Gilpin observer., 1916-03-23
FACES BIG TASK
IN VILLA CHASE
Difficult Problem Confronts Amer.
ican Army in Mexico.
MExIcANs WILL AID VILLA
General Funston Has $4,000 Troops
With Which to Guard 1.2oo Miles
Of Border and Pursue
Bandit.

Bandit.
Washington.-The first question
which comes up in sending an expedi-
tion after villa is that OF the troops
available. The only troops immedi-
ately available are those of the regu.
lar army. OF the is regiments OF cav.
airy. three and third of them are
out of the country and therefore not
available. Seven are already on the
border. leaving four and two-thirds
which can be sent.
or the field artillery. one regiment
of light and one and half regiments
OF mountain are on foreign service.
and therefore not available One
regiment of light, one OF horse, and
half regiment of mountain are on
the border. In the rest of the country
there is only one regiment and that
is siege one. the guns of which are
too heavy to be used with such an ex.
pedition as the one after villa.
Nineteen Infantry Regiments.
or the 80 regiments of infantry ten
and two-thirds are on foreign serv
Ice. Is are already on the border.
leaving only four and a third available
as reinforcement. The first time
the troops were mobilized on the Mex.
ican border companies of coast artil.
lery were organized into battalions and
regiments and used for infantry. At
the present time. however. due to our
strained diplomatic relations with
Germany and more or less strained re-
lations with other powers. the coast
artillery cannot be spared from the
coast defenses.
This means we have available to
guard our Mexican border and chase
Villa IL 2-3 regiments OF cavalry and
10 1-3 regiments of infantry. 4S field
guns and l6 mountain guns. AS the
regiments are at peace strength. this
gives force Of about $4,000 to guard
1900 miles OF frontier through a coun-
try easily crossed by troops in any
direction and to catch Villa in a ter.
ritory with which he Is thoroughly fa.
miliar.
MexIoans VIII Aid Villa.
great advantage possessed by
Villa Is that every Mexican will aid
him In every possible way. He never
will lack information as to where our
forces are and as to what they are
doing On the other hand. when ques.
toned by our men they will always
lie and give as much misinformation
as possible.
Villa can cause our troops serious
embarrassment by retreating practi-
cally straight south. II is true that
there are Carranzista forces occupy
ing most of the principal points north
of and including Mexico City.
South OF Mexico City is the terri
tory held by Zazata. who has never
come in since the original Madero rev.
Olution. While little has been heard
from him in this country. he generally
has more followers than had villa in
his palmiest days. He excites even
more terror among the natives than
does Villa. He has threatened Mex
leo City itself on more than one occa
sion. For these reasons there prob
ably would be little difficulty in Villa
getting through Carranza forces to
lapata. should he wish to do so.
Must Guard Communications.
AS our troops advance into Mexico
their line of communications. becom.
ing longer and longer. will need more
and more troops to guard II. Also.
the natives will come more and more
to believe that a genuine invasion is
being made. At the present time so
much hatred Of the American exists
just south of the line and so much
hatred OF the Mexican just north OF
II that a clash between Carranzistas
and the American troops is possible at
any time.
The farther our troops penetrate
into Mexico the greater the tempta.
tion to the Carranzistas to Join VII.
listas and attempt to cut them of.
This would be all the easier, as due
to the present nominally friendly at.
titude of Carranza his troops occu.
py positions near and along the Dor.
der which. Of course. will be between
our expeditionary force and the sup.
porting forces on our side OF the Dor.
der as soon as the expeditionary force
will have advanced any distance into
Mexico.