The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-24
PLEASED
 . BY. INSPECTIONS AT BORDER LINE
Militiamen Like Regulars, Says Assistant Chief of
 Staff.

| d. ON
 the army, after his return from tour
 of inspection in the vicinity of i Brownsville. {,
 1 General Bliss, in a long talk with
 several correspondents a the home of l General Funston, said that the physl-
 cal condition of the men was excel l lent and that, with their officers, they had gone through the hard work Of
 making new camps with such fexpedl-
 tion and efficiency as to amaze old
 timers in the army. There could have
 been no less confusion if a similar
 number of regulars accustomed to
 moving and pitching camps for years
 had suddenly been ordered from sta tions in the East to the border, he said.
 i But the thing that won the greatest admiration of the -sistant chief Of
 staff was the manner in which the
 men met the difficulties and minor
 hardships incidental to their exper1- -ence. They were showing magnificent military spirit, he said. In every
 movement of a large body of soldiers.
 the conveniences and comforts of post
 or garrison life, such as a sufficient
 number of cots and frame mess halls, ISome after the men-usually a cons1d- I erable time after. Until they arrive ] the soldier does the best he can with
 out them. General Bliss was delight ] ed to find the guardsmen, instead of complaining, were proud of their abil- ! ity to do without the comforts which regular soldiers do without when in the field
 Improvements were being made rap idly, however, he said. He found lihealth conditions surprisingly good all along the line, with less than 1 per lcent. of sickness of any sort and no serious illness whatever; and T he praised the work of the, Medical Corps
 particularly.
 Fear Misleading Reports. A number of officers have recently expressed fear that articles published in home newspapers telling of hardships and privations undergone blythe men, when founded on isolated incidents instead of general Condi- tion. might have a very serious effect on the present enthusiastic spirit shown by the >guardsmen., Such ar ticles, they point out, alarm relatives | and friends of the guardsmen and re-
 suit in bushels of letters to the
 guardsmen, urging them to get out | if. they can. M General Bliss referred to this and mentioned an article in .an upstate New York paper which said that the regiment of militia from that region
 was starving" He said he made a special investigation of this report and found that the members of the regiment themselves were outraged a nd af h0 were receiving from home as a con-
 sequence. It had no foundation. they
 said, and they declared their rations
 were quite adequate and that they
 themselves had no complaint to make. No effort is made by the off,
 f1cials to deny that there have been
 slip-ups in the confusion of travel
 when rations have run short, but at
 present everything is said to be go-
 ing with the regularity of the camps of the regulars at all of the militia
 camps.
 When the officials here were con- sidering the applications of a small percentage of the Illinois militia sta- tioned here to be released, on the ground that the persons dependent
 on them, a novel. case came before
 them. An order came from Wash
 ington to the effect that Private
 Thomas Connors of Battery c, First
 Illinois Field Artillery, should be re- leased. Battery c is known as the
 society battery" Connor's. father,
 said to be wealthy and a member of
 large packing company, had ap- Fpealed to Washington to have his son released. The order was executed last evening. p Connors. who is 25 years old, wait
 ed to see General Funston personally
 late last night. He said he wanted
 to continue to serve, and had not re-
 quested his release. He looked on
 relief as a sort of disgrace, so the or
 der discharging him was suspended
 until the other side of the case of Connors. IT,. vs. Connors, ST., could be heard.
 General Bliss next will visit Laredo, preparatory to rendering his report on the militia to Secretary Baker. He said tonight that he believed the mill
 itia troops. judging from what he had
 seen of them thus far, would be ade-
 quately seasoned and ready for the sort of campaigning that would be done in Mexico. In case of general
 operations. within two. months or per- haps less.