Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-11-30
SANS BANK BALANCE
SUFFERING HEAVILY IN "GET-
TING VILLA" CAMPAIGN.
TO sTAGGER WASHINGTON,
BORDER WRITER DECLARES
Every Ton Of Supplies Hauled to Army
Costs $135-Carranza's Refusal OF
Use of Railroads Adds to Cost Of
Maintaining Punitive Expedition In
to Mexico.

Ell Paso, Tex, Nov. 30.-It is getting
long about expense account time fol
the American punitive expedition in
Mexico. With Il renewal of the Car
rauzista demands for the Withdrawal
of the army, and all precedents lndl-
eating an acquiescence to the demand
the order for the return of the Persh-
ing forces to the border is expected at
any time, and then Uncle Sam Will be-
gin TO interest himself in finding out
how much it has cost him to "avenge
Columbus
There is one item on that expense
account which quite likely will shocR
Uncle Sam, as it may we'll do to all OF
his hard working nephews and nieces
who contribute to the payment OF his
bills That item is transportation and
the EXPENSES which will come under
that heading will be reminiscent of the
freight charges in the Klondike during
the gold rush, when eggs sold at dol
lar apiece and salt at so cents shake
Charges Omitted in Reports.
Present untold records and estimates
Indicate that the final figures will be
department of the expedition has re-
Trained from mention of transportation
costs in all reports, although various
recommendations have been made with
view of reducing the charges whlcf
are piling up daily.
Officers of the quartermasters de-
partment who have been appalled, al
the high cost of transportation, have
been trying unofficially to compute it
and this story has the benefit OF these
unauthorized estimates, which, Though
approximate, are considered conserva
tive.
AS near as these officers can figure II
cut, the transportation is costing about
Is cents a ton mile. This means thai
for every ton of baled hay that Uncle
Sam sends from Columbus. \. NJ. II
his cavalry horses at Ell Vale he i:
paving the enormous figure of S135 fol
the transportation alone.
10000 Troops to Be Supplied.
The American line of communica
tons is just 175 miles long. 1t extend!
from Columbus, n. NJ, to Ell Vale
which Is now the southernmost point
There are about 5000 troops at Colon'
| Dublan, the eXpeditionary headquart
ers. located us miles from the border
| and about 1000 more troops occupy thu
American camp at FL Vale. There il
daily motor train service between TIL
| border and these points. supplyin!
these forces at the two big camps a
well as all of the smaller stations, sec
ton camps and engineer detachment
along the line.
I plead inability to estimate even re
u1otely the hundreds of thousands @
tons of supplies that have been neces
sary to supply that lost legion, whlcl
has seldom numbered less than 1O,Oot
| Practically every bareback, ever,
sack of oats, every pound of bacon ant
coffee, extra clothing, spare equipment
reserve ammunition, and other indls
pensables have taken the costly motto
trip down from Columbus, because
must be remembered that at the star
of the expedition Carranza refused t
allow the United States forces to us
the railroads.
Road Itself Needs Army.
The initial engineering work alon
that 175 mile stretch of road mas onl
been a drop in the bucket to the con
slant repair work that is being done
The road is divided into sections, Xix
a railroad, and noncommissioned engi
neer officers are responsible for tn
condition of the road thru their sec
ton. Large gangs of Mexican laborer'
receiving 81 day and their keep, ar
at work all of the time. Roadmakin
machinery graders, drags, scraper'
are on the job every day.
The damage to the roads by tn
Massage of the heavily loaded true
trains is so severe that it is necessar