The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-03-17
RUSSIAN JAPANESE WAR.

ltSrn mas HLltiiiy sucSecuSu ~ SoAAS"e
out the first act Of great drama, or
rather tragedy. BY its usual methods
OF deception it forced japan to appeal
to arms to demand and maintain her ex-
istence. That Japan is fully able to do
so-of this, there Is no question In the
mind OF any ordinary observer of the
worlds doings. 1t is true that Japan
has no standing army as large as Rus
sia. AT least, the syndicate articles
printed in some of our newspapers and
written by individuals commissioned to
represent here Russia's interests have
spread the idea of an army larger than
that OF all the combined armies OF Eu-
rope. In this, Of course. there Is no
truth--it is only blum, though Of the
two contending powers Russia's army
is. OF course the larger. Nevertheless
the advantages are on the side of Japan,
which can place every available man
in the field, while Russia could not
begin to do anything Of the kind. In
deed. II is very doubtful whether Rus
sia could place one-fifth Of her army in
eastern Asia. Not only are there
strong rumors Of Balkan complications
and who in this world has q more
Just grievance against Russia than the
Turkish empire-which necessitate a
large army in southern and southeast
ern European Russia, but II Is prob
ably the only imperial power today
whose internal foes can be found in
every part Of its dominions. There is
scarcely a well-populated province in
that empire where thousands Of people
under some pretext or, another have
not been for years driven to desper-
alton by the brutality OF that relentless
power. There is scarcely one peasant
out Of Numbered that has not been re-
duced to poverty by taxation, extor-
tion and general plunder as carried on
by that ollgarchy. There Is scarcely
one home out Of 50 where a son or
daughter, a sister or a brother. has
not been imprisoned in her dungeons,
exiled into Siberia or hanged for par
ticipation-real or supposed-in the |
revolutionary movement against the
imperial government-or, rather, mis- |
government. Because Of these and |
many other similar wrongs the greater |
part of Russia's army must be kept at |
home guarding her own subjects. Such |
is the actual condition that prevails in
that empire.
Japan, however, represents most |
remarkable contrast. Not only isevery
soldier and sailor ready and anxious to
respond to the call OF his government,
but every available man In that island
empire would take up arms of his own
free will and accord, should his gov
ernment need him. This is best proven
by the fact that Japan it is claimed
on good authority, already has an army
in and about Corea, which came over in
the capacity of laborers, mechanics and
traders, and which at given signal
would be in perfect readiness. Such a
thing would be an absolute impossible
ity in the case of men of Russia, for
no soldier would ever turn up were he
once on the other side Of Russia's
boundary line. Furthermore, in INTEL
ligence the japanese soldier is on the
whole superior to the Russian. for 1t
must not be forgotten that according
to Russian official sources over one
half of her soldiers are iIliterate.
AS to the naval strength of the two
powers, competent authorities declare
that the Japanese navy is to the Rus
sian as 10 to II, and in addition thereto
the japanese, in the very nature Of
his being an islander, is a good seaman,
while the Russian is the poorest sea-
man in the world. since the vast ma
jority Of them have never seen the sea
until drawn into military service and
assigned to some war vessel.
The commissary and hospital depart
ments of the two powers represent
items Of fully as much importance as
their actual fighting forces, both on
land and on sea. In Russia the COM
department at all times. and |
especially in war times, has ever been |
the greatest scandal in that land, and |
this has never been due to the con-
tractors, but to the offlcers-from COM
missary sergeant up to the commissary |
general. OF course in nearly every |
such case the contractors are made to |