Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-23
WHOLE US. ARMY
Under FUNSTON
AS CRISIS NEARS
Border General May Call
All Forces, if Needed,
to Mexico
PLANS FOR VOLUNTEERS

r,et,1NGToN. March 23.--All of the
w. amy forces in the United States
: its. itsu hoon nlaced at the disposal of Cen
nav r,,,nston. commanding the troops on
eIai ,s.~ican border He can call for in
tne t,sasI units without asking the War
pp,'nartrnent for special orders. But un-
i -. NO circumstances, VIII the regulars
aor stationed in the Panama Canal zone
ny IL IJonolulu be included in the arrange
ment ,.... 80 ooo ,.,., 90.
,.i.svn,en. organized as infantry, when he
Hants them Their organization is CONF
~ ant until they actually are on the
rsS no announcement of plans will be
,nsde by the War Department.
The Mexican situation is constantly
..ayrink graver Administration officials,
sawever are not abandoning hope that
~. death or capture OF villa yet can be
oo,,nIished without general Intervention.
IN this connection the situation is at least
s.ade no worse by the insistence of the
Wsvican Embassy here that the Carran-
,sta forces are still intact.
The Embassy formally denied that Cen
raj luis Herrera had deserted to villa,
but officials took this denial with a grain
OF salt"
They say that It probably will prove
,bat Herrera has abandoned Carranza
because of anger over the fact that he was
remoyed from his command on charge
of drunkenness.
The state Department is making ener-
retic efforts to get report from Con-
sul Letcher, at Chihuahua City to clear
nm the Herrera situation and TO show
inst what the sentiment in that section
actually is Letcher has not been heard
from in more than 26 hours
PLANS FOR VOLUNTEERS.
Army officers today severely criticized
The resolution introduced in the Senate by
Senator Sherman, of Illinois, authorizing
the President to call for $4,000 volun-
teers. This resolution has no support
among the men who will direct the fight
ing The plans of the General Staff call
for volunteer army Of 100000 men, with
the National Guard given first call should
real Intervention be made necessary and
the officers who are most familiar with
the general situation south of the Rio
C;rande say that any authorization of only
10000 volunteers under existing circuin-
stances will only serve to infiame the
entire Mexican nation.
The General Staff has complete equip.
ment for 100000 men ready ut the vari-
Gus supply stations and arsenals. If any
action Is to be taken the staff will re.
auest Secretary of War Baker to see that
the volunteer call, If made, is effective for
half million men no matter now many
actually are drafted into the service.
Secretary of War Baker today denied
reports that the motortruck communica-
tons of General Persfing had broken
down on the contrary, he said, this
particular branch of the service was prov
ing better than had been anticipated.
Z The War Department also was without
advices concerning the report that Persh-
ing would take over the Mexican North
western Railroad
All reports to the Navy Department in-
dicate that there had been little change In
conditions on either the east or the west
coasts
LANSING BACK on JOB.
Secretary of State Lansing returned to
his desk today from a brief vacation. but
he did not interfere with the arrange
ments already made by Counsellor Polk.
He conferred with Carranza's Ambassa-
dor, Designate Arredondo, this afternoon.
II possible the proposed protocol be-
tween the United States and the de facto
Government will be approved and made
public tonight. Both at the War and
State Departments it was officially stated
that so far as is known not a single shot
yet has been fired by either side on MeXi-
can soil. The Pershing expedition, Sec
retary Baker said, has not been in touch
with the Villistas.