The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-06-07
SOLDIERS OF THE CAR
Former Russian Sergeant De-
scribes Their Life and Traits.
FEARLESS AND EVER READY TO DIE

FEARLESS AND EVER READY TO DIE
TheodOr Dobrolubon Likens Russia
to a Cat Playing With a Mouse;
When 1t Springs, Japan Is Crushed,
He Says-Declares the Army II Hot
bed of Corruption and Tells How
RatiOns of the Soldiers.
Theodor Dobroluboff, an ex-Russian
soldier in Cleveland, O., who was aided
while in a penniless condition by Isaac
Spectorsky, superintendent of the
Council Educational alliance of that
city, was drawn out the other day by
Mr.. S~pectorsky to tell Of the strength
Of the cars army and of the daily
life Of the soldiery. This is the story
which Dobroluboff, six years a soldier
Of the car, told a reporter of the
Cleveland Plain Dealer through an in
terpreter:
Il came from the province Of Kiev,
in Russia. My home was in Tetieff, a
town of 5000 population. In the Rus
sian army l held the rank of 'feldebel,'
the first remove above the private and,
l think, possibly the equivalent of
what you call the sergeant here. My
friend tells me you want to know how
we lived when we protected what
the other nations are pleased to call
the great BEAR We hardly lived at
all, and vet the Russian soldier is
hardy, and l cannot help believing that
the army to which l belonged will yet
conquer Japan.
"Why? My friend, l will tell you
why. The soldiers who serve the car
know not the name Of fear. They will
hurl themselves in the face of certain
death with as little concern as you will
go to your supper this evening. There
are so many Of them that if a Calling
gun were turned on them a thousand
times and they were mown down like
swaths Of hay there would always be
others to fill up the ranks instantly.
The cars soldiers are not towards,
my friend. They would laugh like
mad if told that any nation on earth
could conquer them. They are always
ready to die, but never tt submit to
q foreign power ... !
"No, my friend, the Russian bear
let us call it a cat for the moment-the
cat but plays with the mouse before
crushing it.
ut is true that the Russian soldier
is i'll paid and ill treated. 1t is also,
true that he is compelled to become a
soldier, but nee enlisted his country
is his life. The blood Of generations
of patriots surges in his heart beat.
The Russian soldiers pay is 221la cents
a month, about two-thirds of a cent q,
day. This is the stipend of the infan-
tryman; the. cavalryman gets about
45 cents a month.
"The Russian army is a hotbed of
corruption. Every transaction. great
or small, involves rakeoffs of several
kinds and shades. The common SOL
der is allowed two meals a day, one
In the middle of the day, when he gets
%'borshtch,' something like cabbage
soup. and another in the evening. The
soldier is allowed black bread, but he
has to eat it when it is half baked in
order that his superior may get a rake.
off. The army is allowed flour enough
to make bread weighing a certain
amount. The bread weighs much heav-
Ter when it is half done than it does
when properly baked, and the superior
sells the rest of the flour and pockets
the rakeoff. If any of the black bread
Is left over it is made into zwiebach
and again fed to the soldiers instead Of
the fresh bread which they are entitled
to. Thus the officer gets a little more
money. The government allows each
soldier d half pound Of meat a day.
The superior officer gives each man a
quarter of a pound and keeps the mon
ey placed in his hands for the purchase
the other quarter. The breakfast
consists of cold water and a piece of
dry black bread. f.
"Each officer connected with the
army makes it a point to steal every
thing provided by the government for
the soldier except barely enough to
keep him alive. l knew of one officer
who was honest. He started to deal
squarely with the soldiers. and he was
driven out of the army in disgrace.
When his brother officers saw that he
was unlike themselves they set traps
him, lied about him, and it was not
long until the state officials at st. Pc
tersburg thought him the worst rascal
IN the Russian army. He was the only
honest man l yer knew in his posi-
and his name is a byword in Rus
STA now, if it is spoken at all. His own
relatives turned against him, and not
one OF them would mention his name
when he left Russia in disgrace.
''The uniform allowed the common
soldier the first three years consists of
coat, trousers, boots and e~vercoat, all
Did and worm. After the third year he
gets a new but cheap uniform. Each
year he is allowed two shirts, two pairs