The St. Johns herald., 1891-06-04
THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
Nearly Five Million Men. Arr9.
 for Battle.
European Nations Watching Their Nil itary Maleuvers Fresh Data Concern ing the Tactics and Armament of
 the Great Army.

have directed anew the attention of all Europe to the great Eastern colossus. The endurance, willingness and iron discipline of the one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers who met at ROwnC, the capacity of the officers to handle great bodies of troops easily, and espc- cially the morale of both officers and men were so conspicuously displayed that all Austria and Germany have beer doing a good deal of hard thinking aro exhaustive writing concerning the Rus sian army ever since.
 The exact size of the Russian army i- Europe on a war footing, says the Chi cago Times, is rather problematical. The active army is estimated by the best German authorities to contain ono hundred and ninety-two infantry and fifty-eight cavalry regiments, ffty-one brigades of field artillery, and one hun dred and forty-fve Cossack regiments: the reserve troops, one hundred and five infantry regiments; the rlili- tia. two hundred and one infantry regi- ments. The garrisons include twenty four infantry regiments and ffty-o1e and half artillery battalions. Al, these, together with the batteries. sharpshooters, sappers, miners, etc., swell tl,e grand total to four million five hundred thousand men. The Eu ropean Russian army has five hun drcd thousand horses and about four thousand guns. The cost C. this establishment last year was reckoned in Russian paper currency S1S6, GOO, 900. That meant tax of abou $2.G0 on every man, woman and chilt in European Russia. Since 1874 Russi; has had the universal obligation { service. Tke time of service in th standing army is five years; in tlle reserves, which are in camp twelv weeks every year, thirteen years: in tlli militia, til the soldiers fortv-thir, year. The buying of substitutes O. exemption i3 not allowed.
 The infantry is armed with breech- loaders, Berdan II. model '72, with caliber of 10.67 centimeters, and a bal weighing about an ounce. The fielo artillery has guns Of 1O.67 centirnctc1, caliber for heavy work and others O. 6.7 centimeters caliber for light anc mounted artillery. These latter throv grcnades and shrapnels. The maxi mum range of the 10.67 caliber is 5,30, meters, and of the ST caliber {, 300 meter for grenades. The range of the sl1rap nel is between $500 and 3,750 meters.
 What kind of men stand behind these arms? The opinions of all who have seen any of the more recent Russian maneuvers are uniform. The Russian soldier, they say, is the most willing obedient and robust in the world. Hl can live contentedly from what . Frenchman or German would starve on. He can march tremendous distances without losing his pluck and under the most trying hardships needs only 2 word from his superior to make him forget all his troubles and rally to any effort. A German officer, who after hi recent return from Russia published hi observations in the Cologne Gazette, says:
 '"The maneuvers showed that the Russian army is made up of men ant horses that are equal to all eXcrtioE, and all demands of the modern battle field. Heavily built, thoroughly disci plined, content with little food, an( loyal above all others, the Russian SO dier is ready and willing in ever. emergency"
 The strenuousneSs and the aim e Russia's exertiOns to bring her army t it's present state of efficiency and avail ability at moments notice arc bes illustrated by her railway policy of lat years.
 ''The energy of the Russian Govern ment in the construction of militar1 railways during the last decade h. been truly wonderful" says Max Limal in the Illustrirte Zeitung. ''Still, tll, distances to be overcome were so tre mendous that the meshes of her iro- net are at least twice as great as thOSl in Germany and France. The railwa. construction in Russia in the last fev years has been pushed most rapidly o1 the western boundary, so that a quicl attack in Germany and Austria migl be rendered possible. The Government was forced to do this by the Panslavs. This party has its advocates in hiGl military places, and through them has spread its ideas throughout the army.
 ''It deserves mention, too, that the Russian forces are being steadily shifte, to the western boundary. Sixty pc cent. of all the troops and even three quarters of the whole cavalry are present in the military departments Warsaw, Wilma, Kiew and Odessa, an, almost the entire army is garrisonco along the lines of the stategical rail ways. During the last year sixty-twC battalions, ffty-eight squadrons, an, sixteen batteries have been transferred to the western departments. Thcrcb, the standing Russian army has been iI- creased by fifteen thousand men on tn German border and by thirty-fve thou sand men on the Austro-Hungari2 frontier"
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