The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-09-09
THESULTAa SSOLDIERS
Over One Million Men In Tnr-
keys Army.
ONLY MUssULMAEs oAn SIEVE.

Christians Are Excluded and COM /
peeled to Pay Substitution TAX.
The ottoman Empire Can Mobiiize
Nineteen Army Competitions and
RediGs Are spIenaid soldiers.
The organization Of the Turkish army
now III Macedonia only takes Mussal-
mans into account says the ST. James
Gazette. IN spite Of provisions to Tie
contrary laid down in 1886, Christians
are stlll excluded from the Ottoman
military service and are compelled to
the payment Of a substitution tax
For Ottoman subjects military serv-
ice Is obligatory for twenty years viz.
from the age Of twenty to forty ana
it 81 divided Is follows Six years with
the nizam, or active army; eight years
with the redif, or reserve army, and
six years with the mustaaz, On land
aturm. The service with the eolors Is,
according to regulation, three years.
the remaining three years Of active
service being spent in the nlzam re-
serve, but the former period is fire.
i Quently extended to four. five or even
more years. The registration list of
recruits shows that about 10000 men
are liable to service each year but as
a matter Of fact only about $4,000 are
Incorporated into the army A few
years back the leakage was consider
ably more.
The nizam troops have peace
/ strength Of 216,530 and a war strength
Of 3T4,300, while Ia pence or war the
pumber Of guns is the same-yiz, 1.494
the nizam comprises 800 infantry bat
talions, geo squadrons, 255 horse, field,
| howitzer and mountain batteries, 145
siege and fortress artillery companies,
80 companies of engineers, s railway
and 8 telegraph companies - compa
MES OF military train troops and 63
companies Of artificers and workmen.
There are 374 battalipns of redif in
fantry and AS squadrons Of redif cav
airy. In addition there are distributed
through the whole empire 1876 battal
ions Of gendarmerie and 200 squadrons
OF mounted gendarmea.
Since 1891 endeavors have been made
to utilize the most warlike Of the Kurd
tribes by forming them into a special
militia on the Cossack model This
militia, called the Handle, after the
reigning sultan their organizer com
prlses 266 squadrons Every man fur
nishes his own equipment and mount
and is armed with a lance So far the
Handle have only succeeded in earn
ing for themselves an unenriabla noto
riety on account OF their outrages IN
Armenia, and they form d dangerous
element in tie army at large.
The nizams are splendid soldiers, their
long term Of service adding greatly to
their effectiveness, ana the redifs ere
almost their equals Indeed, the por
ton most worthy Of note in the Turk
ish military organization is the redf.
These troops possess permanent cadres,
composed Of all the officers necessary
for the mobilization of the units. and
Turkish officers consider it distne-
ton 10 Be appointed to the redif Each
Of the seven military districts Is divid
ca into four divisional AREAS, these
J again being partitioned into snbdiyl-
: sions corresponding to the different
units Of The redif down to ana lneiud-
! ing the company Tie captains reside
1 in the midst Of their company district
Z and attend u the training ~ tie men.
!. who are called ont usually for one
. month every two years.
3 AT the present day the Ottoman ciI-
pire can mobilize nineteen army corps.
twelve % which are redif while the
total armed strength. excluding the
gendarmerle and the mustaAz, is ais
follows
onloers .............. 1900
$40 hattalioms Of nizam infantry $4,000
3A battalions Of redif infantry M $4,000
G6s battali0Hs % lawe infantry M 10000
cavalry .'....,.......s.s.s.s.@ 5000
~ battaliops of horse field, moun-
tain and howit1er artillery....... $500
ia5 companies ~ siege and fortress
artillery Observation-Disclosures. $500
Technical troops Observation-Disclosures. 1900
2d5 squadrons Of Handle cavalry. 5000
Grand total ..................... 10000
Russia ana Turkey