the present
rate Of progress is to be maintained,
If you please, sir, To 20 home for va
cation, there To await second call to
Mexico.
The blessed in Vera Cruz are those
upon whom work falls heavily Upon
present conditions there is reason for
envyng the officer charged with the
responsibility for the filling and emp
tying of the thousands and more
bright new garbage cans which Uncle
Sam has bought for Vera Cruz out OF
the city's money. He has something
To do; he can make himself all sorts
OF work with those cans; he can dec
crate them with Spanish words in
great black letters; he can move them |
around from day To day; he can hold !
reviews, assemblies conventions of |
ashcans and keep himself and gang |
" Mexican poems busy with them in
definitely. IL sometimes he feels the |
tediousness OF the situation in which |
the American forces as a whole are |
placed he can cuss out the poems; they |
couldn't understand the cussing and |
,tt11 m tn 3 In.y 4. L.
The officer would obtain relief
But what of the thousands OF Amer
leans, soldiers marines, civilians, who
have nothing to do? Each one of them
anne down here in the pink Of condi-
lition, brimmlng over with energy alb
'orbed in healthy life in the north. For
he majority there is a daily routine,
Ill OF which, when analysed, arises
purely from the necessity OF feeding
he human animal three times n day.
md then-nothing. II Gen. Funston.
,r better Secretary Garrison. should
find himself Daniellzed and
ssue a sort of blanket wine mess or
Ter for Vera Cruz the Americans
would be driven to the verge OF in
anity.
For it is early discovered i'm these
egions that the reason the white man
n the tropics drinks much more than
le is accustomed to at home, even the
urgcon, who solemnly AYERS that al
ohol is twice as poisonous in the
ropics as in the temperate zones, is
ecause there is nothing else to do. and
lso because everybody else Is doing
/. II is perfect circle once within
Il circumference one goes round and
ound on the periphery; there il no
scapc for even those who shun alco- |
Ollie liquors find themselves taking
bout twice as many "limonadas" or
ther sweet and sickish substitutes as !
hey really want.
Easy to Spot Strangers. O
The life Of Vera Cruz today. somno- n
mt as II is, still centers about two
DIES OF the plaza, where, under arch II
| sidewalk cafes, one sits and talks, 6
Ikes a walk around the block in a
tful moment OF energy, only to re-
Urn again to talk and sit. where all Is n
Dom except the fat faces OF the q
panish proprietors. Seen for the first :
me 1t would be a pleasing and pic
Iresque scene. Even now i'm the eve
NO whom upder tho iparapca - H.