Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-03-03

ter guard infantry at 1881 and tho
cavalry at % squadrons, presumablv
| CoSsack sotnias, which at war strength
would give nearly 10 600 mon: adding the
aiX-battorics of frontier guard artillery.
| we should find total OF between "a 600
| and 5000 mon told off for the guard
| OF the line of communications along
the railway. On the last occasion when
an accurate estimate was made by Il
| competent observer the figures were
2ioo, but 1t was believed that Il steady
increase Of these numbers was taking
place, and that it was to raise them to
| SU.000.
IT may also he noticed that the five
Cossack voiskos in East Asia, presuming
| all classes liable TO serve are called out
can supply 10000 men and nearly 5000
! troop horse; certain catcgorieS of the
| reserve and of the Opltchcnie or land
siurm in non Cossack territories would
! also give an additional number to bo
oTdwn upon in case of emergency, with
out calling up fresh troops from the
| west.
one of tho points of greatest interest
in the Pekin telegram is the proof it
appears to afford that a smaller num-
| Der of Russian trops has been dispatched
from the west than was believed. Coniir-
| nation of this is given by the Times cor
respondent on the Russian side. whose
| letter of Jan. II from khailar, an impor-
| tant station on the Manohurian railway
makes it clear that he has so far found
| little evidence of special preparation for
war. aud he states that he learns on
excellent authority that only 5000 men
have passed eastward since June last.
and that several thousand time Xpircd
| men have been sent home.
| III this gives the measure OF the
| amount of reliance We can place on
| statements which have been made in tho
| continental press respecting the flow of
| Russian trOOpg eastward and Ia
| confirm the impression that Russia has
| neither desired nor intended to make
war IT is clearly her interest to avoid
war at almost any cost until the rail-
way round Lake Baikal is completed,
the Port Arthur docks built. and tho
battleships now on the stocks in the
| Baltic made ready for sea. When these
| things are done the whole conditions
OF "A struggle with Japan for supremacy
| in the east will become radically altered.
| SO far as concerns communications by
| lard, the stranGulation at Lake Eaikal
is a serious disadvantage for Russia.
| rho Times correspondent in Man
churia states that two steamers are now
running across the lake, the largest
making seven voyages. or II cross
inss in two days. lie tells us that
the railway round the lake will not
be completed until 1905. or year
later than Russian calculations had
anticipated and he aids that by
/ the combined means of -ledEcs and
steamers some 7jC tons of stores can b.
conveyed across the lake in "A hours.
From this he concludes that eight train
! loads can be taken across the lave every
day, and that this figure represents til,
ma Xmum capacity Of the traffic on the
! line of communication at this important
point 1T is liberal estimate and it may
he observed that it. only applies to thc
next three months and is conditional
upon the unlikely event of both sleigh
and steam traffic continuing without in
terruption.
This question requires little further
! elucidation. The break in the Trans
| Siberian at Lake Baikal is the greatest
bolt in the Russian military position III
| the east. \ railway Is under construc-
ton round the southern shores of tho
lake. but far it mas only reached
Tonkhoi whence it Is a two hours
| Journey to the eastern shore. 7 he RAIL
way enterprise encounters many dif1i-
| culties; it requires the piercing of 10
| tunnels through the spurs of the lofty
| mountains which fan abruptly to the
shores of the lake, and Russian engineers
have very little experience CT making
tunnels, and are NOT adopts in this
! branch of railway work. There are,
besides many broad and deep marshes
| to be spanned and the plant required
for this purpose Will require many con-
struction trains to be devoted to its
transport if the work is to be carried on
ooncurr entity with the supply and
! reinforcements of the army in the
| east.
DIFFICULTIES GREATER THAN
IN SOUDAN.
We learn what 1t meant in the Soudan
to continue work on Il railway and yet
| keep an army of only 5000 men at the
| front supplied The Russian numbers
are 10 times greater. and the line IF
communications three times longer; the
Russian difficulties are therefore great
| cr, ever though the Trans Siberian is.
on the whole, more solid than the desert
| railway of 1895. Lake Rdikal is 400 miles
| IN length, and is usually frozen over for
several months in winter, the first ser
ious frost having occurred this year on
Jan .. The ice generally increases to a
thickness of three feet. and though a
steam icc-breaker, the Leiokol. is able
to break through ice Of moderate thick.
ness heavy frost is liable to cause steam
| traffic to he suspended.
During the months Of February.
March and April the traffic is almost
exclusively by sledge; it is at this mo-
ment that the circulation on the Rus
sian roads in the east reaches it's mani
mum, and so long as Baikal remains
hard frozen it is rather an advantage
than the reverse. But the lake is sui
Joot to severe storms, and II these uc-
set il becomes hummocky, and the traffic |
by means OF sledgcs is often delayed. In
early spring and in autumn the greatest |
difficulties arise, since the ice is too |
weak to bear sledges ana yet strong |
enough to impede navigation except by |
specially constructed craft, With the
melting of the ice the Russians are |
thrown back upon their steamers, ana |
when this moment ARRIVES the Preach !
general star calculates that only two
trainloads can be dispatched each way
in Il hours.
SIN TRAINS a DAY.
The calculation of the Japanese stan |
is that six trains a day can be sent east |
every II hours under wholly favor
able circumstances, but they Relieve that |
four trains day are more likely to re |
present the fact The reports that dyn-
amite has been discovered in the ma
eonry of bridges on the line and that |
other preparations have been made to !
destroy the railway may be true or false. |
In any case the insecurity of the rail |
way Is plain. and the necessity tor break
ing II up must have long ago occurred to
the Japanese stan. One must, however,
differcntiate thewccn the Trans Siberian |
and the so-caled East China railways !
of Russia.
The methods used in the construction