The San Francisco call., 1904-02-16

But the companies are nearly twice
the size of ours when in active service,
Numbering on the war footing 24O
men so that a battalion is about a
thousand strong. Besides the 1nfan-
try each division has a regiment of
field or mountain artillery, two battal-
ions of three batteries, six guns in a
battery. 12O men to a battery. The
guns are of japanese invention and
make and are capable of doing fine
work. Each division also has regl-
ment of cavalry such as II IS me
horses of the japanese are very poor
and the men are not specially skllltul
as riders.
Military observers rate the cavalry
as very poor. Certainly it is not near
Iv the equal of the Russian Cossack
force. Each regiment consists OF
three uadrons-troops we should
call them--of about $50 men each.
There is also in each division a bat
talon of engineers, VINO are among
the best soldiers of Japan, very hlShly
trained. Besides these there are the
REGULAR commissariat and supply
trains and the sanitary, or medical
corps. All told, on the war footing,
each division consists of about lo,OOO
men. This makes the fighting line
number about 100000.
In neace the army is hardly half
t1dt size. ENtlN man OlA ASeNNAA'ANO
age of 81 is required to serve with
the colors but there are many eXemp-
tions in peace times. After three
wears with the colors the men go into
the first reserve for five years In war
the Iighting line is at once hlled up 10
the limit from the first reserve. 1t is
this fact which accounts for the con-
fusion of reports now current as to
whether the first reserve has been
called out or not. In part it has, and
in part il is standing by for orders 10
go. What movements of troops there
have been have been conducted very
secretly. For the most part they have
been at night. Not long ago the cap
tain of one of the big London liners
that had been requisitioned for trans
port service spent the night ashore In
Yokohama. In the morning he was
sent for hurriedly to go aboard. On
reaching his ship he found her full or
troops that had been put on in the
night. Immediately the ship sailed
and only the men high in authority
know where she went.
1t is idle to speculate upon what the
movements of the army Will be when
once war is begun. Sooner or later,
however, Korea will undoubtedly be
occupied. Russia cannot prevent that.
The Japanese have the inestimable adj
vantage of a we'll protected interior
line of communication with Korea.
From Moji to Fusan it is only nights
steaming. Midway lies Tsushima, with
its great fortificationS. Flanked on
either side by the Japanese ships the
Russians would have to exert their en-
tire naval strength to force the pas
sage to get at the Japanese transports,
ard it does not seem likely that they
would risk such an engagement. 1t is
popularity believed here that the first
move will be naval. The Japanese
have forbidden newspaper men to ac-
company the first operations, either
naval or land, and have issued very
stringent regulations covering the
case. Commanders of naval stations
or of fleets are empowered to estab-
lish what are termed strategical sea
areas, into which no ship may come
without permission. The captain who
endeavors to enter such an area
against the wish of the commander
may be sent back in charge of an
armed vessel and imprisoned and
fined.
One great advantage the Japanese
navy has is of ineStimable value. There
are three great units-the battleship
squadron. the armored cruiser squad
ron and the cruiser squadron. For
months each squadron has been ma
neuvering by itself. with frequent
grand maneuvers embracing the en-
tire navy. At the naval station at
Takeshiki in Tsushima, twenty tor
pedo vessels have been practicing in
one f1otilla. The result is that every
officer of every vessel knows not only
what his own ship will do under any
given circumstance, but also what
every other ship will do. That intri-
cate and valuable bit of naval infor-
nation, the helm angle of each ship,
is matter of common knowledge. They
can maneuver as well in the dark as
In the light, and If ship is transferred
from one squadron to another she but
comes back to old mates who know
her we'll and no new drill is required
to fit her to the new conditions.