The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-02-10
4 General View Of Seoul From the South.

IN him. and he acts accordingly. he mas mas
perfect confidence In himself
..Thcre are in Japan to-day o bout aa,-
600 zoo of people-nlore than&were IN Ire
United States when stlls Civil Var broke
Eout#rhe resources II o. the county IN the
way Of food supply are almost unlimited;
The people eat rice mostly. l ne LintLl.. clai
condition is good, and l%oeileVe - p ,
has war fund it has been llus pa ndlns
for this very EN- Urgency. Its part I IN Tue
Chinese spoil was $1,000 000 yens. about
sE5 l1lopo in gold. The income on this
money has been used, at Teas t in part, for
educational purposes. But the principal
is intact, and will be used for the war
It will last the Japanese three times as
long as any other people, because the
cost of feeding the army is much less
and the japanese are By, nature care
full and frugal folk.
Japan has a standing army and large
reserve force She could probably ultt-
mately put 1,5o0,OoO fighting men In tie
field. The Japanese navy5is OF recognized
strength It is modelled largely after ina u! {
of Germany. The battleships are. new ara
OF the most improved type Russia has las. a
larger fleet but her ships are not 50
powerful, and besides many Of them, are
not available at this time Everything
IN HJlDuU-uIIllya uitNl ttN
pink Of perfection and the Japanese fleet
will make its force felt on every hard.
The country has at It's call thousands ard
thousands Of skilled salors-f rmen,
who have grown UP by the Side OF the
salt sea water, and have become Injured
to the hardships of life, upon Tie hlsh
seas. Some Of, Japans batteships We're
built in this country. The Kasagi. pro-
tectcd cruiser, is an American product.
Built by Its side was Tie Yariag, n Rus
sian boat It will be an interesting sisht
IL these two cruisers ever meet, One Is
as powerful as the other and, other
things being equal, all will depend on
tho men We may be able to tell then
who is the better fighter, the Japanese
or the Russians.
Has Been Waiting,
.'In my opinion the japanese have In
tended to declare war as soon as they
were ready. They have long been On
pectlng trouble In the East, and they
have been gradually getting ready for
it, Their preparation $ evidently now y,
complete, The dispatches apparently
mean war. though they may not he ac-
curate. The Japanese will be very care
full and will give out nothing about Their;
movements; a rigid Russian censorship
will prevent any news from that quar-
Ter. So the dispatches may be mere
sky.rocket reports.
,'But 1t looks like war at all events,
and it will probably be a big one It IS
imnoss,ble to say whether or not any
ctler countries will be involved, but
England has recently formed an nlli-
ance, offensive and defensive with ia
pan. Equipped as have described
above, Japan will put up game tlgnt'
md for some time will give the rus
sian the hardest struggle he has had for
r,any a long day. But superior resources
of Russia her unlimited population. her
wealth of money and supplies, will ul-
tlmoteIy tell. If the battle continues long
the end is Inevitable. Russia VIII wear
Japan out, As long rs she can last, the
little empire will prove a formidable foe,
but she cannot last always, and RUS
sin can. After n year or two Japan VIII
be at the end OF the rope-she must
succumB."