Arizona republican., 1916-07-11
NOTHING EASY
 ALONG BORDER
Word from Line Has It that Troops Are Up Against Almost Superhuman Task of Fighting Loneliness and Hot Sun

That the troops, both state and national who are at present engaged in the national pastime of guarding the border are having anything but an easy and comfortable time, be- comes more apaprent as news of the boys in khaki reaches Phoenix.
 Travellers reaching Phoenix, and who have come up from border points, are all loud in their commen- dation of the self sacrificing regulars and militiamen Conditions have proven to be especially trying. In Texas, where towns of any size are few and far between, the heavy task of guarding the Southern Pacific railroad is proving almost impossible.
 Every bridge of any size on that road has its guards. In many cases the bridges are out in the middle of flat mesa, without q vestige of shade for miles around. Communica- tion with the outside world depends upon the supply train which comes through about once a week.
 All the boys are wild for news, and newspaper no matter how old looks like a million dollars. It is a com mon sight to see some well meaning and benevolent traveller invest d few coins in papers. tie them up in a string and heave them from the back end of the train. The troops greet the papers like long lost brothers As soon as one hits the ground there is mad scramble and the lucky man soon has a circle of admiring friends gathered around to wait their turr with the sheet.
 The attachments which have beer l lucky enough to be detailed at | bridge where there is enough wate in the stream to permit of bathing consider themselevs about as forum 1 ate as they make them Wher ! bathing is out of the question tn i long hot hours are passed in hunt ing and tramping along the tracks il search of something exciting.
 Practically all the troops guarding the line in Texas are coast guar, artillery. As infantrymen they hay proven about as good as they mak them. Every trooper on the line anNiously praying and waiting fo the order which will send then across the border in search of excite ment and Mexican bandits. Sittin around in a tent with the sun seem ingly just q few feet away is a tas that looks easy, but which is provin about as hard as anything the arm has been called upon 10 do in severa decades.
 The eastern militiamen who haV responded to the call of the presiden are making a game attempt to ap pear cheerful and efficient in tn face of the appalling conditions whic they have encountered. Most of in troops started out lacking in equip meDt and uniforms. In the east dur ing the past month it has been
 common thing to see recruits for tn various militia organizations attire in the obsolete blue woolen unifor-- issued to the guardsmen ten or if teen wears ago. To outfit the O. gauiZations proved almost a supe human task. When the blue uniform run out overhalls were resorted t
 ard when the recruits bucked
 these. almost anything in the line
 m outing suit passed muster.
 Officers of the eastern organiz'
 tions have been considerably wo
 ried over the percentage of their m'
 turned back by the federal office
 as physically unfit In some cases
 many as 40 per cent were turn
 down. In comparison with Arizol
 this looks rather bad, as only 4 D
 cent of the local troops failed
 pass.