The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-03-20
JAPANESE ARMY fine BODY OF MEN


as well as transporting himself. Any
ono who has seen Japanese coolie
with bare body at work his muscle as
firm under his brown skin as If il were
bronze. knows that for his weight no
race can give the japanese odds in
strength. Look over the ranks of any
regiment and you viii never find
spndlestick. At 20 the Japanese reach
the sOlidity of maturity which goes
with p or IS in other races. Best Of
all. Nippon Denji is a small target The
bullet that would go through the throat
Of a tall man goes over his head. As
a sailor. his size means more coal and
gun space. An Occidental cannot stand
up i'm his engine room and bumps his
head between decks.
The Soldier a Hero.
If there is any chivalry in your heart.
Nippon Denji will find H. / have been
his neighbOr now for ten days He
owns the land. but does not seem to
claim il. Hot water makes him near to
gOdliness. He is always washing, as
he may TO his hearts content in this
land of moisture. Your reservist's
trousers may not fit. he may be able TO
tell which is seat and which is front
only by technical inspection: but they
are speckless and his face shines with
soap. For rest he plays in water. You
may sleep elbow to elbow with him,
feeling that he is as clean as YOU are.
Rich and poor alike welcome him as
guest whom the government billets.
Well-tO-do Japanese friend Of mine had
a dozen soldiers i'm his house. The gov
eminent official paid him Sl.25 for lodg-
ing. OF course, the Nippon Denjis re-
ceiyed this back in tobacco. They need
not shoot the Russians out of AIanchu-
ria; they will go there with cigarettes
enough to smoke the mout. The wo-
men of Japan are playing the same
part in this war as their foreign sisters
have in Others. While the emperor de
votes the bullion and plate IN the palace
to the war fund the sweethearts and
wives throw their pin money into the
common Golfer and lay aside Injuries
from their tables for Nippon Denji.
To me the Undying source OF wonder
is how Nippon Denji manages TO efface
himself. He owns the land and en-
forces his ownership with politeness
and modesty. Mobilization with war
ahead has come to be a synonym for
kind Of riotous possession at which
patrols have winked from time imme-
mortal. Going forth TO die. the foibles
OF the fighting man are overlooked In
a town of tiny houses Of wood and pa
per in narrow streets. booted warriors
should produce some of the havoc of
the bull in the china shop. 1t is the
Japanese art of using feet and hands.
his industrious habit of keeping out of
mischief by washing. the diversion Of
chatting with his host and thanking all
the world for the sweetmeats and to-
bacco that il brings the expedition and
quietness with which he is moved here
and there. which makes him already
seem a part of Toxic rather than an
overwhelming visitor on an epOchal Oc-
casion.
All Anxious to Learn.
He is lined up in the narrow streets
and put through a limited drill without
confusion until he marches away to
Shimbashi station TO be entrained. How
any one who looks at a line Of these
sturdy men can think Of the japanese
as play soldiers is past understanding.
. The square Jaws. the high cheek bones,
the bronze tightly drawn skin, even
the expression of the slant eyes as they
guide on the line bespeak the other side
Of Japan the military side. Nippon
Denji is more than picturesque: he IL
] martial looking. Without exactly de-
filming how. YOU feel that war is TO his
taste. This PEOPLE are proud of their
physical vigor and their proves. not
( Of their art products The so-called
femininity OF the nation. at the very
point where !. seems most essentially
CHARACTERS ic. brs AXIS into masculin-
ity that is Spartan.
Your samural Of the feudal days
might go from an elaborate tea cere-
mony TO commit suicide by hari-kari
with GOODNESS. WniCh has no parallel
in any other land The samural youth,
WHO studied the arrangement of flow
ers in the morning, might in the after
noon eat rice soaked with fresh blood
to show his fortitude. The Russian
towering over the Japanese-even a.
the barbarous tribes that Caesar con-
-. -
not as military looking as his antag-
onist. Glance i'm at a shop window or
at a passing jinrikisha. and YOU see in
the flesh the delicate women painted
on the screens and fans II is they who
bear a race of men who. new 10 me
chanical civiliza ton. manning modern
battleships, spring toward action in
frozen seas with spirit equaled only
by their skill. who on land are to face
in snowbOund mountain passes a Wig
orous northern race.
No Confusion There.
The front of the station is the same
as in times of peace. Except for the
troop trains that he passes the average
passenger would not know that any
thing unusual il going on. But go to
the rear and side Of the stone building
at Shimbashi ard i'm the little yard
by the freight platform YOU see where
all Inc N0ik - tbi. " AIFfHNt us
Watchers Office is occupied by an off,
Ger: a row Of feed boxes TANKS one side
Of the Enclosure. and a pump proclaims
that the Nippon Denji may wash his
hands once more before he entrains.
The Enclosure is never crowded. There
is a method. almost a leisurely meth
cd. 8 bout everything. which. in the end.
thanks 20 years OF calculation. amounts
TO rapidity scarcely appreciated. be-
cause IL has none Of the signs of haste.
Detachments are brought in only as fast
as they can be entrained. Tonight /
saw a company of sappers and miners.
which had come in from some distance
out OF town on a rainy day, waiting in
one OF the main streets. Their heaviKy
laden pack ponies formed a line block
in length. These Nippon Dennis had a
busy washday before them, for their
coats were sheeted with mud. There
they would remain, snow or rain, till