The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1904-02-26
A Factor In the Far East.

| since been widely recognized as one
| Of the most distinguishing traits of this
| most remarkable peOple-the readiness
to yield life itself if by the death Of
! the individual good will accrue to the
commonwealth. But self sacrifice alone
cannot account for the progress Japan
has made. nor, for that matter, can
| the faculty for imitation which the
| japanese possess to so great a degree
| Their adaptability TO western civiliZd-
| ton, their willingness to accept the
novel in the place of the customary,
| their amenability to discipline all Of
which have become proverbial in speak
ing Of Japan-in a word, their liberal
ity is due TO their innate quickness in
the direction of mental initiative.
1t was the ChinO-JapaneSe war of
1S94-95 that first aroused the civilized
world to lively interest in the doings
Of the Land of the Rising Sun. Nearly
everybody predicted when the war be
gan that the aggressive little bantam
would speedily be crushed by the sheer
weight of the unwieldy old rooster, but
few took into account the fact that u
nation that has just come into its own
is much more likely to be able TO take
care of itself than are Il people decay
ing under the obsolete rule of an effete
dynasty.
Not only are the japanese soldiers
brave and well disciplined, but they
are also blessed with great agility and
a physical strength that one would not
expect In such mites Of humanity.
Their strength, as may be imagined.
was time and again tested during that
trying march in the summer of 1900.
Their agility was at all times in evil
dence, but perhaps never more so than
during the stOrming of Tientsin.
Quiet, orderly, polite, earnest-such
are some more Of the qualities of these
same tiny warriors who never fail to
salute the officers Of every natiOn. en-
dure without fnurmur all that military
life entails, accept thankfully their sti-
pend of $3.50 d month and can live AMI
thrive on a diet in which rice is the
prevailing staple. and little enough Of
that. Yet the japanese soldier does
not retrOgrade into mere lighting ma
chine. He knows how to think. lie
knows how to act as occasion demands.
In the individual. as in the race. is
found that faculty which works so
largely for the greatness of a nation
the faculty of mental initiative.
The Russian Army.
And now for glance 1T the other
side of the picture. 1t would be futile
to contend that the Russian army is
not one of the most powerful war en-
gines the world has ever seen. Equally
absurd would it be TO hesitate to adj
NIT that the Russian soldier, from the
old world Unprecedented standpoint. is
not one of the best that military science
is capable of producing.
Russia has the greatest army on
earth. 1t consists Of over 100000
men in times Of peace, which may cas-
fly be increased TO 100000 in the
event OF war. The magnitude Of the
cars military establishment may be
realized If one considers the fact that
the Russian army even on a peace foot
ing contains more officers alone than
the American army has of both officers
and men.
On a peace footing, as at present
constituted. the armies OF the car are
made up Of about 81 per cent infantry.
II per cent cavalry, IA per cent artil-
lery, 8 per cent engineers, per cent
cOmmissariat and departmental troops
and 8 per cent Cossacks. These pro-
portions give but little idea, however,
Of the relative Importance of the va
rious arms Of the service. While by no
means the largest numerically, the
most conspicuous and effective portion
Of the army is the cavalry, together
with the kindred though irregular
body Of troops known as the COssacks.
In fact, Russia places chief reliance
on her war horses. OF these there are
100000 in the empire that have had
actual training in the army and that
can be requisitiOned in case of emer-
gency for cavalry duty.