The Savannah morning news., 1904-10-01
RAILWAY DEPENDENCE
OF GEN. KUR0PATKIN,
If He Retires to Harbin the Country
Cannot support Him.


Gen. Kuroki's Headquarters in the
Field, Undated via Tien Tsin, Sept.
80, Evening.-The most interesting mil
itary problem at present is how large
Russian army the railway can sup
port in Manchuria. While the army
is south of Hardin. almost all the
necessary food supplies can be OBJ
tanned in the country, but the farther
north it goes the more it must de-
pend on the railway, while at the
same time the Japanese will gain an
advantage by having an increased
area to draw from.
The richest section of Manchuria is
the country of which Liao Yang is
the principal market, and the crops
in that section in this season are un-
usually large. Merchants who are ac-
quainted with the country believe that
If Gen. Kuropatkin should retreat to
Harbin he must then bring nearly
every pound of food by means of the
railway, especially as this years crop
In the Sungari valley has proved a
failure. Besides this, every horse for
the Russian commander must be
brought over the railway.
If winter campaigning is attempted,
on which point there is much specula-
ton, it will become increasingly diff
cult after December. because the
to render intrenching operations al
most impossible.
The organization of the Japanese
army continues to be as efficient as
it has been since the beginning of the
campaign. Most of the troops were
equipped with winter clothing when
the first cold weather and snow ar
rived and khaki has been replaced by
heavier material with remarkable
quickness.
The railway will be operated to
Liao Yang within a week and through
trains will be running to the front
from Dalny and New Chwang.
The harvesting is progressing slowly
in the fields in front of the ~Japan-
ese army and. TO the southwark
Thousands of Chinese are employed
as teamsters and coolies by the Jap
anese army. There is, therefore. a
great scarcity of labor, and as a re-
suit many of the crops are neglected.
The thick millet, which has been a
great factor in the movements of
both armies, has nearly all been reap
ed, and there is now little more than
bare plains.
The correspondent of the Associated
Press rode from Lao Yang to New
ChWang and found that surprisingly
little damage had been done to the
grain, considering that two great arm
les had fought over the country, while
with the exception of a few buildings
which had been burned in the Rus
sian settlement at Lao Yang, there
were small evidences of destruction.
The territory is far from being as
devastated as sAtght naturally have
been expected.
The reports which charge the Jap
anese troops with looting at Lao Yang
were greatly exaggerated. Some of
the soldiers who first entered Lao
Yang, finding plenty to drink, help
ed themselves, and did some looting
of small articles from the shops, but
the conduct of the Japanese army as
a whole throughout the campaign in
respecting property has been ire
proachable. The looting done at Lao
Yang was insignificant and compar-
ed with the looting at Tien Tsin and
Pekin by foreign troops in 1900, II
is not worthy of mention.
Conditions at Mukden are bad.
There are 10000 refugees there with
out resources, and in the deepest pow
erty.