Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-06-24
ARMY MULE CITED
with A. r.. r. Were 10000 That Main
taincd Their Regulations

From the New orleans Times-Picayune)
Almost everybody and everything that
contributed to the winning of the war
has received some sort of public recog-
milton from the War Department. Even
the patient long suffering, Woodworking
and oft ridiculed army mule has at last
been paid oncomium by the quartermas-
ter general.
According TO official publication is
sued to-day there were more than $500
army mules engaged with the army
overseas. and more than 100000 with the
troops in the United States. and while
there was much hae having, kicking,
baking biting and other mulish tricks
as might be expected. the army mule
lived up to his established reputation for
enduring, sacrificing and dying like
soldier.
They were not all American mules:
some of them were allies like the troops
they fought with Seven thousand came
from England and 1000 from France
and another 1000 from Spain.
There was no comparison" says tho
quartermaster generals announcement,
between the small. poorly nourished
mules secured in Spain and those bur-
chased in southern France and the pow
erful outstanding, measly -nosed product
of the Middle West. There was sharp
criticism in some places of the class of
animals which came up from Spain for
duty on the battlefront. But these little
animals were able to haul machine-gun
carts. releasing the heavy animals for
duty with the artillery and ammunition
trains.
There were times during the final
stage of the World War when it was i'm
possible to give much needed rest to
these animals. There were not enough
| to do the work which confronted them
and the result was that it was neces-
sary to keep on the move forty EIGHT.
60 and sometimes 70 hours, with hardly
more than a pause Then it was possible
| only to feed a small amount of grain and
a few handfuls of hay. Under this
strain the mule went forward, giving his
! all uncomplaningly.
Sometimes. when engaged. il would
seem impossible to get him back to the
| front again. but his powerful constitu-
! ton came to his rescue, and in a re-
| markably short time he able to re-
turn to duty. The mule has always been
! given the credit Of having his full quota
| of brains, but at times it seemed he had
more than his share. He may run when
| hitched to a wagon, but Invariably does
| no harm to himself or the wagon. When
| ured ne makes MS condltlOn KNOWN Dy
quitting. However, this quality did not
come to the fore during the days of St.
Mhiel and in the hrgonne.
The record of the mule through the
World War has been such as to reflect
much credit upon the dam, the farm
mare Of the United States as we'll as
upon the long-eared, loose-jointed pro-
gentcr of that hybrid-an animal indis-
| pensabe to the success of our army in
| the field. :.
Instances have been known where a.
pack mule would loaf about the army
kitchen while the cook was baking
bread until he observed the cook busy, at
some other duty, when he would Ap-
proach the fire, raise one foot and paw
off the lid of the Dutch oven. grab the
hot loaf within and make off with it
the run. He would do the same he
observed a hunk of bacon within easy
reach"