The Green Forest tribune., 1916-03-24
FACES BIG TASK
 IN VILLA CHASE
Difficult Problem Confronts Amer
 ican Army in Mexico.
MEXICANS WILL AID VILLA
General Funston Has 32,OOO Troops With Which to Guard 1.200 Miles of Border and Pursue
 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 a 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
 Of the field artillery, one regiment of light and one and a 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- petition as the one after Villa.
 Nineteen Infantry Regiments.
 Of the 30 regiments of infantry ten and two-thirds are on foreign serv- ice, Is are already on the border, leaving only four and third available as a reinforcement. The first time the troops were mobilized on the Mex ican border companies of coast artil- tery 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 19 1-3 regiments of infantry, 4S field guns and 16 mountain guns. As the regiments are at peace strength, this gives force of about 32,000 to guard 1900 miles of frontier through 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 Will Aid Villa.
 A great advantage possessed by Villa is that every Mexican will aid .isss9.e . 1.,so s.e s1 R4 i 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 transformation as possible.
 Villa can cause our troops serious embarrassment by retreating practi- caily straight south. It 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 ico City itself on more than one occa- sion. For these reasons there prob ably would be little difficulty in Villa 6StLluS IuIOuSH SdTEduZd IOTCGS to Zapata, 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 it. Also. the natives will come more and more to believe that 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 1t that 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 Vil- listas and attempt to cut them off. 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 bor- der which, of course, will be between our expeditionary force and the SUD- porting forces on our side of the bor- der as soon as the expeditionary force will have advanced any distance into Mexico