Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-11-18
Fighters ARE THE TURKS
Armies Bulgaria May Have to
Meet.
INSPIRED INVINCIBLES
STABILITY Clothed and Poorly Fed
Troops Of the Sultan Are Able to
Take Care Of Themselves with
Only the crudest System Of Trans
portation.

Say what you will OF the Sultan's
soldiers-saye that they are not brave
and II will probably be true. Cali
them squat heavy. dirty, sloppy
ragged-bearded. Allah-inspired In
vincibles:' 1t is even SO. Or call them
sfierce-looking fellows 1.-THE, agile.
erect and prompt. every inch the sol
dier;;' you are no less In the right.
Call them well-disciplined temperate,
childishly obedient; no one will con-
tradict you. But you might as well
have said that they are insubordinate,
fanatical and bloodthirsty. The one
is as true as the other.
The fact is, the Turkish Army is
homogeneous in but on respect-its
religion. All are Mussulmans. No
Christian dog is suffered to fight I'M
der the green banner of the prophet.
For the rest. you have all the
Moslem races of the hither East-Al-
banians. Circassians, Syrians, Arabs,
Negroes, 0smanlis or true Turks
messing It together. But II is not ma
tionality alone that makes the Turk
ish Army so exceedingly various
1t is the worldwide contrast between
the separate branches of the service.
The Nizam, or regular army, is to the
wild squadrons of the Hamadie Cav
airy as Kipling's "Fuzzy-WuZzy" to
the "British Infantree." In between
the two comes a different sort Of body
from either-the Redifs, or Reserves,
the backbone OF the army.
Every male Moslem serves in the
Turkish Army from the time he is 20
until the time he is 40-unless he can
get out OF It. This he stands fair
chance OF doing Exemptions are made
pretty freely for variety of reasons.
Constantinopolitans are excused in a
body, and after them all those who can
show that for physical or family rea-
sons they are unfit to serve. The rest,
who can find no excuse. serve for six
years with the colors-three or four
years in the regular line and the re-
naming two or three as active re-
serves on unlimited leave. subject to
recall In case of vacancies. The six
years up, the time-expired man be-
comes one of the great army of re-
serves. He may go back to his sheep
pen and his opium garden. But for
eight years he is at all times liable
to be called on to fight by imperial
decree. theoretically he is called out
every year for months instruction.
But as a matter OF fact the condition
of the exchequer prevents this.
At the close of the eighth year the
Turkish soldier passes to the militia,
or Mustahfiz or Landstrum He Is
"a years old, which for a toiling peas
ant is middle-aged, and he is not so
agile as he once was. So he Is rarely
called upon to go into the field, being
reserved for local or frontier defence.
None the less, there is nothing to pre-
vent his being pressed into active
service In the event or real war.
Last on the list come the Turkish
rregulars-Khurds and Arabs and the
like tribes too wild to be brought I'M
der formal military discplne. These
are organized into the Hamadie Cav
airy, named in honor OF the Sultan,
permitted to live in their own places,
and in time of war let loose upon the
enemy
The man who goes into the regular
army is temporarily un-Turked. He
learns to keep his rifle and himself
Just So" His uniform-plain blue
tunic, blue trousers tucked into top
boots, red fez-is speck1ess. His cam
vas knapsack is blindingly white. His
Mauser repeater slopes over his Shout
der at precisely the right angle. His
step is brisk. elastic. His drill is
strict. his discipline absolute. In
short. he is a model of a modern SOL
der man.
Unfortunately, in the late war with
Greece IT, Turkish Nizam was too lit
tie used to prove its powers. At the
one engagement where it went extern
sively into action it was most out
rageously cut up. and all the spick-
and-span uniforms we're tumbled dis
mally into burial trenches. 1t remains
to be seen how much the pipe clay and
polish are worth in the field The
Redfs. on the other hand, are essen
TALLY a practical force. The Tommy
Atkins has relapsed into the Turkish
peasant, anu ne 10 no lOhScE pretty W
look at His uniform, II uniform he
may be said to have consists of the
national fez, worn rakishly askew,
and an ancient army coat, quite likely
in the last stages Of disrepair. He has
got rid of the fine top-boots and shut
fles along in sandals, which look
like old list-slippers. his legs unhand-
lily swathed in bandage-like CATERS Sc
cured with odds and ends OF string.
His drill has gone of" shockingly.
and the less said about his form"
the better.
None the less, this slippered soldier
is among the most effective fighters
in the world. Rags do not disgrace
him; they are his normal guard. As
for the sandals. he gets along much
better In them than IN the military
boots They are better adapted to his
feet, and to the country he has to get
over. In the Crimea, when British
soldiers were falling out by the doz-
ems because their boots CALLED them,
the slippered Turks marched cheer
lily on To judge these tatterdemalion
regiments by their tatters would.