The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-28


 Chang one in that Of euanKtung These. with the few physicians attach. ed to the naval squadron, are all there 10 look after the armies and 'nayies of the country. In war times rich gen. erals and mandarins often, If not gen. orally. carry a doctor with them. very much as they take valet Or A cook. But these followers of Esculapius know nothing Of anatomy. surgery. chemistry. and pathology. They are good bone setters: they show skill in treating boils. pimples. corns, bunions. warts. and prickly heat; they are quite successful at times with indigestion, cholera morbus. neuralgia. gout. rheu- matism and affections of the bladder and intestines. But beyond this they know nothing. In the presence of gum shot wounds and In the diseases of camp life they are worse than power. less. What little they do helps the dis ease and not the patient. When a fe- yer breaks out in a garrison. the doc tor removes the general to lucky" spot and waits till the malady wanishes from lack of victims. The mortality In every camp and garrison in China In times of peace. Is greater than fin an unhealthful European city; in times of war the percentage Is vastly increased.
 In case of gunshot wounds the Mon golian practice Is to leave the sufferer alone until the hurt declares its char acter." 1. C., whether mortal or not In such cases little or nothing Is left to the doctor. There Is no such thing as an army hospital In China!
 | Nor is the commissarlat in any bet ter condition than the medical service. The victorious Manchus of two hun dred years ago lived of the people they conquered. Why should not their de- scendants who inherit their glory. power and courage do the same thing. Such is the simple principle upon which the army Is run even to-day. That this shall not seem a gross exaggeration, 1t is only necessary to cite the suppress sion of the Kuldja rebellion in 1874. l Upon receipt of the news of the insur- l rection, the throne directed the Viceroy Tso-Tsung-Jang to suppress 1t and pun ish the ringleaders. Thanks to the SoiSAoi CPoi utiOAo lC hoo HiddC, d6 already described, he took the field with in thirty days at the head of an army of 50.00o troops and marched north west toward the Kuldja capital. As his forces moved slowly onward 1t titled the soil, sowed rice. potatoes, and vegetables, and reaped the crops. At some points 1t built roads. bridges and temples for villages on the route, who paid, it is said, not more than the market rate. This style of progress was adhered to until the rebel country was reached. when Tso-Tsung-Ta had no difficulty in crushing the revo- lutionists. It took two years of march ing, a week of fighting. and it made the viceroy famous for martial genius! Tn camp or garrison the sutler or cook are conspicuous by their absence. The soldiers form into groups or knots of from three to ten men, each of which does its own cooking. Some times they get their rice from the offic- ers sometimes from the general. and sometimes they buy it themselves.
 Transportation and locomotion are perpetual puzzles to Chinese generals. The government owns no troop ships and has no office or bureau which looks after the matter. A regiment of Han kow is ordered to proceed at once to Shanghai. some 800 miles down the Yang River. The commander after d week of deep thought first tries to impress a steamer owned by Chinese. Failing in this he charters a British river or ocean steamer of some sort. This proving unsuccessful, he seizes enough junks to accommodate his troops, and then floats and sails down stream to his destination. If the SUD- ply of junks has run short. he calmly waits until fortune or some powerful friend iM the neighborhood secures him the necessary craft.
 When 1t comes to marching cross country. the progress of Chinese army borders upon the ridiculous. The general and the staff officers go in heavy sedan chairs. carried by four, six or eight coolies. The chair is well furnished, and allows its occupant to sleep and eat, read and write. It moves at the rate of four miles an hour in smooth country and two or three in rough. With the general goes an as- trologer, whose duty 1t Is to point out lucky days for marching, and unlucky days, when devotional exercises are necessary to ward off malign influences ito indicate where halts should be made, rests taken, and deities and demigods recognized. His supernatu- raj powers go 50 far that he predicts the places at which his employer may be taken in ambush. at which reconnoi- tering parties should be sent ahead, and at which battle would result dis- astrously. Under such auspices the movement of an army Is often like that of a snail.
 In 1891 there was an instruction in Tokien, about eighty miles from Foo- chow. A general and regiment started out from the city to suppress 1t, and consumed ten days in reaching the scene of hostilities. This, far from being an exceptional case. is a fair example of the general manage ment of large bodies of men in China, no matter whether in the cold pro- vinces of Mangolia or the hot, mias- matic lands of Ton-wan.
 The evils described are bad enough, but taken together they are insignifi- cant compared with the corruption and