Evening star., 1915-05-23


manders appear to have had no previous
experience at il, and the corporals let
their squads get out of hand hopelessly-
There have been some sad mix-ups The
result in battle would have been sick
ening
But I tell you.' said the President.
'the country is wild. The people know
that you have the whole OF magnin-
cent railroad system from here to New
York a your disposal. They know that
the invading army must have been
spread out tremendously TO hold all the
territory that il occupies. They can
not understand why you should not be
able TO engage the force that is adj
vancing on New York.
The general walked to the wall map.
The enemy is thinned out Yes lie
laid his finger on the chart. But TO
meet him xe must move due south 14o
miles down the Hudson valley. with
the river on one side of us anu the
Berkshire and Litchfeld hills of Ma ssa-
chusetts and Connecticut on the other
We cannot leave men behind us TO
protect that length of line and hoid
open our road for us If we have 10
retreat When Gen. Sherman marched
TO Atlanta he left $4,000 men behind
him to guard his 30O-mile line back
through Chattanooga to Nashville. we
have less than $4,000 men in our whole
army. even if we scrape together all
the very latest green arrivals.
THE moment we leave our base. con-
tiuued the commander, the enemy
headouarters will know it. They will
instantly begin a big shifting of their
New England forces They Will push
them across into New York state be-
hind us, and we'll be trapped
You think that they can concen-
trate swiftly enough"' asked the Sec
retary of War.
The soldier pulled paper out of the
pile. and read observer at Prov'-
dence reports that hostile forces en-
trained cavalry. field and heavy artil-
lery and ammunition columns at reg
ular rate of two hours for full mil'-
tary train. Time for loading siege
material three and one-half hours.
He tossed the papers aside. When
did any of our officers ever have to
handle 10000 men?" he asked How
many of them ever handled as many as
10000" Last week two regiments were
left without food for two meals on d
ractice march because their commits
sary failed to supply travel rations.
Day before yesterday seven boxes of
provisions were found lying in a com
pany street without any one to claim
them Those were militia, but our own
officers equally lack experience in
handling such big contract as
whole army.'
DO you know what it means to see
that an infantry division gets its
material Do you know what we've got
to send into battle with it? 1t means
an ammunition train of 165 four-mule
wagons and more than 700 mules and
horses. Then there are the other supply
trains, the pack trains and the en-
gineer trains-135 more wagons and
500 animals. There are ninety ambu
lances and wagons, with their animals
And this is without counting the horses
for the cavalry and the Signal Corps.
L., tIart ,,rIO
that mess in the face Of an enemy like
the one down there" he pointed south
eastward, 1T will never get back
herer's
And if you stay here, Won't you be
attacked" asked a member of the
Presidents party.
Il think not" The general turned to
the chart again. See here. He's got
a great big territory to hold already
When he has New York city and har-
Dor to control also l think he'll be too
well occupied to attack US until he
brings reinforcements across. At any
the direction of New York city up the
narrow river valley. or from the direc-
tion of Massachusetts, through the
Berkshire hills. We can make the
banks of the Hudson a difficult place
for him. And the longer we can hold
on here the longer the ordnance works
at Watervliet can continue to turn out
the heavy guns that we need so sorely.
Watervliet. Mr.. President. in my eyes
is the most precious thing we've got
to guard just now-'i'
The President arose and walked to
the window. For a quarter of an hour
he looked out over the rolling country
to the east. where the soft blue curves
of the hills were cloudlike against the
April sky. Then he returned. stay
where you are he said. ''as long as
YOU can. or think wise. New York will
have to fall. Goodby. Well go back
to Washington and do our best. Good
luck to you, and to your Berkshire
hills
They are good American hills" said
the general. smiling for the first time.
They are giving our men the only
protection they've had against aero
planes since this thing began"
The spreading, crowding groves that
crowned them and made them famous
for their loveIiness now made the
muiti-folded hills a welcome cover for
the harassed American troops. They
reduced to a minimum the effective
ness of scouting from the air, and in
creased to a maximum extent the eff
cheney of cavalry and motor troops
that knew the country. Among their
laureled slopes and in their wales and
intervales was good territory for ar
tillery defense
The rich men whose pleasure grounds
they are gave the army their motors,
their horses and themselves Quick
Witted and keen, aware of every foot
OF the ravines and roads and by-roads,
they helped the picked men who had
been selected by the commanders to
guard and hold the escapes" through
the hills.
At the southern end, on the open
summit of Mount Everett that old set
tiers prefer to call "the dome" whence
tne sight can command the sweep of
the Housatonic valley through the
nils. all the approaches from Massa-
chusetts in the eastward, the Litchf1eld
NILS south in Connecticut, and the
basin OF the Hudson river to the west.
Signal Corps had erected its wireless
and its heiiograph. At their feet, on
the lower slopes. hidden in the great
wild laurel that is most beautiful
there, was artillery.
There were guns at Great Barring
ton. At Stockbridge cleaning bat
teries guarded the road from Hart
1ord which once had been the stage
coach road between Boston and Albany.
Limbers and guns jolted past the
great houses and estates of Lenox and
vanished in the cover on both sides. to
be posted on the hilly ground that com
manded the Housatonic valley More
guns passed under the elms of high
Pittsneld Motors and cavalry and can
non held North Adams and Williams
town, where Williams College stood AL
most deserted because students and
professors had yolr,ptaarod