Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-03-22


The total number of horses belong
ing to this force is 5S,152, and the
guns number 684.
The reserves of the regular army
number about $4,000 officers and men,
with some 120 guns. On mobilization,
therefore, Japan's strength for for
eign service would amount roughly to
$4,000 officers and men. For home
defence there would be the territorial
army, numbering some 100000 officers
and men, and the militia, the numbers
of which are not easily arrived at.
Thus, without counting the militia Cor
landstrum), the armed force of Japan
may be estimated at 100000 officers
and men. The st. Petersburg Gaz-
cite in November, 1902, gave the total
fully trained force of Japan as eos, 900.
and that is, if anything, below the
mark, since the militia is estimated
by some to be about 100000.
Service is obligatory in the case of
every able bodied male, without alb
solutely dependent relatives, from the
age Of seventeen to forty years, but
on educational grounds many young
men have their service modified.
They become volunteers, which en-
tails only one years service with
The colors, three months of which
IS in barracks like an ordinary con-
lBcript, and then after eleven and
quarter years in the reserves, they
pass into the territorial army. This
is the system which applies practical
| " to all the better classes, and gradu-
ates of normal schools and teachers
receive even more consideration, do
| ing only six weeks with the colors and
! then at once passing into the terri
torial army. Everything possible is
done to make the minimum of military
| service convenient to the secondary
scholar, the graduate, and the teach
! er, but no one who is physically fit
can entirely escape, and if he tries to
| do so he is placed, as punishment on
the same level as the conscript.
! Drawn by lot, the mass of the army
| enter the service at the rate of $4,000
a year, and 131, 900 others are drafted
into the two bodies of supernumerar-
les, the first entailing seven and one
/ third years service and the second
] only fifteen months, after which the
/ men in both join the great territorial
army, the ordinary conscript who has
/ to go with the colors passes three
years in the regular army, four years
1 fr hn I<ar
reserves, five years in the second re-
serves and then enters the depot SER
!! vice for seven and one-half years, &C
cording to circumstances, and eventu-
ally passes into the territorial army
for the remaining years up to the age
of forty. The cost to Japan of its
regular army is less than $19,000,000
/ a year. which makes it no heavy
| weight for the nation to carry.
Pleased with his lot, the japanese
| soldier is the smallest and not the
| least muscular in tie world. Like
the American soldier, he does most
thiags at the double quick. and so car
riess out a movement far more rapidly
| than the heavier and less agile Euro
paan. He is said, also, to have won
| derful powers of endurance. The Of
fcers have the same hardy character
| isties of the men they command. And
most of them are in the army be-
cause they are proud to be there. Even
a general on service is paid only 5000
a year. and on retirement gets but
eI50 to e220, while a colonel is re
compensed with e23S. and on retire
ment has e112 A captain receives
e71. and on leaving the army s45.
When an officer is not actually ser
wing his pay is reduced by one half.
His uniform costs little and he
wears it always. and he is freed from
all mess. band, sport or other out
lays. and devotes himself with an alb
solute singleness of purpose to his
military career. Every officer serves
at least six months in the rangs, after
undergoing a course at one of the six
preparatory schools. and then passes
on to the Central Preparatory Mill
tary School, where he remains two
years He is then promoted 70 sub
ensign, but his course is not clear. for
he cannot be raised to be second lieu
tenant (pay ES4 q year, without the
consent of aIl the other officers OF the