The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-07-27

Probable engagements often Re-
hearsed-Her Readiness FOR war.
Wiring from 00,' reads a typical
printed dispatch, Admiral Togo re
ports etc. Where, everybody is curl
GUS to know, is "OOT Russia is puz-
zle1 about it. SO short is the time be.
tween appearances of ships of Pori
Arthur that it is plain some base not
on Japanese territory has been estab-
lished from the first. Moji is the obvi-
GUS base, says the New York Post S
| special correspondent AS you sail In
to the strait you see miles Of huge con.
ical piles of coal, uncovered. Long be-
fore the break III "the negotiations
! stores had been accommodating there.
and. although there are coal mines d
little way inland, quarter of mil
lion tons Of Welsh coal were imported
for operations that would require fast
steaming. Aloji, however. is not here
the squadrous III the Yellow sea arc
coaling and provisioning. III one reads
the dispatches Of the admirals with III.
tention he viii observe that the sun
mentioned place, the 'rendezyons.
the "OO,' is for torpedo boats only
seventeen hours steaming distance
from the mouth 81 tile harbor which
has been so long subject TO attack.
One could give good guess as 70
where "0Os is q saw the cable ship
laying wiresl, but ii does not seem fair
to look over a shoulder ana give away
the mans hand All that can be said
is chat 200" Is OFF Korea ana is III is
land with an English name. Its selec
ton and the secrecy of It's maintenance
are part Of the strategy Of the naval
campaign The more one learns OF Thar
strategy the higher one regards tile
forehandedness, the planning power
and mastery OF execution possessed bv
this suddenly awakened people.
When Japan was desp0iled of her
fruits Of conquest in tile China war
by three European nations She saw.
first that she needed a European ally
70 offset color prejudice and, second
that she needed to measure her capaei-
ties against the most Immediately AZ
gressive Of the white nations. one
morning the world was astonished 10
hear Of the treaty with England.
Japan went forward then with re.
newed energy and decision. While we
in America, up to the very charge Of
the torpedo boats at Port Arthur, were
more than hopeful that there would be
no war. Japan was ready and eager.
For at least three years She had been
training building, maneuvering, study
ing, testing herself for conflict. and
Russia was more ignorant Of it than
Che rest of The world
Port Arthur, Hardin, yladivostok,
these made the strategic tfiangle. All
attention, all ingenuity. was brought
TO bear On how TO assam Port Arthur
how 70 deal with the fleets there and
at Vladivostok, how to assist the army
to cross the Yan The minutest de
tails were worked out and then prac
tieed. Ships were grouped as they
would lie for action and their com
manders learned the neeuliarltes Of
vessels they would operate with Tie
probable fights were fought over asd |
over Every nam knew liz heart the !
part lie would have 70 take The els
eipllne was strict Aien were praised |
or blamed according as they played |
the mimic game. II as once happened, |
a squadron did not successfully inter
cept squadron representing tho
enemy tit 4 prcarranged spot, the com.
manding officer WAS called to explain |
his failure. Always after series IF
eyolutions there would be general |
consultation and discussions among |
the commanders % learn wherein the
tactics might be improved
Officers gave themselves wholly to
their duties No books OF fiction. no
illustrated papers, were permitted IN
their libraries. only technical treatises
and professional works con the Rus
sian ships at Fort Arthur there were
pingpong tablesJ The proficiency be-
came great One day, for instance, the
navy Office in Tokyo. by wireless teleg
raphy, started ship out Of one hGs
Dor, guided her thirty miles out to sen
and brought her back to different
harbor This was done by giving com
mands for steering The commands
were received, blindly obeyed and the
ship perfectly navigated. as though the
general staff were IN person on her
bridge instead Of nearly 200 miles IN
land, around table IN the second
story Of a brick building.
Probably no cruisers Of the same di
mensions have been built as FIST as
Japan bRilt some recent ones. Amert
cans have taken nearly four years IA
ready 70 build The cruiser Denver Thc
Japanese are able to tnrp ont one III
the same class In tie government wares
IN two years and a month Moreover
they have q get most Of the materials
from abroad
As TO how perfectly ready she was
there IS this evidence Of the stations of
her men-ef-war on Feb. and the con
aition Of her shipyards: All first class
battleslsips, al armored cruisers. six
second class cruisers, two third class
cruieers and all seventeen torpedo
boat destroyers were at Sasebo. the
port nearest to the Russian bases
I