, 1878-05-22
THE ARMIES OF THE WORLD
WHAT A LEADING AMERICAN
AUTHORITY HAS TO SAY
ABOUT THEM
from the New York World,

From the New YORK world,
OF General Emery Upton's book, "rhe
Armies of Asia aud Europe" just pub
lished by the Appletons, the average
reader will be likely to cherish high an
ticipations, in view alike OF Its authors
professional reputation and the interest
or his subject A book containing
professional soldiers experiences ana
impressions of the armies and military
systems of japan, China, India, Persia
Italy, Austria, Germany, France aud
England could not very weiltail OF being
read and of being readable.
Comparatively little attention need be
paid in this notice to the armies OF ia
pan, China and Persia. In the first
named country the work of organization
has been entrusted to French officers, and
the army has been completely European
lied; military service is obligatory, re-
cruits are obtained by drafting. and after
serving the three years term OF enlist
ment, pass into the reserves. The in
fantry is armed with the Snider and
Enfield rifles with sabre bayoncts, and
European uniforms, OF white duck in
summer and dark blue cloth IN winter,
are worn China has made no such
progress, for General upton, speaking OF
the forces at Pekin, gives the weapons OF
the several classes of infantry as, l, muz-
zle loading rifles; 2, bows, arrows and
spears; 3, small matchlocks 4, ginga's,
weapon which one man carries while
another sights and discharges it, and, 8,
swords and shields. The strength OF the
army varys all the way from five humid
red thousand to one million men; but as
the officers discharge the men tn steal
their pay, representing them on paper us
electives, when the forces are called out
ths ranks have to be filled with men
who probably never handled weapon.
As vet the officers possess no knowledge
of the method of arranging and conduct.
ing troops and the instruction which
Gen. Upton witnessed at Pekin he de-
scribes as mere burlesque of infantry
drill. China is the only country in the
world in which the profession of arms is
not honored. Officers and men are
branded as the refuse of society and the
refuse of society, and the former are
looked upon only as trained athletes,
needing merely physical training to fit
them for their profession.
When describing the Indian army,
General Upton notes particularly the
clearness Of the relation Of officers to the
civil authorities, and expresses belief
that by initiating the example the Amer
lean Government might save millions of
dollars annually. Indeed he thinks that
the military institutions of India present
more features for our imitation than
those of any army or country in Europe.
Especially do the results attained in
India suggest the question whether in
the impending reorganization Of our
army, we should not, as our first step,
establish a vital and interchangeable re-
lation between line and staff. The Per-
sian army is not regarded with much
favor by the author. It's ranks are filled
by cOnscription, oil details being left to
the officers, with the result, naturally,
that the draft begins with the well to do
who purchase exemption, and proceeds
dowuwards until only 'hc very poor are
forced into the ranks. Few of the COM
pauy officers can either read or write
and money will buy any rank in the