St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-06-08
THE ALLIED ARMIES.
diees Of Different Nations
In China.

Living and camping with the men
Of these various forces On an expedi.
ton such as this very severe march
to Picking, one got . very close insight
into the comparative discipline. the
equipment. the endurance and tho
fighting or soldier spirit in them, as
well As into the working Of their
transport, commissariat, army medi.
cal corps, ETC., writes George Lynch.
in the Independent.
The standard Of comfort Of the
United States soldier is far and away
higher than that Of any soldier in
the world. The United States COM
missaries in Picking were a perfect
godsend for procuring Injuries which
could not be obtained in any others.
In disciplined mean the obvious
discipline, the surface discipline if you
wish, the discipline that was apparent
to the eye Of the spectator-the Amer
lean soldiers were wofully lacking, and
would compete with the French for
the last place among the allied forces,
but when real fighting Is to be done
they generally manage to get there,
fight well and shoot straight.
In sharply marked contrast to ev.
cry other arm Of the service, the jap
anese cavalry were an absurd carica.
ture. This is not altogether surpris-
ing when we bear in mind how unusued
to horses is the average Japanese. He
has not the instinct for caring for
horses which is ingrained in those who
are accustomed to them from child.
hood. In every other branch Of their
service it appeared to me that they
equaled, if they did not surpass, tho
best of the allied troops in China.
Their extreme mobility in the field
was a revelation, all their movements
seemed to be done on the double, and
there was verve, go and activity about
them that was simply delightful to
watch. The old fighting or soldier
spirit Of Japan seems still actively
burning in the breast of every little
Jap. They sing as they fight, and
fight with the frolic welcome OF
schoolboys who love the game they
are playing. Their disregard Of life
II extraordinary.
Quite in contrast this spring and
60 and fighting spirit appears con.
spicuous by ito absence in the Ger
man. He appears to be the acme Of
the manufactured soldier, the soldier
who Il the result of laborious and ac-
curate drill. On parade, their drill
showed up superior to that Of any
Of the other allies. But then # was
stiff, wooden and mechanical to . de-
gree, and II would be curious to oh.
serve, when occasion should arise, ow-
ing to severe losses among the officers,
how this human mechanism, manufac.
tured on the parade ground, would
work when thrown on its own re-
sources and when obliged to rely on its
own individuality.
Rough, uncouth, heavy, slow moving,
but giving one the idea of great stub
bornness and endurance, the Russians
appeared to be in many respects the
best war soldiers Of the lot. They IL.
most equal the Japanese in the sim
plicity Of their diet. Although slow
in movement they are capable Of exc
cutting extremely long marches.
The regiments Of colonial French
troops which accompanied the origi-
nal expedition may be passed unno-
ticed, for they lacked nearly every sol
dier-like quality of conduct or equip
ment. They were simply beneath con-
tempt. They distinguished themselves
chiefly by their footing exploits and
by their outrages upon the Chinese,
more particularly upon the women,
and competed successfully with the
Russians ard the Germans for the first
place among those who were to dis
grace western civilization in the orient.