The Portland daily press., 1900-08-29
ARMY OFFICERS IN CHINA.
Devices In the National Services to In
dictate Rank.

In China just now there are soldiers
from no fewer than seven armies those of
the United States, Great Britain, Rus
STA, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
AS much as possible the men OF each
party are kept to themselves, lest things
should get mixed up. 1t is not to be i'm
agined that there would be any great cor
diality between the Japanese and the
Russians, for instance, or between the
French and the Germans. So the armies
live separate and apart as the legal ex-
preston used to run; and 'gam' only in
their off hours
1t may be assumed that the armies are
clad more or less completely in khaki.
Khaki is a great Ieveller, in that it
makes 1t hard to tell field marshal from
lieutenant-except that the knowing
one 10 ks at the person approaching; If
he is very, very old or very young he is
probably an American lieutenant; If he
is not quite so old he may be German
field marshal or a general in some other
army. But leaving out personal looks,
how is a soldier in the American army
in China to learn the rank of foreign
officer approaching himS If the officer is
general, he wants to turn out the guard
for him; if he is of lower grade he
wants to salute him properly; and if he
is no officer at all, he wants to avoid the
mistake Of saIuting him.
The badges that indicate rank in our
army are few enough and applied more
simply than such devices are applied in
foreign armies. Our second lieutenants
wear shoulder straps destitute OF any
rank badge whatever; the fact that they
wear shoulder straps shows they are
officers. In khaki uniform the straps
run up and down the shoulder and have
the United. States coat of arms on them.
This coat Of arms is the mark OF an
officer.
The other officers are marked for iden-
LITIGATION thus: A lieutenant has a silver
bar at each end of his shoulder straps,
or one single bar on his khaki strap. A
captain has two bars; a major has gold
oak leaf at each end of his strap; a lieu
tenant-cOIOneI has silver leaf; a col
OOnel has silver eagle on his straps, a
brlgadier general silver STAR and a
majOr-general two silver stars.
LII AAuS1duQ buO S5COuu 1l6ub6UdQB mas
no rank device; a first lieutenant dis
plays one star, a captain two stars;
major has a crown on his straps, a lieu
tenant-cOlOnel a crown and star; a col
Onel shows q crown and two stars;
brigadier- general a sword and baton
crossed; major general has a star above
the sword and baton, lieutenant-gen-
eral crown above the crossed sword and
baton; a general has a cross and star
above the crossed sword and baton The
highest officer the British have in China
now is an acting lieutenant general; they
have no officer of higher rank available
whom they can trust.
In the French army rank is denoted
chiefly by the braid on the coat sleeve and
on the Gap. A second lieutenant has a
device consisting OF one braid only
first lieutenant one of two braids
captain, one of three; a major,
one of our braids. Five braids of gold
and silver thread indicate lieutenant
colonel; II they are gold only, they indi-
cate colonel. A general has oak leaves
In gold around his cap, instead OF braid ;
the gold braid on his arm is in five rows,
and there are three silver stars in
triangle on each arm.
The rank devices in the Italian army
are about the same-roWs of braid on the