The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-07
1.-THE PORT ARTHUR CAMPAIGN.

os the main defences, close to the CITY,
have been taken. What are known as
tho outer works extend distance OF
thirty miles from Port Arthur TO KIN
chow and Dalny, and consist OF re-
doubts. more or less heavily armed
cro1vning the tanest hilltops and sup
rorting each other. Nanshan, near
Kinchow. commanded that walled town
from one side and a Dalny fortihcatl5h
bu;lt by the Chinese and possibly dls-
,,antIed during the war of 1S94-95, from
another. Behind Nanshan, in the ol-
rection of Port Arthur, are more re-
doubts and these have fallen into the
hands of the japanese without bringing
the latter, however, within siege-gun
range of the main fortress. Quite like
ly General Oku will push his advan-
tage and, in a short time, plant MS
heavy artillery where it can send mis-
siles into the central works.
The Port Arthur garrison will then De
in a. desperate plight; for with the guns
nj che enemy's fleet at work in the
CHING and those of the eneTuy's land
forces at work in the back country
there will be no safe place outside the
b,mbproofs. Shells should be abIe--so
email ia Port Arthur-to reach every
mart of it's surface area. The only re-
lief from Them will be in the raising Oh
the siege by a. Russian relief force or IN
a successful sortie, neither of which is
feared by the japanese, whose numbers
and supplies are being steadily aug
mented.
TT seems probable that the reduction
of Port Arthur will be accomplished by
q siege. The main forts there are
among the strongest in the world ana
to carry them by assault, if that We're
nossible. would entail an enormous loss
of life. A siege, under all the circum-
stances, need not necessarily be long;
for when an army is cooped UP IN
small space, subjected to the nerve
hacking experience of a Commandment
and living on canned goods, sickness
encouragement and surrender follow IN
rapid course. Most accounts agree that
the Russian garrison is not we'll pro-
visioned; and the stories told by refugee
foreigners from Port Arthur about the
damage done by the shells OF Togo
feet, prove how open Port Arthur is
to such attack and how expert the
Japanese have become in high-angle
firing.
Meanwhile the tactics of the Russians
in the north of Liaotong are the old
ones of retreat. Kuropatkin has asked
for reenforcements and is going to meet
them in the expectation, when his army
is made large enough, of advancing
south in overwhelming force. He does
not seem to have at his disposal, out
side of Port Arthur and Vladivostok'
not including the railway guards, more
than 100, 900 men. He talks as if he ex-
pected half million; but it must be
that he will get no more
men than the railway and the Hardin
mills can feed. The food capacity OF
the line will serve about 100000 and
EIarbin with it's flour mills, may pro-
vide for $4,000 more. But japan, if she
sends her depot troops to the mainland,
filling their places at home with the
veteran reserves, can place 100000 men
at the threatened points and keep them
weli-supplied with ammunition and
food. Back of them are at least $4,000
drilled Chinese troops who are eager to
aid the Japanese and who may be called
on to attack the Russians on the flank;
and in the event of an open alliance,
the surplus food resources of China will
be at the disposal of the japanese field
1t is impossible at this juncture and
under all the circumstances, to see how
Russia can hope to win. Unless the I'M
expected happens in the way of land
victories, we shall soon see Russia in
the market for allies, seeking by the
bugaboo of the Yellow Peril to get the
active support, as she did in 1895, of
Germany ana rTdIfte. ouI aS NSi iiiShAiS
md France we'll know, the international
situation has changed. England must
be reckoned with and it is within the
power of England, if she goes to war,
10 seize every Asiatic port at which
French ard German warships could
coal, thus protecting Japan from an
a assault on her sea-power. On land the
question of reenforcements, domestic or
foreign. is controlled by the food-car-
Tying capacity of the singIe-track rail-
road.
Mr.. Hogs discovery of graft at the