The Wichita daily eagle., 1904-02-05

! his mount have but a single will. Noise
| less, tireiess. swift as light, the Cos
/ sack guerillas dance about an enemy, al
ways looking for chance TO dart in and
| surprise him, always gone again before
he has tine to retaliate. 1t is said that
! the Cossacks fairly smell an enemy,
hence their Sobriquet of pointer dog"
An officer who wants to communicate
with a distant column and doesn't know
precisely where it is to be found, deliv-
ers his message to a Cossack, and dis
misses the matter from his mind; the
Cossack may be trusted. For all the
lighter work of warfare the Cossacks are
worth all the rest of the Russian cavalry
put. together. But they are more agile
than solid; in shock tactics the regular
cavalrymen, poor riders though they are,
surpass them.
The other types of Russian irreguars
deserve a word-the Tcherkesses and the
Turkomans. The former are known to be
sly blOodthirsty, and cruel. like the
bashi- bazouks of the Turkish army. As
for the Turkoman troops, they are a
comparatively new force, and their met
tie is so far INFESTED
With all his virtues the Russian soldier
Is slow of wit. hat is the penalty Rus
STA pays for her niggardly educational
policy toward the moujik. \ country
where reading and writing are race ac-
complishments. where ideas are defined
as something against the government"
may look to have an army of intellectual
sluggards. Army life itself does won
ders in developing the untaught moujik;
it makes OF him a superb fighting ma
chine, of dauntess courage-it is said
that never have Russian troops yielded,
arms in haud-of unique docility, and
technical efficiency. Yet he is to the last
only machine. with little of the stiff
ness and inadaptability proper to ma
chinery.
Says F. V. Greene in Army Life in
Russia "a Russian soldier is most
strong in all staying qualities and weak
in vivacious ones. He goes into battle
enthusiastically, and with lively energy,
but not quite vivaciously; there is more
of grim solemnity in his manner as he
marches forward singing Justify the na-
tional hymn, thoughtless of his fate. He
is at first dull and slow in initia tive and
self-reliance; and it is only after he has
passed through several battles that he
learns by terrible experience the knack
of looking out for hmsel, of taking ad-
vantage OF every shelter, of quickly pro-
tecting himself by intrenching, and all
the other little tricks of battle that may
save a mans live without impairing his
efficiency or detracting from his cour-
age. He instinctively looks for orders and
obeys them with blind instinct without
stopping to question their merit; left TO
his own resources he is almost helpless;
and will often get killed from sheer stu
pldity in standing still and waiting for
an order when everyone is dead who has
the right TO give one
Under clever leadership such stolidity
as this might have its good side. The
Russian soldiers patience. his capacity
for fighting on an empty stomach, his
steadiness under defeat, and adversely
are certainly superb fighting qualities.
Says Greene: Deprived of officers a body
of Russian soldiery may degenerate into
a helpless, inert mass, and be slaugh-
tered by means of their very cohesive
ness. but they will never take a panic"
Unfortunately Russian officers are not
always clever enough to make the most
of the good points of their men They
have plenty of stubborn courage. But
they lack nimbleness of wit. In emer-
gency they are prone to bungle. When
at the surrender of Plevna some 10000
prisoners were suddenly thrown on their
hands the Russians hsrded them out in
the snow to die by the hundreds while
the officers were scratching their heads
II
took three days to get food supplies, and
twelve to complete arrangements for the
march to the Danube twenty miles away!
1t is said that the Russians cannot en-
gineer the passage Of two lines Of bag
gage-trains so that they shall not get
jammed In all matters Of executive de
tail they are far behind the clever Japs.
x is because of the dulness OF the sol
diers of the line that that most interest /
ing branch of the services-the scouts
is established. From each company the
four most intelligent men are singled out |
and sent to the scouting corps, which as /
the Russian regiment is made up Of four
battalions of four companies each. is com
posed of siXty-four men. These lucky /
men are practiced in all the arts and
crafts of the winds. They swim, they
skate. they study woodcraft, they sail, /
they row. they climb they go snow-shoe- !
ing. and bicycling and bear-hunting, they |
learn the use Of map and compass. Ev- |
erything which can make them agile, and 1
and observant and clever 1
at evadins capture is added TO the curri- |
culum. They are the happiest men in the !
whole Russian army
Theoretically the Russian army is all /
male Russians between the ages of twen-
ty-one and forty-three; every man serves /
five years with the colors and fourteen in /
the reserves or militia. IS a matter Of /
fact there are too many Russians to ad- 4
NIT OF carrying out Of the scheme. Ev-
cry year lots are drawn 10 determine
which Of the newly come of age shall
be admitted 10 the regular army. and
which shall pass into the apolchenie, or
militia. But 25oe09 Of the 9eo.O00 who an
nually reach the age of conscription go
into active service. The rest are liable
to a short yearly season OF military
training. and are at cali in case Of war.
On 4 war footing the Russian standing
army numbers night upon two million
men. Add 10 that the reserves and mill
tia upon which Russian could call in eX-
iremity. and you have vast force say
|.e9 oJo, some 55o9.oJa. some 4coe.0eo men.
Russia succeeds by sheer weight OF mass.
1y sheer stubborBness and a thick-head-
"a inability to see when she is beaten.
The coming contest with Japan viii af-
ford the rest Of the world rare test Of
Wit against bulk, OF dexteriry against
nVincihIe determination
LOVE MESSAGES ON RILLsoAROS.