The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-12-28
FIRST CLASS FIGHTING MEN
THE PAGE sETBETHE JAPAEESE
 SOLDIERS.
Australian opinion That They Are More Formidable Than Any of the west ern Nationz,

Formidable Than Any of the west
 ern Nations,
 The Australian does not love the Japanese-there are economic reasons why he shouldn't; so when we find in the sydney Timesg the dictum of .sveteran' that the Japanese are bet ter food for powder and more for midable as soldiers than the men of Western nations, bar none, we con- fess to being impressed. The writer says he realizes it is not a popular view to express, but the efficiency of the Japanese fighting man must be faced and, in the light of what the Japan ese are capable of doing, the short- eomings of the Western soldier must be conceded
 The thoroughness of the Japanese system and the excellence of its hu- man product were recognized, he re- minds us, in the Boxer campaign. During the march to Picking of the allied forces," he says, "the Japanese contingent was. always in front and had to be held back, while the Ameri- cans, physically the finest of the lot and picked veterans from Cuba and the Philippines, were mostly in the rear of all Of the latter one-third went into hospital the day after ar irving in the Chinese capital, against but 5 per cent, of the former" We shall not undertake to say that the lightweight and lightly burdened Japanese soldier is not a better march CT than the American, for the Japanese peasant is known to be one of the best pedestrains in the world by inheri- tance and habit. He comes into the army good marcher and his ability to march Is developed to the limit of endurance. But in justice to the American foot-soldier in China, it should be said that his vital forces bad been impaired by the climatic conditions of the Philippines to which he was not inured. He was often anae- mic and suffered from intestinal trou- 7 bles due to an unsuitable ration.
 Speaking for the British service ''Ve- teran'' admits that Tommy Atkins could not fight at his best on ration of rice and dried fish, and that Brit ish army campaigning against the Jap- anese would find it's conveys of sup ply wagons a costly impeachment to mos bility. Imagine Butler trying to out flank a Kuroki! It is to be feared that an American army would also have to reform it's transportation service be- fore trying conclusions with the Jap anese.
 Coming to another phase of the sub 4on aIr., IL Japanese attack, the writer says The does not believe that either British or American or French or German troops could be got to face inevitable death, as those of the Mikado do. Life is too sweet for us, and has, although many may not admit, too many pleasures nowadays. We have courage, but are too intelligent to commit in battalions what is next door to suicide for the sake of an idea" And then this icono- clast goes on to say that the slaughter in the battles round Liaoyang makes the Boer, Cuban and Philippine cam paign look very small. By comparison they seemso, but those campaigne were fought as they had to be. A Japanese army landed in South Africa would have given a, better account of itself than the British troops did, we have no doubt; but the Asiatics would have found the slim" mobile, straight- shooting Boers more formidable ene- my than the badly organized, ill-equip- ed. heavy-footed and slow-witted Rus sians But it must not be forgotten that the Russians have died as brave- ly. if not as skillful1y, as the Japanese There would be much the same carri- age in a conf1ct between great vest ern armies as has occurred on the bat tlef1elds of the Far East. But it must be admitted that the Japanese, fight ing as they believe for their existence as a nation, have set fast and fierce pace for the white soldier; and the as- saults on the works at Port Arthur prove a tenacity perhaps without a parallel.
 Courage as generally understood, is common to all people, savage or civil lized, who have ideals or creeds, and we are disposed to think that the men of western nations will die as stoutly for love of country as their forefath- CTS in a rlider age. But they may not be as willing as the Japanese tocommit su- eide by battaIions for mere glory. If the white mans reluctance is due to superior intelligence as the effect of his western civilization, let us be glad Of It. for it presages the dawn of an era when the battle-fag will be furled and