El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-27
MILITIA GIVEN
4 DIRTY DEAL
Los Angeles Writer Says
Congress Too Busy Making
Punk Speech to Provide.

! Congress is responsible for the ma
( tionaI guard muddle and the moboli-
cation of the troops has shown the
country how little congress is doing 70
give the United States an army.
This is Harry Cars charge against
the legislators at Washington and he
goes further. in the Los Angeles Times
Of July %. by saying that congress
has given the militia and the country
dirty DEAL and has wasted its time
making punk" speeches when it should
have provided an adequate army or
ganization-
Harry Carr Came to Ell Paso from
the European war where he had beer
for the past two years on the German
and English front and he viewed the
mobiliza ton at FL Paso with the eyes
OF a military expert and his conclu-
sions are anything but favorable 10
congress although highly compliment
tary to the guardsmen themselves.
His summary of the situation, as it
appeared in the Los Angeles Times
reads as follows:
Even if the United States troops
now on the Mexican border have
TO go home without firing shot.
the mobilization will not have been
in vain. 1t Will at least have
shown how poorly congress is do
ing its share toward giving this
country an army
Down at FL Paso. you can go
through the camps and find $4,000
husky young athletes living in the
dirt and sand. enduring heat and
discomfort without peep of a
complaint, enduring also, in many
cases, financial ruin to serve ma
ton that doesn't show gratitude
enough to provide them with a
proper equipment.
out there in the Massachusetts
camp. You will find the blue
r1aT n-=cf arar~ raF Igrg~ ton
rying officers horses. carrying out
kitchen Stops and digging cactus
out of the side hills.
University boys from Ann Arbor,
and Harvard, bank clerks from
Rhode Island and California. have
thrown up their classes aid their
jobs to go. There were young bust
ness men who had to sell out to
shoulder gun I found them dig
ging bitches and burning garbage
by day and doing sentry duty at
night
Splendid Response.
The young men of the country
have made a splendid response to
the call. but congress has given
them a dirty deal as it has the
regulars.
# real foe had been threaten
ing to cross the borders instead of
A mongrel collection of Mexican
poems. the lives of most of these
volunteers would have been sacri-
feed
The artillery had no ammunition;
the cavalry had no horses, the in
fantry couldn't march.
The almost criminal inefficiency
of the military policy OF congress
began TO show itself at the time OF
the Villa raid at Columbus. If there
had been 4 proper supply of auto
trucks at hand. the cavalry could
have gone across the border at
once. with their supplies following
at automobile speed and Villa
would have been caught before he
had gone leo miles. As il was, the
army had TO wait and assemble
supplies for long campaign The
result was the complete failure Of
the pursuit Of Villa. and the neces-
sity OF calling out the militia
The call for militia showed the
defects in the military system as
devised by congress
Most of the national guard or
ganizations had not been subjected
to proper physical examination
Before they could start for the
front, they had TO wait for this eX-
animation which resulted in thou
sands of men being eliminated To
supply their places. thousands 'of
raw recruits were taken in.
Paper Organization
Several years ago. the war col
lese organized, on paper, all the
troops in the United States into
tactical divisions. On account of
the inequality of equipment and
!
field, these divisional organizat atoms
had to be thrown away and the
troops We're tossed onto the Dor
der any old way TO get them there,
Now the army officers are labor
iously working out this scheme all
over again.
When II came time to move the
troops to the front, the railroad
facilities fell down. There ought
Of course, to be some way whereby
the army can Immediately take
over the railroads and their rolling
stock at the order for mobilization. N
As il was. each railroad provided
what equipment il chose or had at
hand New England. sleeping cars
Of any kind are not too plentiful IL
and tourist cars are unknown. As en-
consequence. the militiamen from ~
Boston had 10 ride all the way ~
across the continent in the blister -
ng heat of a desert summer sitting a
Ip for five nights in day coaches. -
Men Without Food. =,
Where there should have been p -
regular kitchen cars provided for -
the exclusive use of troops. the u
'nly way to feed the soldiers was
rom camp stoves set up on bricks l.
L baggage cars The men arrived