El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-15
PROVISIONS PLENTIFUL FOR ARMY
AND TRANSPORTATION ISADEQUATE
Men at the Front Have Tobacco Bakers Bread, Fresh
ly Baked and About All the Substantias They Care
For; Cost of Truck Operations Much Less Than
Wagons; Order Brought Out of First Chaos
By GEO. H. CLEMENTS.

kLEN4EA >.
, fighting man Of any other Of the fight
ing nations Of this fight inclined world.
why the Ian:
For various and sundry reasons nor
plain to the correspondents in camp,
( there must be no mention made of the
number OF soldiers in this or any other
! OF the several camps south of the in
/ ternatiOnal line, though /. is very
probable that the exact number is
! known to every Mexican from the Rio
Graude 10 the Guatemala line. For
that reason we are not permitted to
indulge in the pleasant pastime of en-
balming in print the exploits, heroic
i'm sense. Of the men who are filling
the stomachs Of the men and animals
who are engaged in the most gigantic
man hunt ever INDUCED in by a great
nation since history began to be writ
ten by Her0dOtus, which was some
time ago If any one asks Tor dates.
The determination TO make Villa pay
for the temerity he displayed when he
attacked the little town of Columbus
was arrived at so hurriedly that the
quartermaster's department was not as
well prepared to meet the emergency
with which 10 was faced as, probably,
ii should have been and as, just as
probably, il will be in future. 1t had
plenty Of food in sight but it didn't
have it where it could get at it as
promptly as il should, and il was Woe
fully lacking in the matter Of facili-
ties for getting the food to where it
could be transferred to the stomachs
OF the soldiers and horses Of the fight
ing force pouring over the border and
rushing with all speed to comb the sup
posed hiding places Of the murderous
villa and his band of cutthrOats in the
canyons of the lofty Sierra Madres.
slow. POkey Wagons.
There were old fashioned wagons,
drawn by four mules each, in plenty.
"wmN N d
for the work at hand The army,
whether cavalry or infantry or artil-
lery. Travelled too fast for mere mules
to keep up. Motor trucks we're on the
way and until they arrived, the long
trains Of wagons, numbering 2OO or |
more at times, were kept moving night I
and day from the base at Columbus to |
the front at a feverish pace. The wag-
ons were compelled, not only TO carry /
food and forage for the fighting men !
and their mounts in the field but for !
the mules which pulled them. They also /
had to carry food for the drivers OF 4
the mules and for the guard which !
protected them from attack by rowing /
bands of marauders which might be 4
hanging on their flanks looking for /
an opportunity TO grab the rich prize |
which an american army wagon train
would make 10 the average band OF
hungry Nillistas. There was not, for /
several days, an opportunity to pile 4
IN a surplus. The expedition lived a
hand 10 mouth" life for the time and
the quartermaster and probably those
higher in command were worried. Then
the motor trucks, whole fleets OF
them, began to arrive at Columbus.
They were loaded in haste and with
equal haste hurried south. The strain
was relieved. Visions of half rations |
vanished and the mental horizons OF
the Officers Of the expedition took on
a roster hue, as the trucks increased
in number. Instead Of coming into
camp in scores, they began to come
by hundreds and as each deposited its
load. the space devoted to the quarter
master began to be piled high with
boxes of bacon, corned beef. hard bread
and canned vegetables and sacks Of
potatoes beans and other forms OF
food for the men actually at the front
or waiting TO go.
PLENTY ia Eat