Evening star., 1904-03-22
thousand men, and thus greatly increase
the number of men available at the front.
Russian Troops in the East.

Russian Troops in the East.
Now let us figure on the number Of
troops which Russia had In the far east
at the beginning of the war. Here also we
can get some very good data.
During the Boxer troubles the Russians
mobilized 100000 Of the troops of the Amur
and east Siberian districts Few realize
that the Russians have extended their mill
tary system to that extent, but we must
not forget that the colonization of east
SibeUa has been going on for fifty years;
from 1898 to 1900 there were 231 900 men
brought out as emigrants; the Cossack SOL
dier has his family with him, receives a
grant of land and loan of money. The
army Is the great civilizing factor of the
Russian system as 1t has been with US. but
their methods are better than ours.
The number of European troops sent to
Manchuria In the Boxer outbreak was
1900, both by sea and by land, and 1t is
we'll known that Ii was not the policy to re-
turn all OF them to Russia before the set
tlement of the eastern question. Again. 1t
has been reported for months previous to
the declaration of war that the trains on
the Siberian railroad were filled with troops
going east
Forces in Manchuria in January.
''The London Times correspondent at Pc
king. DR.. Morrison whose accuracy is well
known, reported in January that the Rus
sian forces in Manchuria were 10000, in
Guiding 23.0o0 railway guards
''The mobilized field army of the Japanese
is about 100000 men. u is my belief that
the Russians will hare q force superior to
that In Manchuria by April 15
IF the japanese continue their defensive
tactics and merely attempt to solidify their
hold on Korea we may conclude that the
Russians will cease the rushing forward OF
troops and will devote themselves to ques-
tions of supply, while depending for deci-
sive results from the navy.
That the question of supply is serious
one we may realize when we figure on the
fact that the army We have supposed will
consume $50 tons of commissaries per DAY.
On the Siberian railroad we are Informed
that the maximum trainload Is 500 tons,
which is one-flfth the American maximum,
so that 1t would require seven trains per
day to transport commissaries alone. In
addition, great quantities of forage and
war material must be transported
Transportation of Supplies.
"As to the capacity of the Siberian rail-
road to transport these immense quantities
of supplies, We should consider it from the
point of view of the equipment of the road
and not its length. A railroad one mile
long with one locomotive and one car is
relatively no more efficient than railroad
one thousand miles long with one thousand
locomotives and one thousand cars. As to
the danger of that long line, we must re-
member that tearing up railroad track,
from the days of Forrest to De Wett has
never paid. and the defense of a long line
of railroad presents no new problems.
THE tillable land along the railroad has
been rapidly taken up by settlers AS the
railroad has advanced it has carried away
considerable quantities of grain. 1t is prob
able that the Russians contemplate getting
a large part of their provisions from ST.
IBERIA. The cattle of northern China are
said to be excellent, and can probably be
relied on as an additional source of supply