The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-06
VILLA PURSUIT GREAT PROBLEM
 FOR US. ARMY
Lack of Railroads Makes Situation More Serious Every Day.

Fl Paso, April e-The entire. Mex ican situation was yelled in obscur ity today, as far as the border was concerned. For the last three days not a single Mexican or American has arrived here from the interior and the scanty news given out by the Mexi- can offieialSz4aI Juarez1 as received by ations aof the troops pursuing Villa beyond confirming the impression that the chase has been practically halted. at least temporarily.
 Army officers here show no. hes1- tancy in explaining their opinion that the attempt to pursue Villa far ther without the aid of the railroads is almost a. hopeless task unless,s of course, some lucky accident inter venes. Tha one tnca1c culahEes factor is thes question: as st6 q .5tg g11etffer Villa Is wounded -or~not The Mexican com rnanders are emphatic in their asser- tions that the bandit chief is seri- / oI1sly disabled but their belief is not i shared by the American comman- : ders That Villa, should spread a re- port to the effect he had been shot is so characteristic a maneuver that 1t is received with considerable reserva- ton. The alarrnists on the border have been remarkably quiet during the last few days While no one disputes the
  is a. very delicate one with grave pos iSsibilities hinging a. misstep by either side, the control which Car Egranza. has shown he possesses over his ieutenants and thee aim with which the Mexican people have treat ed thee rossing of the border by l American troops has brought about a decided feeling of optimism.
 IN The wild stories of the naSsing Of 1 Mexican troops in proximity to the 1<-f lar ]! of the alarmists. have died a natural l death. The most authentic informa- f ton places the number of troops that the de facto government has 1n-all : Mexico between 5O,000 and 6O,OOO | and it was difficult for the trdmor- f iztas,,s:1toss explain where 1000 or rnore coKorts ssiapposed ssto s@ be in | northern Chihuahua and Sonora ]: came from. According to the most i reliable data sobtainable here, General i Gales has between 4,ooo to 6;ooo i men in Sonora, with whom he is plan | ming operations against the Yaqu1 Indians.
 ! If Is more difficult to obtain de- i pendab1e information regarding 1 northern Chihuahua but the best ip- formed Americans here do not be-
 lieve ere are more than 2,o0O i or- S,AO0 fFoops in that district In
 this 5connection it is pointed out that
 in spite of all the troubles that have
 beSet Mexico in the last nVe years
 the vast majority of the population
 have remained quiescent- Carefully
 complied statistics show that never
 at any time has there been more than
 100000 menztn arms in the repub-
 lie out Of a population of 15, 900. % O.
 In the height Of his power. Porfirio
 Diaz had a regular army of S1,OOO
 Washington, April 6-Attention oi
 administration officials was focused today on the dipIoRatic aspects of the
 expedition into Mexico. It is under
 stood that Carranza officials on the
 border have made informal inquiries
 as to how much longer the expedition
 will remain in Mexico and how faI
 south it will penetrate.
 T4e sAmerican forces are now pur-
 suing what is termedHA d .shot trail , j No great surprise would beN occasion
 ed here if Carranza should suggest soon that the trail become cold. Con
 f1icting reports regarding the use o1
 the railways have been received here
 While the war department was with d out reports indicating that Carranzs authorities at Juarez have orders tc
 accept shipments, at the state depart
 ment it was understood vtFaat such or : ders have been given.