Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-03-23
JApAM's MILITARY HERO
Baron Kaneko's Estimate of
 Field Marshal Oyama.
BOTH AN ORGANIZER AND FIGHTER

sixty-one Years old, Tall and stout,
 of Few Words, but . Delightful Personality - He h . Na9niAcent
 and Daring Strategist-The Modern
 Japanese Army h Largely Due to
 His Creation.
 Baron Kaneko, the eminent Japanese statesman who came to the United States on a mission for his emperor, has long known Marquis Oyama, the commander in chief of the Japanese army. When recently interviewed in New York the baron spoke as follows to representative of the New York World about his friend and former col league:
 Marshal Oyama has been a soldier all his life. I know him well, having been his colleague for several years in the cabinet He comes of fighting stock. being of the Satsuma clan and the descendant of centuries of samu- raj. Tradition gave him the instincts of the soldier, and his education de- veloped them. The Japanese army of today is largely his creation.
 Unlike most Japanese, the Marquis Oyama is a big man. He is tall. broad shouldered, deep chested and inclined to stoutness. He is in his official rela. tons man of few words. but in soci- ety most genial and charming, fond of wit, with delicious sarcasm and a great fund of humor. In his home or at any entertainment he is always the center of group of bright men, off, cers of the army, foreign diplomats and men of learning. These are the men whom he attracts and holds by his delightful personality.
 'He is man of tremendous fore sight-always looking ahead and sec ing what will be necessary to do al- most as if he had prophetic vision. He Is, think. sixtyone years old, so he was about twenty four in 1868, when he took part in the war for the restora- tion of the emperor After that war he rose steadily in military rank and travelled great deal in foreign coun- tries. In the years between 1880 and 1889 he was in the cabinet large part of the time. While he was minister of war with Count katsura, the pres ent premier, as vice minister, they be- tween them organized the Japanese army on modern basis-organized it as it is today. When the first parlia- ment met in 1890 it was necessary to lay before it the complete army scheme in all its details in order that the representatives of the people might know what it was to cost. This stupen- dous task he and Count katsura finished well before the time. which illustrates what capacity for organization he had.
 There are many great soldiers who are splendid organizers, but not much use as actual fighters. Marshal Oya- ma is not one of these. He is fine, practical fighter, as his campaigns against China and Russia show; a mag nificent and daring strategist and a man of great personal bravery. He has the valuable faculty of gathering about him men of high character and ability, of inspiring them and getting them to work together without friction. His personal staff in the present war is the best illustration of this. Nogi, Kuroki, Nodzu and the others were all his personal selection, and no finer staff could have been gathered. This quality of choosing his subordinates in order that the right man may be al ways in tue right place extends down through the whole army. Oyama knows his officers and knows how to place them where they can do the most effective work. Thus, under him. the army is like perfect pyra- mid, with Marshal Oyama at the top. the generals under him, the officers and noncommissioned officers in their several grades. and. lastly, the base of the common soldiers.
 He. like every other man in the ar my, has ever before his eyes the seven precepts which his majesty the em- peror laid down in his edict of Jan. 4. 1882. You know. the Japanese army has the emperor as its general in chief, and the royal family, including the em- press. only below him. So his edicts are the army's law. In the edict have mentioned the emperor directed that on the walls of the barracks and on the sides of the tents. at the foot of every soldiers cot. a printed copy of the sev- en moral principles should be hung in order that the last thing the soldier