The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-05-06
THE HUMOROUS SIDE
OF HUERTA'S ARMY

(Franklin Fyles, Mexican correspon-
dent Of This London Times, in The
Real Mexico, published by Mcbride,
Mast & co.. In Vera Cruz as well as
in the capital the press gang had been
busy, Selling men off the streets to be
soldiers, so that the army might be
brought up to something like it's nom
inal strength. 1t is because he is
obliged to resort to such a method of
recruiting that General Huerta has
failed to make his position good. He
showed his %undtnesS to govern by not
realizing that he could do nothing
without a real army. 1t would have
paid him to. let the revolutionists alone
for six months while he trained a GER
tain number of troops with the help of
American or European instructors and
sergeants. Then he could have wiped
out the rebel forces in one or two en-
gagements. and the rest would have
melted away. Let me give an example
Of what happens now.
On a Sunday at the beginning OF
EoVember-to be accurate, Nov. FL
was watching General Velasco's bril-
gade entrain at Saltillo for TorTeon.
l asked the general if he meant to
start that day. No, not that day. Very
shortly. Perhaps tomorrow. 1t made
no difference that the troops were in
toned to live in trains. Their wives
are taken along, too, to act as army
service corps. They would never be in
any hurry to start. They enjoy the
lazy side OF soldering, but they dislike
fighting as much as they dislike work.
Torreon, the prosperous center OF
the cotton growing district, was taken
Inv tho TnVn1DtinniSfE in SPDtnm her
After denying for a week that it had
fallen, the wal office admitted the
truth, but said that 1t would be retak-
en- in a few days. For a month or so
nothing happened. Then it was an
%nounced that "a blow would be
struck. General Velasco would start
at once and the rebels. would be driV-
en- out Of Torreon. The government
had been urged to act vigorously, be-
cause in the cotton district a record
crop was in need of being picked.
They responded by putting a new tax
on cotton Ito meet the cost of warlike
operations' and by doing-nothing.
For six weeks after l saw General
Velasco's brigade in it's five trains.
Torreon remained in the hands of he
rebels. The forces which were to re-
take it advanced and ~retreated, march
ed his way and marched that. Gener-
al Velasco was frequently reported to
be, not with his command, DuL IN Dbl
tillo. Not until Dec, 10 was Torreon
retaken. and then only because the
rebels had drawn off and left the gar
rison very weak.
| 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
| hii1-into the air. They scarcely ever
charge. They are new put through
tactical exercises. Some Of h regi-
ments which are kept in the capital.
such as The Twenty ninth, upon which
the government confidently leans, have
a few noncommissioned officers who
understand their duties. Among the
company officers there are some who
know that everything Is wrong. They
| DO their best with their W men, but
what are they among. so many who
neither know nor care?
The Mexican idea of making a SOL
| der Is to cram him. into a uniform,
give him a rifle and let him fight as
best he can. Even if the men were
willing to serve, this plan would be
disastrous, seeing that most of them
| are Indians from the fields, very low
in the intellectual scale. But when
we consider nat soldering is looked
down upon as d~isgraceful. that the
federal ranks are recruited by the