The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-18
KODAMA IS THE WAR CHIEF;
 HIS CAREER A THRILLING ONE

The Chicago Record-Herald prints
 the following letter from Wm. E.. cur
 tis. dated Tokios
 Everybody agrees that the genius of the war is General Baron Kodama, recently assistant chief of the general staff, and now chief of staff to Field
 Marshal Oyama, commander in chief
 of the Japanese army in the field. Ko-
 dana was formerly assistant minister
 of war, then minister of the interior
 and Is now Governor General of Forno-
 sa. on leave of absence. having been
 called to Tokio at the outset of the
 present war because. while assistant
 minister of war some years ago. he
 planned the campaign which the Japa- nese armies are now conducting in
 Manchuria. After serving in Tokio for
 six months and carrying out his plans
 concerning the mobilization and trans
 pertation of troops, he was sent to the front about the first of July. and will Icontinue to be the most important, the
 most active and the most interesting individual in the great drama that Is being enacted in this part of the world. General Baron Kodama Is about fifty | years old. and a descendant of a Sau-
 mari of knight of feudal times He is therefore, of good fighting stock, and he has made a brilliant record as s/a soldier, bearing honorable wounds re- ceived in Korea some years ago, where he was shot through both shoulders.
 For months he lay In plaster of
 paris mold. unable to move a muscle
 of the upper portion of his body. His
 patience and courage have been talked
 about ever since. His left arm Is still helpless. Otherwise he Is In perfect
 health and is the hardest worked man | in Japan. He has spent from sixteen
 to eighteen hours a day at the general
 staff building. He has read every re-
 port that has been received at and
 every dispatch that has been sent from Tokio concerning the army in the field, and has dicated most of the orders from the war department here to the commanders in the field. Although Field Marshal Oyama is still in good health and his mental vigor is unimpaired, he defers everything to his assistant be- cause he recognizes his superior ability and considers him one of the shrewd-
 est strategists In the world. today. Baron Kodama looks more like a
 Frenchman than a Japanese. Except ing his diminutive size he Is entirely
 un Japanese in appearance. Like Julius Caesar. Alexander the Great. Tam
 erlane, Napoleon, Sheridan and other great fighting men, he Is small of sta lul slight Ol IT dnC' Hot more than 120 pounds. His scanty hair is iron gray, his mustache and goatee, which he wears in the French Istyle, are almost white His skin Is taned like leather for he has seen a grat deal of exposure, and has the weather-beaten appearance that you notice in sailor and old campaigners His eyes are keen but kindly. and their color is bhIe. He has a quick nervous
 manner and a hearty laugh. He speaks
 no English or French, but reads the latter language imperfectly. Lieuten- and Tanaka, an aide de camp who has
 had a foreign education and speaks
 both English and french fuently Is always at his side to interpret conver-
 stations with foreigners. Lieutenant
 Tanaka also looks after the newspaper correspondents who are summoned to
 the war office by telephone whenever there Is any information for the press. No reports are given out without the approval of Kodama. In fact he is Japan so far as the army is concerned. He has an assistant of his own kind
 in Major General Fukushima, a man of great ability, energy and learning whom many consider the equal of his chief. Fukushima Is famous for hav- ing crossed Siberia on horseback from one end of Manchuria to the other. He knows every road and every stream
 every mountain and valley, every town and hamlet and can make a chart of
 the country with his eyes shut. General Fukushima is well known to many of our military troops during the relief of Pekin in 1900. demonstrating what he is made of.
 Fukushima and Kodama work as one
 man. They seem to understand each others thoughts without speaking, and
 are entirely in sympathy Among other duties Fukushima looks after a curious
 chart which hangs fin Kodama's office. The headquarters of the general staff Is in a two-story villa of modern archi- lecture, built for the residence of a for eigner about twenty years ago. It occupies the top of a shaded knoll just outside of the walls that enclose the
 park of the imperial palace. The grounds are well-kept specimens of
 Japanese gardening. and but for the
 sentinels at the door one would sup pose that the building was a private residence. Within everything Is se-
 verely simple. There are no pictures
 or ornaments. the furniture is very
 plain and all the appointments suggests
 economy and military simplicity.
 Kodama's room is the plainest of>aii It Is uncarpeted, entirely without or
 nament and the only furniture are an