The times., 1901-06-23
THE SIZE OF SOLDIERS.
What the Man Knows vs. What He
Weighs.

weighs.
The unframed big man will beat the
unframed little man at fisticuffs or in a
wrestling match, but in trained armies
weight tells for very little. So long as
their armies were recruited from the
cities and villages of Italy, the small
limbed Romans defeated the large-limbed
Germans in almost every encounter, and
this, although the men of the forest were
hunters, lived in the open air, and ate,
it is always assumed, quantities of meat.
The wiry little Roman who took blows
from n vine stock from his own officer
must have been one OF the best soldiers
who ever lived. 1t was after Rome had
enlisted the big barbarians in scores OF
thousands that her standards went back
in battle. The slight and pallid Saracen
drove the picked soldiers of Europe out
of Palestine. II armor is any test, the
heroes of the Middle Ages We're compara-
lively little men. OF the men who fought
at Jena, the Frenchmeu were probably
by 10 per cent the smaller, yet German
Pomeranian, and Pole alike receded be-
fore their charge.
There are probably no such men in the
world as are, TO be found in our Sikh
regiments, their average being nearly two
inches higher than our own; yet English
men defeated them at Sobraon. and If
they revolted our officers would lead the
understood Ghoorkas against them with
perfect confidence. That the japanese
''dwarfs'' defeated the Chinese may be
accounted nothing; but experienced Off
GERS who have watched the former in ac-
tion believe that they would beat the
Russians. an opinion which is shared by
the Sikhs, who have observed both, which
is the more remarkable because the Sikh
has to overcome an instructive feeling
about the European. Our own "ight"
regiments-e g., the Rife Brigade
which, because they are light, are toll
Grant of Weeds are among the best
regiments in the service; nor is there
any regiment in the world that would not
be proud of defeating zouaves. whose
average low stature has frequently been
commented on.
The truth is that weight and height
have almost as little to do with fitness for
soldering as with fitness for command
The man who can walk thirty miles day
and carry his rifle easily will, if he has
nerve, make an excellent soldier. A regi-
rnent of Lord Robertses would not be last
in the field though if they were badly
fed, they would appear to most well-fed
citizens a regiment of ''starvelings.
Height or the want of IL does not inter
fere with shooting. 1t arises, we suppose,
from some instinct of selection that our
sailors, who will face any troops, are sell
dom exceptionally tan. And little men
who. as their riding master informed US,
will fall any number of times and care
nothing about it, are capable of being
very soon licked into effective cavalry.
The allusion about the courage and en-
durance of citizens as compared with
countrymen is equally without founda-
ton Lad for lad, the city waif is as well
fed as the country laborer's son. though
his food leaves him with a tendency to
pallor instead of tendency to ruddiness
He is as much "out" as his rival. though
Il is in the street instead of the lane; and
though bad air seems TO stunt his growth
it does not destroy his health, as witness
all statistics of city mortality, if children
under three are excluded. As for his
courage, go and hit young London
costermonger, perhaps of all the families
Of man the one readiest for a fight. The
earlier armies of the Roman republic
were drawn from Rome itself-that is,
from southern slums, to which Bethnal
Green is a sanitarium.-London Spectator.