The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1904-04-25

LONDON, April 25.-So little is known
about the Russian soldier that an erroneous
idea has taken root that the cars army
represents quantity rather than quality,
but experts are agreed that, with the ex-
ception of the German, the Russian army
today is the best in Europe.
Every Russian, on reaching the age of 81
is liable to military service, and in this way
the army is supplied with very nearly l.
900, 600 recruits annually, chosen from $780,
600, 900 subjects
Directly a conscript has been elected by
ballot he is sent off to a depot a long dis
lance away, and he knows that he will not
see his home again for five years. He is
served with warm clothing, and as he has
probably been drawn from the peasant
class this is found a great luxury. He then
comes up for medical examination, the
talest men being chosen for the cavalry
and the shortest for the infantry, no man
being allowed to choose which branch of
the army he win join, as is the case here.
For some weeks helis drilled almost all
day, then he is passed into Stone regiment
as ful-blown soldier, and begins to draw
his pay as a private, which amounts to 10
cents a week.
The amount of work he has to get
through in a day never varies, He rises
at and attends prayers. Breakfast fol-
lows. and then he is drilled on and off till
u o'clock, when dinner follows.
He is allowed to amuse himself till 2,
then couple of hours drill is followed by
tea. Throughout the evening he attends
cases in reading or writing, after which
recreation is allowed till 8, when prayers
are read or intoned by the whole regiment.
The national anthem-the Russian ma
tional anthem was selected by the Emperor
Nicholas, and is unique in being the only
national hymn selected from those sent in
open competition-is then sung, and the
Russian soldiers days work is over.
The pay of 10 cents a week is not good,
but as it is probably more than he would
have earned by work in the fields, the Rus
sian soldier does not grumble. His food,
too. is better than he has been accustomed
to.
For breakfast he is given black bread
for dinner, potatoes, half pound of meat,
rye porridge, and sometimes boiled cab
bage or cabbage soup.
Cabbage is perhaps the favorite dish,
and hundreds of tons are salted down for
the use of the troops in winter.
70 wash down his midday meal the Rus
sian soldier is provided with beer made
from black bread Tea and supper are
much the same as breakfast, and consist
almost entirely of black bread.
There are great difficulties to be over
come in training the men. owing to so
many different races being represented
among the conscripts
For instance, it often happens that a
conscript is German or a Pole, and can
not understand Russian properly, least of
all when it is uttered in slang by an in
structor. The first thing to be done in
this case is to teach him.
Again, as the conscripts are nearly all
peasants, so per cent cannot write their
own names. but when they leave the army
they have had an excellent education, and
moreover are acquainted with some trade
which enables them to get occupation in
civil life.
About April every year the greater por-
ton of the Russian army goes into camp,
and as this regulation is never altered,
however inclement the weather may be,
the sutferings of the men are often terrible,
and many succumb to the cold All
through the summer they are at work,
marching and maneuvering. and they re-
turn to the barracks in the early autumn.
Very often they are sent to a barren dis
trict, and made To erect their own huts
before nightfall or sleep on the ground.
At the maneuvers last autumn an army of