The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1916-11-08
Company..l Boy
Writes of Camp
Football And Ebony" Carving
Make Diversion from Camp
Routine
HIKES NOW EASY
Straw Vote Gives Wilson 665
to Hughes 368-"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 e
regiment of us is distributed
along the roadside for a ten min
utes rest, l am going to scratch
out a 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 1O5
PAGES of 3O-inch length and that
at an end Of an hours contin-
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 80 to 40
pounds, varying as to whether
one of the boys carries a heavy
blanket and poncho, or just a
fimsey 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
reDeIHOuS Svulo weolzs ago much
of that ugliness of disposition,
the same kind of stuff that pro.
duces anarchists. And no soon
er 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 for
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 our
own mess.
You will be surprised at he
result of a straw vote taken by
the Y. M. c.. A. secretaries mere
of the Minnesota brigade on the
coming election. It has been
stated somewhere that fully Is
per cent of the votes cast among
Minnesota troops will be for
Hughes, and under normal con-
ditions that would be a good
guess. Perhaps the legal count
after November Z will show the
exactness of this estimate. But
this straw vote is a trustworthy
indication Of the present atti-
tude of the Minnesota soldiers.
Out of the 1000 troops in the
brigade, 1,042 registered their
vote. The total divided itself as
follows: Wilson 665, Hughes
368, Hanly 8 and Emma Gold
man 1. 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 will
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 kept
us out of war;" The second
reason for this attitude is the
general belief here that evil
sons reelection means a very
prompt return Of the troops to
their northern homes" l make
no comment on this vote or this
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 for
the easiest way out of the inn
/No~4:r,,oJ ~, 1oc4 ~oosoN