OCR Text |
Show Hjji FUNSTON ALONE IS Ht'll TO BLAME. K; In dealing with the Mexican sltua- fj!!' tion, the newspapers on the border Kb i are disposed to see the turmoil through B,'; I glasses which enlarge the short- Hj comings of every element not in favor Kj, of grabbing a big slice of Mexican Hi territory. Their statements, there- Hr '! fore, arc to be accepted with the H' :' same reserve to be given utterances Hftl made by Senator Fall whose bolli- Hif ' cose ravings have been proved, on Mmhl more than one occasion, to be in- MNtf spired by his desire to sec the Mexi- II can trouble develop a war of con- Wk ciucsL Iff An El Paso correspondent of the Htf Brooklyn Eagle displays border preju- Idico in quoting General Frederick Funston as saying that, if he had had co-operation from the start, Villa today to-day would be a corpse and the troops would now be back at their posts. H "It's awful," General Funston is made I j to say. "In fact it's so bad that I Hhl dare not reveal my thoughts to any- lijq) body. When I can stand It no longer lltfl nto my bathroom, oc -he 111!! door, and run through the whole UlI Squint of American profanity" III lit e do no" believe General Funston Hjji ! made tho declaration quoted. If he litJJj did, ho is open to a reprimand for !' showing disrespect for his superiors J a 'breach of military discipline ,, I which no more can be tolerated In a 1 general than in a private who slurs j his lieutenant Whatever were the shortcomings of III l! the military expedition into Mexico, Hi lj they arc traceable to General Funs- Hl! ji ton in particular and our country's In- HI adequate -military organization for HI which, primarily, the people as a whole Hi 1 arc responsible. HI!; j When Villa raided Columbus, the HI nows reached Washington at about 8 Hi o'clock in the morning. Before noon H of that day, General - Funston had been authorized by the war depart-nient depart-nient to send tropps across tho border and proceed without restrictions to uphold tho prestige and dignity of this country. One week elapsed before be-fore Funston had his first cavalry expedition ex-pedition under way. The gcnoral required re-quired more time to get started than tho German army consumed in pushing push-ing forward to the defenses of Llcgc at the opening of the great war. General Funston may have felt the sting of newspaper criticism and now his excusing his military blunder by placing the responsibility on others. |