Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-30

correspondent 10Th the f'ennsylcdnid troops
on the Mcricdn border, Is familiar 10TH con-
dtttons there.
regiment of United States National
Guardsmen receives an order to entrain.
Down come tents; stores and equipment
are packed; where two hours before stood
n town OF canvas there Is a bare site, lit
tered with canvas bundles, wagons, boxes
and groups of men.
They wait for the troop train.
A consignment Of provisions is ordered
rushed from supply depot to a waiting
regiment. Sacks of potatoes, cases OF
corned beef, boxes of hardtack are hustled
70 the qusrtermaster depot railway siding
They walt for the provision train.
This in time of industrial peace. when
the railroads are in position to bend every
energy toward filling the arteries of trans
portatlon that are so vital to military ef1-
cheney. II Is a true picture OF what oc-
curred In the mobilization of the National
Guard, its transportation to the Mexican
border and the transfer of small detach-
ments to threatened points, with the rail-
roads taxing every resource to complete
the task
what, then would happen II the rail-
roads were crippled by an Internal war, n
civil strife waged by the 100000 trainmsn
who have been ordered to striker
PRESIDENTS PLEA
The very obvious answer actuated Presi-
dent Wilson when he completed hts recon-
mendations to Congress for anti strike
legislaton with n sixth para graph asking
that he power be placed in his hands to
commander railroads and rolling stock
and TO draft into the military service Of
the United States the men needed to
operate the trains
The American army on the border. vr-
tually all the military forces of this coun-
try. would be In serious predicament IL
etaxnaton or even confusion overcaTe the
railway systems of the United States. Food
and other supplies for the troops are car
ried over the slngle-track lines that spread
across Texas like slim fingers. Cut off or
crush any one of the digits and a consider
able body of men suffers Cut off the hand
at the wrist or bruise the muscles and the
nerve that moves the army and that gives
Il life is gone. Food. all.important in the
maintenance of fighting force. Is gone.
unless other hands reach out and bridge
tho gap.
PROBLEM OF vICTUALING
The victuallng. clothing and armlng OF
the soldiers on the border depend upon open
railroad communication with the remainder
of the country, particularly the East where
the factories are massed. True. there are
vast stores of military goods at several
points within the border, like Fort Sam
Houston, from which redusitions for ra.
tionB and equipment are filed But these
through which flow the ever.moving streams
of supplies from many sources. Bottle UP
the sources and the reserve stores dwindle
into nothing. for the NAV of an army of
100000 such as Uncle Sam has spread
along the border is Unsuitable 1t calls
more particularly for food. tons upon tons
OF II. but 1t calls also for medical sup
plies, uniforms, shoes, axes, ammunition
rifles .horseshoes, rope. canvas and thou
sand and one other articles. For these
articles, in the amount required the army
depends upon the Industrial districts of
the country.
MOBILITY AFFECTED.
How the East is connected with the SOL
diers on the Mex can border may he illus
trated with brief picture taken from al
most any regiment. pile of gray-green
ammunition boxes stands beside tent, past
which a sentry stalks. He reads the stencil
marks on the wall of the tent. It bears the
name of a Connecticut manufacturer. He
reads the black letters on the end of an
ammunition box. They spell "Frankford Ar
senal"
But 1t was not merely the supplying of
the army that Pres dent Wilson had In |
mind when he asked for power to assume |
charge of the railroads in case of military |
necessity. The border guard not only would |
be virtually cut OFF from its supplies in the |
event of a strike paralyzing the railroads, |
but its own mobility would be n l.
The Mexican border, from Brownsville |
along the snake-like Rio Grande to FL Paso
and thence westward to Nogales, is 1900 |
miles In extent. Sudden shifts of troops
along this boundary line would be impos-
sible with experienced trainmen missing
from cab and car. The troops are half
wa! across the continent More serious
would be the problem of transporting them.
for any reason now unforeseen. back to
their home stations.