The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-21
WHY JAPs ARE GOOD SOLDIERS
they Are Used to Living Crowded To-
pether-Dlet Is Plain.

49,
they Are Used to Living Crowded To-
9ether-Dlet is Plain.
AS the Japanese soldiers live crowd
ed unfortunately into the houses Of
the country, often twenty or more
sleeping side by side on mats in small,
lily ventilated rooms, with open fires
in the rooms, it is surprising that they
do not fall i'll in large numbers.
Tie same conditions would kill OH
Caucasian troops by the score, for not
only has all this Korean and Manchur-
ian country been scourged with pestl-
lential diseases peculiar to the East,
from time to time, but the people,
knowing nothing of medicine, disln-
lection, necessity of isolation and SAN
itary measures, follow none of them.
80 that their houses should be filed
with as many baleful germs as they are
known to be with predatory insects
visible to the naked eye. Certainly. we
must assume that japanese troops are
less susceptible to the attacks of the
bacilli than the men of Western coun-
tries. in order to explain their freedom
from contagious disease up to this
time, but there may possibly be adj
vanced some other reasons tending to
show why they are so unusually
scourge free for an army living in the
field.
To begin with. their diet is extreme
" plain and simple. consisting. as it
does. of rice, fresh fish and unsweet-
ened tea, with now and then j small
amount of timed beef, fresh beef,
chickens and eggs thrown in as lux
uries. Their food is in no way differ
ent from what they have been accus-
toned to. and it Is prepared, cooked
and served exactly at it is at home. In
opposition to this. other civilized arm
les Immediately begin living on highly
concentrated and heating food in the
field. Lacking variety and craving the
things they are accustomed to at home,
they drink large quantities of lye
strong coffee and gorge themselves
with bareback. bacon, stringy canned
beef and jam, and in consequence
bring ON q whole train of stomacbic
and intestinal troubles, and by gen.
eral loss of tonicity in the system open
the door for worse diseases.
Again, we find the japanese soldier
furnished with a metal bottle, in place
of a water canteen, which permits him
to boil his water easily. That he al
WAYS does this is hardly probable, but
in view of the fact that the japanese
prefer hot water to cold, when they
are in camp or stop by the wayside for
a long wait, they will always be found
slipping hot water from their alumni
um drinking cups, it may be safely
said that they run less risk Of contract
ing disease from the water they drinB
than the average army. Of course.
what they like more than anything else
as Il beverage is a very weak concoc
ton of plain hot green tea, and be
tween the damage done to the stomach
by half a dozen tiny cups Of weak tea
and a quart Of inky black coffee, such
as the American soldier constantly i'm
bibes, there can be no comparison.
The fact should not be lost sight OF
that the Japanese soldier, by his pref
erence for hot drinks, never chills his
stomach when he is over heated and
perspiring, and this. in itself. makes
for a better general physical condition
than that of the soldier who feverish
" drinks large quantities Of cold wa
ter from every spring, creek and pond
along the wayside. Taking possession
of large towns by American and Brit
ish troops always increases the NUM-
Der on the sick report with a jump. be
cause these soldiers I prone to look
generously upon the flowing bowl, anC
their selection Of beverages which
cheer are usually those of the most
fiery quality %obtainable. The Japan
csc soldier, on the contrary, seldom i'm
bibes anything except his mildly alec
holic sake, which, it is true, does in
toxicate if taken in large quantities
but whose after effects are'nOt appar'
emily a general diSarrangement Of the
internal functions.-LeSlie's Weekly.