Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-07-08
MILITIA UNITS
SHOW NEED Of
[PAREDNESS
Boys Sweat in Woolens Entirely
Unsuited for Climate
SOME TWELVE HOURS
WITHOUT ANY FOOD
No Screens to Protect Hospital
Cots From 1nroads by
Flies
Especial to The Tribune.)

Especial to The Tribune.)
Fort Bliss, FL Paso, Texas, July L
A day in sweltering woolen on cac-
tus-strewn desert land!
A night without canvas above them
and with only blankets between their
soft bodies and the hard, rocky
ground!
Twelve hours without food under
the merciless sun!
Men falling in dead fa;nts, men ly-
ing sick in cots with no screens to
protect them from the flies!
This is only the most meager rec
ord Of the appalling unpreparedness
of our newly federalized militia, as
exemplified on the day of their ar
rival by three companies of the Mas
sachusetts national guard, and por-
tion of New Jerseys contingent, the
first militiamen to encamp here on
the Texas border!
The experiences of these brave
boys from the cool states of the north,
face to face for the first time with
the hard facts of military life along
the heat-breathing sands of the Rio
Grande country, are the experiences
in general of all the other militia
that have reached the Mexican .bor'
der. .~..
In the opinion of the recognized au-
thorities on military ma::ers not evan
the delays Of days and weeks that
have characterized the mobilization
Of the national guard IRE SO signifi,
cant as the glaring lack of training
and the no less obvious lack of equip.
ment when these regiments are with
in gun shot of Mexico.
Some Arrive Wearing Derby Hats.
Compared with the Mexican sol
diers across the border. the national
guardsmen who have arrived in El
Paso shine in the matter of military
externals,- such as uniforms and tents,
although some did not possess the
appearance of American soldiers
f#fiat they arrived in various combi-
nations 6f'regulation olive drab civil
IAN clothingland derby hats.
s'sCbmpafad with the regular soldiers
sta att,afedat Ft. Bliss and in the city
of Ell Paso. these national guard boys,
whose fine patriotism does not take
second place to anybody, arc lament
ably lacking, it is glaringly obvious,
in certain things that military tradi'
tion and present necessity require,
and this despite the appropriations
cf millions by congress and state leg
islatures and the warnings that the
United States war department Yong
ago gave the commanders of these AZ
little, independent, unco-ordinated
armies to bring their units up to war
requirements.
In matter of equipment some of the
militia forces here are days and
weeks from war requirements; in the
matter of training and efficiency they
are months distant. ~" &[
Take, for instance, the Massachu-
sets national guard contingent, which
is rated, along with the Pennsylvania
and New York. militia, as. the best in
the country.
More than so of the 73 men of Am
bulance Corps No: 1. when detrained
here to go into camp. tainted, more
from lack of food than from the heas.
On the. train for more than four
days their meals had consisted large
ly of tomatoes. crackers and coffee.
Field Hospital No. 1, consisting Of
81 men and officers, were using
their cots for the sick among them
selves. .
Men of the Fifth. Eighth and Ninth
oh 3v,fo MT orriuo1 ~
Camp Cotton, which Is on the out
skirts Of Eel Paso, only a short dis
tance from the Mexican border, with
out automatics.
Soldiers Father Donates Guns.
The machine gun company Of the
Eighth had several of their automatic
rifles out of commission. But for
tunately for the men the father Of
one of them, Henry Parkman, ga
the company $1,000 to buy four Lewis
machine guns.
No one questions Parkman's gen.
erous and patriotic motives, but It is
thought he wanted to give his son
and the sons of other Massachusetts
men the best fighting chances for
their lives with machine gun that
has demonstrated its superiority over
the kind now being used by the mill:
tia and the regular army.
'If had my way" said sergeant
who saw active service m the Phil
ippines, I'D throw these Benny Mer-
GERS (the name the company gives to
the automatic rifles of the Benet Mer-
cier modeD over the border into Mex
leo, and count on the Mexicans doing
more damage to themselves than to
us with them"
When Batteries A, B, c, D, E of the
First Light Artillery, Massachusetts,
arrived in their trains at Fort Bli>G,
opposite the forbidden stretch of cac-
I'll rock and sand newly named Camp
Pershing, only one battery, Battery
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