Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-03-31
FIELD BAKERY IS ESTABLISHED.
BENEFIT U. S. ARMY IN MEXICO
Ovens Capable of Turning Out $500 One
Pound Loaves Day-lncidents of the
Campaign Against Bandit Chief.

the officers in the hard march across
The desert began calculating on how
much water out OF their canteens to
pour down the back OF half fainting
man. and how much to save for the
thlrst OF the final hour of the march.
every minute has occupied the inventive
genius OF the men who are projecting
this expedition more than 200 miles into
Mexico
The largest problems. such as the
chase of Villa and the supply of means
OF existence to fast moving columns. ~"
the censorship. But the hundreds Of
new problems. mostly individual which
have been solved on sight by the Amer
lean fighting men and which are not
forbidden publication, are to some extent
an illustration of the spirit of the larger
military questions that have been met.
Today. for example. a wstorm
swept over the field headquarters. The
driving snow particles seemed all III"
more uncomfortable because they
struck faces which, during the previ
Gus days. had received scorching sun
burns.
One cavalryman in disgust exclaimed:
The farther south we go the colder
| it gets"
Empty Tin Serves as Stove.
But meanwhile an ipfantryman found
an empty tin. rectangular in shape. in
which he tut some Sits near the bot
tom for ventilation. He piled in some
wood. started a fire in the tin. set it
outside of n tent until the first smudse
was over and the sticks were blazing
and then brought il inside the tent,
where it furnished warmth equal To a
small stove and pleasant aroma. u
worked well that the camp Wa
searched for oil tins.
| At another camp the men had gone
! in with baggage SO light that mo one
| had anything larger than shelter
| tent. just large enough for two men to
! lie under. Three days later. however.
| to the civilian. there was the regula-
ton army camp outfit and the patrol
station. Probably none except prac-
ticed military eye would have noted
| that the commanding officers tent had
entirely the wrong angle at it's top.
! 1t was not tent, but a makeshift
| pieced together out of some discarded
tarpaulinS and part of a smaller tent.
| This officer had what he asserted was
his Morris chair. besides some very
| comfortable barrels. The chair was
| mainly box. but it had a back and
roomy side arms made of boards. rein
| forced by strips Of galvanized iron.
| The arms and back were beveled for
| further effect. The officer said he had
| found the boards.
Questions by the Curious Minded.
| But who brought nails on this
hike he was asked.
Nobody. we took the nails from some
boxes of supplies which were used up
here
| who carried saw
! Nobody with our outfit. - We Dor
rowed one while the outfit TO which n
belonged was halted in front of our
| camp.
What did the wood carving"
| The cooks Ratchet
| Instructions not to occupy cities have
multiplied the mems problems. for. not
only are the camps pitched at dis
lance from cities, but the men and Off :
GERS stay away from the towns. which
! otherwise they might frequent to ma ke
purchases of food supplies or souvenirs.
Hence it comes about that in fast
marching command the men run out
of tobacco or else use up all their
matches before their smokes are gone,
l. Cottonwood Trees First Aid
The great cottonwood trees which
abound wherever there is water have
been the first aid for comfort of this
expedition.
First of all the cottonwood. its green
visible for many miles across an arid
plain. is the sign that a watering plac"
is near. Then the boughs of the trees,
with their thick fringe of leaves. has.
furnished hundreds of wind breaka
against the cold. and afforded sheltea
which enabled the men to eat without
, having each mouthful powdered with
sand. When large camps We're estab-
lished and water holes were desired
the well digging problem, being used
to shore uD tie sides of the shallow
| wells. Until the cottonwood was used
lit was necessary. in digging single
a crater thirty or forty feet in diam
eter in order to prevent the sand slid
ing back into the hole.
The cottonwoods also have furnished
light foot bridges across the creeks.
Few Horses Lost.
| The loss of horses on the forced
marches into Mexico. in itself remark
ably small. has been further reduced
by the instincts of self preservation OF
the trained cavalry animals when they
had to be left to shift for themselves
| There seems to have been two classes
| of horses, those which went back Il
, mature and others whose trained in
stincts We're SO strong that they man
/ aged to trail and finally overtake the
| columns which had dropped them. In,
the first class are few horses gra2inS
| on hills overlooking the lines of march.
| slowly regainng their vitality or heal
| ing their saddle sores in solitude. The
horses are beng caught as they recover
! and put back into service.
| In the camps there few which,
! stuck to the long trail after they had
been unsaddled and turned loose. Some
/ of the troopers assert that these ami
! mails were able to follow the route by
i observing the discarded tin cans at
points where various commands had
stopped to eat
Wordless Signposts.
/ The roads leading south from Column
j bus to the expeilitionary base is mark
ed with ingenious voorhees, signposts