The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-18

Indianapolis roll-top desk. an ordinary ! kitchen table and half a dozen hard. bottom chairs. The table Is covered with maps and charts, and upon the l wall is a rack of beautiful Japaness l cabinet work divided Into narrow lit.
 tie siits, each of which contains a piece
 of cardboard inscribed with Japanes,
 characters. While no foreigner or othe,
 person unacquainted with the Japa.
 nese language can appreciate or under. | stand the signifinance and importance | of this curious arrangement, to Koda. | ma and Fukushina 1t means every. | thing. Each slip of pastehoard repre-. sents a regiment; each line of com. | partments a brigade, each block oi lines d division, and the entire rack stands for the Japanese army in Man.
 churia. Over the wires every morning
 come reports of the location and fight. ing strength of the different regiments
 and the little strips of cardboard ir
 this curious arrangement arc changed accordingly. so that by a single glance Baron kodama can see what troops
 are available and where they are To- cated.
 In the drawer of the table Is another chart not visible to the ordinary visitor
 upon which is kept as accurately as possible similar representation of the strength and location of the Rus
 sian armies. based upon information received daily from the spies and scouts which the Japanese have sta toned in every village and hamlet throughout all Manchuria, Probably
 no army ever employed such complete and comprehensive facilities for ob- tainirg accurate information of the movements and condition of the ene- nf -e Ever since the war with China in 1895. Manchuria has been swarming
 with Japanese secret service agents
 disguised as merchants, traders. ser
 wants, beggars, laborers and in other | occupations. And the organization is
 so perfect that the head of the secret
 service department knows the where
 abouts of each spy at all times. Many
 of them have lived In Manchuria for
 seven. eight or nine years and have
 become so thoroughly acclimated that their nearest neighbors and most inti-
 mate friends do not suspect but what they are genuine Chinese But most Of them are picked men sent into Man churia for purpose. which is now being accomplished. Some years ago friend of mine saw ten young men, apparently Chinese, studying drawing and sketching in an art school at To- kio, and remarked upon their pres ence to the director. who was an inti mate friend. The latter explained that they were all Japanese soldiers from the secret service department who had adopted the Chinese dress and had grown pigtails in order that their na- tionality might not be detected, and that they were learning to sketch in order that their reports might be more uaAfnl n fha af spies have been discovered and hanged. but undoubtedly many other ardent young patriots are working undetected within the Russian line today. and their vigilance and shrewdness has been one of the most important factors in the success of the Japanese.
 The Japanese have been preparing for the war ever since Russia robbed them of Port Arthur and the other fruits of their victories over the Chi nese in 1895. For ten years the pres ent campaign has been fought over and over at the school of the general staff where the game of war known as kreigspiel. invented by the Germans, has been developed to high degree of perfection. At the German war col lege. and at a similar institution re- gently organized at Washington, it is the habit of the students to carry on wars like games of chess in different parts of the earth, but the students at the war college of Japan have con tinued their practice to Manchuria and Korea, and Russia has always been the opposing force. Not only has every coast line and every stream and every valley and every mountain in Manchu- ria and Korea been surveyed, but hun dreds of officers in the Japanese army have gone over them again and again and know them perfectly. They know every road and every mountain path. They are familiar with every well and stream, and they know the condition of every village and hamlet and have personal acquaintance with many of the inhabitants. During the last ten years thousands of Japanese army of ficers have spent months in Manchuria and Korea, under one pretext or an- other, making themselves familiar with the country in anticipation of this war. No army was ever better equipped in information.
 A story has been going the rounds of the English and American newspaper about an officer of the general staff of Japan who was bribed by Russian agents to betray his country. The story makes him a colonel on duty at head quarters and familiar with the records plans and purposes of General Kodama and his associates. There is a woman