Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-10

III al lHe term implies. III WOfkS by
night and by day, silently, swiftly,
like huge machine with all its parts
in order. Day after day, the white
coated little soldiers swing by, in
squads, companies and regiments and
disappear up country. Their discipline
is strict, they are well clothed and
cared for, and the other nations watch
them curiously, and then turn to view
the Russians. And the soldiers of the
Car are man to man with them in
numbers now. But Tongko and Tien-
Tsin and Peking are but one square in
the Chinese checker-board. From the
far north come vague reports of thous-
and Of Russians massing in Manchur-
ia, and on the same wings fly rumors
of thousands of Japanese landing at
remote points in China and Korea.
,'but these are rumors from far land,
void of telegraphs and mails. Here in
the valley of Pei-ho is reality, and no
one can say which force is in majority.
Each day brings its quota of fresh
troops, of all nations except Amer-
cans, and each day brings its little
fleet until the anchorage off Taku is a
great city of ships.
In stream, behind the Taku forts,
which they reduced and over which
now fly strange flags, still lies the fleet
of light draft war vessels and torpedo
boats. Their once white and glsten-
ing paint is yellow and brown from
the muddy water. and outside the
great men of war and cruisers swing
idly at anchor, fleets of dingy trans
ports nesting under cover of their
guns. Ashore the tides still cast up
the dead, busy dispatch boats puff up
and down the river. soldiers debark
and hurry up country. 1t is war with
out the fighting. Here the nations
seem training and stripping like gi-
ant pugilists. Cossacks, with sturdy
shaggy little ponies and light two
wheeled carts British-Indian troops,
tall, silent Sikhs. armed with carbines
and lance, sabre and revolver, turban-
ed Ghoorkas, bare-legged and 1.-the,
tired Germans throng the narrow, mud
dy streets and fill the outgoing trains.
1t is military Babel, and the natives
watch the inpouring stream of their
conqueIors with Chinese lmpassive-
ness.
In point OF cavalry the Russians at
this writing probably outnumber all
/ the rest. BY far the majority of their
| troops are mounted, which gives them
a decided advantage in this land of no
transportation. The Japanese come
next in number of mounted troops.
There is an apparent lack OF artillery,
out of proportion to the total of troops.
The Germans have landed a few bat
teries, and the British have landed a
few naval guns on improvised car
riages. Four American siege guns
were sent to Tien-Tsin this week, with
ammunition. But few troops are kept
in Tongku. The Taku forts at the
mouth of the river are pretty well gar
risoned by the nations holding them,
but the men are hurried forward as
soon as landed. This is almost nee
essity because of the lack of camping
grounds
Tongku is merely collection of
one-storied huts on ground slightly
above the water, while on every side
stretch the great flats. ill-smelling
plains of reeking mud and shallow It'd
al pools, over which the allies found
cred in 1861. Under the hot sun they
throw off miasmatic vapors and make
the town almost uninhabitable The
advent of cool weather is eagerly
looked forward to here to improve the
healthfulness of the base and facilitate
the work. As rule the river does
not freeze over until the middle of De-
cember and there is about ten weeks
of pleasant autumn weather.
AT present the fuel situation is re-
ceiving much attention. There is some |
coal on hand here, which has passed |
into the possession of the allies, the |
United States securing a fair share. |
1t is only little of what will be need
ed, however, and with the food ques-
tion already practically settled, every
one is devoting all energy to land
ing fuel. The scarcity of vessels in
these waters makes the problem a
grave one; especially as there is alb
no timber in this section of
China. 1t is believed that even with
The best efforts there will be a scarcity
and with the rigor of the winter in
his region much suffering will ensue.