New-York tribune., 1904-09-27
THE CZ4R'S NEW ARMY.

Tho Gar has ordered the formation Of sec
ond army in East Asia. which, II is reasonably
assumed is 10 double the numbers and strength
Of his forces In that region. The plan Is com
mendable one If Russia is 10 fight tn" war
ont. for nothing Is more evident than that NJ
present the Cars army there is greatly out
numbered by the Mikados. The question. then.
concerns not the need OF another army nor the
wisdom Of sending H. but rather the possibility
Of seudsug II and maintaining 1t.
There have been all sorts of estimates Of the
Russian strength at the outbreak of the war.
Perhaps that Of Mr.. ii. W. Wilson, the Well
known military writer is "a much entitled to
respect as any. He calculated that at the end
Of February last there were 100000 Russian
soldiers east OF Lake Baka of whom l2o,~oo
were available for campaigning in the field.
Russians then said they could and would send
1000 renforcements daily. Late in May Prince
Khkoff the Minister Of Railroads, said that.
so far. he had been able 10 send out only six
railroad trains a day for all purposes, but ne
hoped sOou 10 be able 10 send nine. Of which
six would be for military uses. one for mails ana
civilian passengers and two for general freight.
Now each train is supposed to consist OF TWEEN
ty-fve cars. each car carrying forty soldiers.
Then the six trains would carry 5000 men a
day, and In the last three months $4,000 sol
diers should have been transported or enough
10 Outnumber the japanese. Yet last weel,
Russians were quoted saying they had no
more troops there than six months ago. The new
levies having been sufficient only to make good
current losses,
The explanation of this apparent contradiction
doubtless lies in the fact that II has been i'm
possible 10 devote anything like so many ears
10 the carrying OF soldiers. and also In this
that il takes long time for train 10 make
the across the continent. That auth0rita-
tive journal France Militaire' has recently
reckOned that army of 100000 men and
10000 horses needs 1000 tons Of food daily
To carry that amount of freight abou, l75 ears
would have to be used. That would mean seven
trains or twenty-five ears each or one train
more than the entire number which Prince
KhkOff Hoped al most. 10 he able TO give 70
military purposes. SO that with such an army
a. the front dependent upon Russia for supplies.
the railroad wonld he fully occupied with carry
ing food 10 it without having room for a single
soldier. Now. il is 10 be supposed that the army
can get good deal of food I'm Manchuria and
Transbaikalla: nevertheless ii seems likely that
enough has Ia be brought from Russia to inter
fere materially with the capacity of the rail
road for carrying troops and II IS, Of course
perfectly evident that the more troops there are
in East Asia the fewer reinfOrcements can be
sent TO them No wonder the japanese have
~ '"iiiu'H'l! iT'hohtu lnal an army OF -JooOO
men IS all Russia can maintain east of Lake
Baikal. Again. il is 10 be observed that 4 new
Russian army of anything like 100000 men
would comprise AT least seven army corps A
Russian army corps contains 41 900 men, 900
horses 3.'lT wagons and 124 guns. To trans
port s1lch corps would require 216 railroad
trains of twenty-five cars each and II these
we're sent out AT the maximum rate Of six a dav
they would require thirty-six days for Dispatch
Ing. ard as about six weeks are CONSUMED in
transit they would largely monopolize the rail-
road for two aud half months. To transport
the whole seven cOrDs would take more than
nine months SO that If the Car begins sending
General Grippennerg's big army Mt once. It WI
be Jrly. ifp'' oelore It is all in the field!
The completion Of the circum- Baikal railroad