The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1916-11-08
Company. | Boy
Writes of Camp
Football And Ebony" Carving
Make Diversion from Camp
Routine
HIKES NOW EASY
Straw Vote Gives Wilson 66o
to Hughes 36S-'Re-elec-
ton Means Home
Llano Grande, Texas.

Dear Friend:
We have just covered the first
three miles of our regular week
ly 12-mile hike, and while tt
regiment of us is distributed
along the roadside for a ten min
utes rest, | am going to scratch
out few lines to you. Instead
of the prescribed knife, fork and
spoon | substituted the more
useful paper and pen-that is
more useful on this trip for these
occasional stops.
Four hours and a few odd
minutes is the scheduled time
for this hike, which means that
every minute we take about los
PAGES of 30-inch length and that
at an end Of an hours contln-
uous marching we will have
passed about "a PAGES over the
regulation three miles. Such is
the marching tempo of soldiers
on the hike.
There is great contrast be-
tween these present day hikes
and the first one we took about
thirteen weeks ago. We made
it six miles then carrying only
rife and sidearms; now we
shoulder a pack of 30 to 40
pounds, varying as to whether
one of the boys carries a heavy
blanket and poncho, or just a
himsey mosquito bar for a roll
in his shelterhalf. We were
rockies then, now almost veter-
ans. Perhaps the sun pounded
us more relentlessly on that first
hike than now, but we didn't
have as much dust to kick into
a smothering cloud. All COM
bined. the heat, the dust, the
few pounds load, the short dis
lance inspired in our raw and
reDeMlOuS SUulo -wooke ago much
of that ugliness of disposition,
the same kind of stuff that pro
duces anarchists. And no soon
err was one hike over before we
began to fret over the one COM
ing the next Friday. But all
that's long ago and fur away.
A twelve mile hike now is only
a mere matter and an undreaded
detail of routine. So much fo1
the value of our training.
Incidentally we are to be Civ
en- a four days hike soon after
election, probably of SO miles
length. for which we will carry
all equipment used in regular
campaign service and on which
we will individually prepare oul
own mess.
You will be surprised at ne
result of a straw vote taken by
the Y. M. C. A. secretaries aere
of the Minnesota brigade on the
coming election. 1t has beer
stated somewhere that fully Il
per cent of the votes cast among
Minnesota troops will be fol
Hughes, and under normal con
ditions that would be a gooc
guess. Perhaps the legal count
after November Z will show the
exactness of this estimate. But
this straw vote is trustworthy
indication of the present attl
tude of the Minnesota soldiers
Out of the 1000 troops in the
brigade, 1,042 registered thei1
vote. The total divided itself as
follows: Wilson 665, Hughes
36S, Hanly 8 and Emma Gold
man /. AS one can hear fellows
talk in various company streets
he not only believes in the sound
ness of the figures, but also gains
the conviction that the odds viii
be more overwhelmingly in fav
or of the reelection of President
Wilson. There are two reasons
for this result to which all the
political jabber and gossip sim
mers down, one of which is the
sentiment that "Wilson has KEEP
us out of war" The secone
reason for this attitude is the
general belief here that Wi
sons reelection means very
prompt return Of the troops t(
their northern homes" l make
no comment on this vote or thi;
general attitude Of mind. only
tc say that soldiers, no different
from many civilians, have
acquired in the past recent years
of crisis the habit of looking to-
the easiest way out of the i'm