The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-03-22


Siberia, which is not far away. In
much of the speculation upon this cam
paign the writer's seem to forget tina.
there is large population Of Cossacks
the most warlike portion OF the Rus
SLAMS, already in Eastern Siberia, 50
that the Russians have but to rnooilize
the army in that portion OF the empire
- to more than double the forces already
in the field, for there is already a Rus
sian population of nearly 2000UC0 in
the provinces east of Lake Bailtal, OF
which men in middle life are the pre-
dominant element. Among these there
are nearly half "A million who are sub
ject to military duty, the most of whor1
would take to war as naturally as did
the American pioneers in the time Of the
rev, .tion. Nor is this railroad in any
special danger of being Interrupted
The only point at which it is possibly
accessible to japanese invaders is near
it's terminus on the Liau Tong PENN
sula. while 200 miles of the Port Arthir
end could be cut off and yet ,eave the
Russians in possession of their most inn
portant vantage ground between New
chwang and Mukden.
Russia's northern fortress on the Pa
cific coast is Vladivostok. This is of
| supreme Importance and is more thor
oughly protected than any other naval
| station in the world. Situated on a
! bay as magnificent as that of San
| Francisco or of Rio Janeiro, it is sur
| rounded with mountains and can be
approached only by long and tortuous
channel, and is therefore practically
| invulnerabe from an attack by sea-
while to the north an inhospitable coast
| bordered by an abrupt and impossible
mountain chain renders an attack from
! the flank or rear entirely out of the
| question. Like the interior valley of
| Manchuria, also, the one stretching
4vv miles north of Vladvostok is rich
in agricultural resources and capable of
! supplying all the food products that
are necessary, while coal mines render
them Independent of foreign nations for
their supply of fuel. The railroad puts
| them in easy communication with the
vast commerce of the Amur River in
summer, and at all times of the year
in direct communication, behind mac
cessible mountains, with Central and
Southern Manchuria, and, through it's
connection with the Siberian
railroad, with all the riches of Eastern
and Central Siberia.
There is much discussion over the
military value of the Trans-Siberian
railroad. The Japanese and some 9TH
ers take the view that it If is so long
a line and so poorly built that If will
not be of much worth in forwarding
troops and supplies. But this Is a
great mistake. Though the road is
long and a single track the sidines are
amnle and tho paupa is sucb that anv
amount % ,.o,,;,,,, sto,,, oa,, I, .;,;,
upon it from the other Government
roads. When traversing the road In
1900, at the time of the Boxer revolu-
tion We had ample opportunity to learn
much at first hand of it's capacity for
transporting troops. Day after day
for several weeks, as we loitered along
this great highway, we saw very regu-
larry two military trains a day going
eastward. each carrying a full regi-
ment of 1900 men, with a fair proper
ton of horses and military stores and
there was no visible reason why there
should not have been twice that num-
Der. except that at that time there was
only one steam ferry boat for trans
porting trains across Lake Baikal. But
upon that ferry boat | have seen 80 cars |
at one time with 1900 soldiers. The |
boat, however. was able to make only |
two trips a day. But later a second |
boat of equal capacity was put on, so |
that 5000 soldiers a day could easily |
be carried across, while in the winter,
when the lake is frozen over from Jan |
uary to May. the track which is laid |
across will make the transit even cas-
Ter than in summer.
Lake Baikal is. however q serious
to the Trans Siberian rail-
road, and for the present greatly dimin-
ishes its military value. The lake is
400 miles long and on an average 40
miles wide. II is surrounded on every
side by precipitous mountains several
,bou.o,l -. T.; ,;,. 1t,