The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-01
SERIOUS PROBLEM
 CONFRONTS ARMY How Can Railroad Support the
 Immense Army? RUSSIANS ARE WORRIED The Further North kuropatkln Re- treats the Further He Is From
 the Rich Crops of Cen
 traI Manchuria. .S 
RUSSIANS ARE WORRIED

General Kurokis Headquarters in the Filed Undated. via. Tien Tsin, septem- Der So.--(Evening 1.-The most interesting military preolem nt present Is HOW largo Russian army the railway can support in Manchuria. While the army is south of Harbin, almost all the necessary food supplies can be obtained in the country, but the farther north 1t goes the more 1t must depend on the railroad while at the same time the Japanese will gain an advantage by having an increased area to draw from.
 The richest section of Manchuria is the country of which Liao Yang Is the prin- cipal market, and the crops in that sec tion are unually large. Merchants who are acquainted with the country believe that if General Kuropatkin should re- treat to Harbn, he must then bring near ly every pound of food by means of the railroad. especially as this years crop in the Sungari valley has proved a fail- ure. Besides this every horse for the Russian commander must be brought over the railway.
 
 If winter campaigning is attempted, on which point there Is much speculation. 1t will become increasingly difficult after December because t.-e ground freezes to so great a deptl as render entrenching operations impossible.
 The organization of the Japanese army continues to be as efficient 1t has been since the beginning of the campaign. Most of the troops were equipped with winter clothing when the first cold weather and snow arrived, and khaki has been replaced by heavier material with remarkable quickness.
 The railroad will be operated to Liao Yang within a week, and through trains will be running to the front from Dalney and New Chwang.
 The harvesting is progressing slowly in the fields in front of the Japanese army, and to the southward. Thousands of Chinese are employed as teamsters and coolles by the Japanese army; there is. therefore. a great scarcity of labor, and as a result many of the crops are neglected.
 The thick millet which has been a great factor in the movement of both armies has nearly all been reaped, and there is now little more than bare plains
 Crops Little Damaged. The correspondent of the Associated Press on the road from Liao Yang to New | Chwang found that surprisingly little | damage had been done to the grain, con- | sidering that two great armies had fought over the country, while with the | exception of a few buildings which had been burned in the Russian settlement at | Liao Yang there were small evidences | of destruction.
 The reports which charged the Japanese troops with footing at Liao Yang were greatly exaggerated. The footing done al Liao Yang was insignificant, and com pared with the footing at Tien Isln ana Pelin by foreign troops In l9oo IS not worthy of mention ,r,. Conditions at Mukden are pad. lhere are 3O 900 refugees there without resources and in the deepest poverty. The Iartar general is conducting a relleI system .o l which the dowager empress or hussiah has contributed.
 A committee for the relief of destitute | Chinese throughout Ma1shuria has been organized with Henry E. Miller, ,ne American consul general at New Chwang' as chairman. m, ,
 Missionaries are again active. The Japa- | nese authorities are assisting them. ana have permitted all the missionaries to re- | turn to their posts.