Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-09-30
Youth and Ace In War.

The war In the far East does not seem
to be bringing the names OF any young
officers to the front, as most of the wars
in history have done The men who are
leading the Japanese to victory are all
well along in years and, in all probable
ity, are fighting for the last time. Almost
all of them have grown up with the army
from its infancy and fought through the
Chinese war in positions OF trust. Field
Marshall Oyama. who Is in command OF
the forces in the field, is now 60, while
Baron kodama, the chief OF the STAFF. is
-. Gems. Kuroki Oku and Nodzu. who
are making things so unpleasant for the
Russian forces south OF the Lao Yang
are 60. 5S and GO, respectively. Baron
Nogi, who is also at the front. Is 55, Gen
Nishi. in command of the I'd division. is
IS, and Prince Fushimi who is the young
est division commander and who has the
lst Is i6. Marquis Yamagata, who is a
field marshal and said to be the finest
strategist of his generation. is &C. but is
not with the army. His duties demand
that he remain at Toxic, where he is en-
gagged with the various problems which
arise over the organization of the army
With him are a number of other officers
OF high rank, but their duties tie them
to their office desks, and the world will
not hear of them. although their work Is
just as important in attaining results as
Is that of the generals on the firing line.
1t Is said that the average age OF these
men IS 81.
1t is true that the age of any of the
Japanese generals would not prevent
them from fighting In our army, where
the age limit for those on active service Is
81, but they are far older than the men
who led the northern armies to victory
In the civil war. Grant was only 80.
Sheridan was 80 and Sherman Al when
the war began. Custer was a major
general when "a. and Pope and Hancock
cock were 81 and 3S, respectively, in
1861 Mcclellan. Thomas, Rosecrans,
Meade and number OF others were all
under AS when leading their men into bat
tie. The generals whom they were fight
ing against were all older. but still much
younger than the Japanese and nearer
the age of Gen. Kuropatkin. who is now
81. At the outbreak of the war Gen.
Lee was So. Gen. A. S. Johnston 5s and
Cen ]. +. Johnston 81. jackson was only
81. HOOD was 80. Longstreet 40 and
Stuart only 2S. 1t is a strange coinci-
dence that the officers of the German
army in the war with France in 1901
should be as old as the men who are now
lighting in the East along lines laid
down by them. Won Moltke, who laid the
foundations for the German army of to-
day. was 20 when the war broke out
Won SteinmitZ. whose rashness at Grave
lotte brought his fine career to a cloudy
end, was "a. But even in that war there
nous names for themselves. One was
the crown prince afterward kaiser for a
few months, and still lovingly known in
Germany as "our Fritz" and the other
was Prince Frederick Charles the former
being 39 and the latter AZ
Napoleon was surrounded by the young
est group OF generals that the world has
ever seen and in 1900 not one of them
was 80 years of age. Some of them had
not reached the pinnacle of their fame at
this date, II is true. but all had shown
the stuff they were made Of The little
general himself was only 81, and had led
his soldiers into Egypt. Ney and Lannes
were the same age, and Kellerman was a
year younger while Murat was but 30.
The same conditions will be found further
back in history. Washington was 40
when the Revolution broke out and Lord
CORVALLIS was six years his Junior. Fur
ther back, in the darkness, Alexander the
Great conquered the Persians when but
20, and Scipio Africanus defeated Hanni-
bal when the Carthagian was 30 and he
himself but 30. But because the Japan
csc general officers are well along in
years Is no sign that there are not able
youngsters serving under them. japan
was fortunate in having generals ready
and able to take command of her armies
when the time came, and as none have
failed, there has been no chance for the
younger generation to come to the front.
-lSpringfield Republican.