El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-10
FUNSTON HAS
DIFFICULT JOB
Practically Entire Army Of
the United States is
Under Him.

San Antonio, Texas, July 1O.-To be
! I major general. any kind Of major
/ general, IS no soft snap, but to be the"
major general Of the United States
I army in time Of near-war is about as
/ bad as i. could be-
/ Mai. Gen. Frederick Funston, OF
! Kansas. -. IN the Mexican crisis, The
! Nan Of the Hour" He is the" major
general Of the United States. why7
] No+ because he is the ranking general
{ The president of the United states IS
1 technically the commandments OF
the United States army. The chleI OF
staff. BIa5. Gen Hugh L Scott, AT the
momen-. is supposedly next IN com
mand Major generals Leonard Wood
I and Barry rank Gen Funston IN sen
I iority.
But ne diminutive hero OF the
Philippine campaign is Tt with a Dig
''T' ius- the same The reason Is
this Practically all of the mobile
regular army now IS on the border
with the exception Of the Second cav
airy, the Presidents own" now at
Fort Meyer. Virginia
Around one hundred thousand state
troops mustered into the federal ser
vice. are on their way TO Funston's
division
Funston Has Them AL
Funston. with practically every SOL
der Of Uncle Sam under his Jurisdic-
ton. is the master hand and master
mind Of the Mexican situation he II
will be- when the break comes, who
wall control the destInies Of the Ameri-
can army
Funston. a newspaper reporter IN
boyhoo.I. an Alaskan explorer IN carry
youth, soldier Of fortune IN the CUBAN
Te hellion, a Kansas volunteer IN the
Spanish American war, a regular OF
ficer in the Philippines and the captor
o. the Filipino leader. Aguinaldo, now
is perhaps the biggest figure In me
Jnited States army, and ne mas the
ear Of washington. Of the white
house as well as Of the war depart
Ever since Gen. Scott came down
here TO corfer with Funston. a con-
ference that ended in the parley with
Mexican var minister Alvaro Oregon
al FL PssO. secretary OF war BAKER
has listened attentively to Gen uns-
ton. ScorS found out that Funston
i-Dew the Mexican situation from
Brownsville to Lower California, ana
he knew how to deal with It. from
that time until now il has been Funs-
ton who has guided the destines OF
the war department in Mexican affairs
Not Happy Life.
With due apologies to Gilbert and
Sullivan and De Wolf HOpper-"the {
war CORE spondent's life IS not
happy one" More pertinently IS tnat
true when the war correspondent IS !
without q war.
For four months a swarm Of news 1
psper correspondents have been I
watchfullv waiting around Fort sam I
Houston, headQuarter OF the southern .
division. Erited States army, and more I
especially lowering around MAJ Gen /
Frederick Funston, OF Kansas, he who I
swan the Bag-bag TO collar one Agui- !
naldo.
SO diligently have the news men I
vultures. general Funston calls them |
swarmsd and lowered and watchfully /
waited, doing all in human power TO I
secure US a war. that at times the I
office - the back door to attend to /
his routine business &
Funston ArranEes Things.
Early in tire game Gen. Fun ston dis I
covered that If he attended 10 the in I
dfvidual wants of the correspondents /
every time enc wanted something. the /
affairs OF the Southern division would !
20 TO pot Accordingly he set re- i
gular hours for conferences. Between /
times he refused to see any newspaper J.
man unless IN emergency. Emergen-
cies, be il said have been few and Tar 4
between thus far in the Mexican af- /
fair.
A pretty efficient impromptu cen /
sorship has been at work at Fort sam 7
Houston ever since the arrival Of the 3
first squad Of news men Gen. Funs- I
ton is the censor All other officers /
have been forbidden 10 talk to the I
correspondents and Gen. Funston cen
sors by swing out only what he wants I
But the troubles of the corre-
spOndents are not the fault of the
commanding general The trouble lies
in Washington and Mexico City A Z
score of new spaper men. not counting
the straZglsrs who have come through I
going 10 FL paso and Brownsville. have
waited three months for something to
happen 1t has not happened yet