Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-10-05

In some respects the strategical stu
alton of the armies in central Manchu-
ria is now similar to what it was six
or eight weeks before the battle of
IAaoyang Telling ana Mukden, the
Russian positions, now correspond to
Laoyang, Haicheng and Tatchekiao
then. The Lao vaiIey and the Mongo-
liam frontier lie to the west of the
Russians, as before, while to the east
are the same mountain ranges with the
japanese forcing one after the other
the passes that command the most i'm
portant roads.
We still have the great weight of
Oku's and Nodzu's armies grimly
astride the railroad. preventing any
possible expedition to the relief of
Port Arthur" and at the same time
ready to deal the s.edge-hammer
blows that will force the Russians still
farther northward when the time
comes We still have kuroki in touch
with the Russians on tle east and do
ing the most important work over the
mountain trails,
During the week General Kuropat-
kin has reported in repeated dispatch
es the progress of a part Of KurokPs
force along the roads from Bentsia-
putze to Fu-Iiug and 10 the Fushun
mines. which lie respectively ten and
thirty miles east of Mukden. Kaotou
Pass, where there was skirmish,
seems to be on one of these roaus,
while an official Russian dispatch from
Hardin reports n fight on the south
bank of the Hun River on the road
leading TO Fu-ling The japanese are
said to have had two divisions here,
rather large number of men, and to
have been repulsed. Farther east. ON
the road running northward from Sal
matse the Japanese advanced to an
attack on Da Pass. An official tele-
gram given out at Toxic tells of the
japanese capture of Telling. which
may be one of the passes just men
toned. or some other, as 1t clearly
cannot be the City of Telling north of
Mukden.
How far and how fast these mo, t.
ments will progress cannot be told. as
that depends ON factors of weather,
transport and men. concerning which
we are but poorly informed. We may
expect, however. in due time to see
Mukden abandoned without hard fight
ing, much as Haicheng was abandon
ed when the Russians were concen-
tratlng on Liaoyang. If this is not
the case 1t will probably be because
Kuropatkin secs hope of retaining for
a while longer his control of the i'm
portant Fushun coal mines.
The opening of the circum- Baikal
railroad during the week will mean
much for Russia. as her REINFORCE
ments can now be sent forward to the
full capacity Of the Trans-Siberian
Railroad, and not mercy to the capaci-
ty Of the steamers and !ce-breakers
across the lake.
If we had any solid facts to 90 on
the news from Port Arthur would
probably be vastly more interesting
and important than that from the ar
mics farther north But we have still
nothing but rumors gathered at Che
foo from refugees from Port Arthur
and. Do!ny. The accounts agree that
another general assault has been be-
gun. with Japanese successes at sew
eral points. and we are also told that
Port Arthur is in desperate straits for
food for water and for coal. But
what weight to give to the reports we
do not know.
For some reason the Japanese gov
eminent has thus far declined 10 pub
lish any account Of the fighting at the
southern tip Of the Liaotung peuinSu.
Ia. So what is happening must be
pieced out from the story oS .kieuten-
ant RadZwill. who reached Chefoo
with dispatches from Stoessel. ana
from reliable Chinese" who. in mill
tary matters are the most unreliable
people on earth. There il no one so
afraid of powder and ball ms the China
man. When he sees or hears an out.
post sklrmish il seems to him like the
last desperate general assault. and
when he reaches Chefoo he reports OF
halls ot shot" cyclones of she'll"
and 'earthquaking mines"
In the latter part OF August the Japs
took four outlying forts IN front OF
Rlhlung and kikwang. They immedl-
ateiy set ont tn strengthen these
places, and made them into most re-
spectacle farudcations. When the
next general assault starts. these forts
will try TO silence the guns of their