Arizona republican., 1905-03-12
PHOENIX. AR1z.. MARCH F. 1905.
RussIa's Browning Disaster.


 Although the full details of the ten days battle around Mukden can not be learned by the outside world for some days to come, 1t is apparent from the news this morning that an overwhelm- ing disaster has befalIen General Ku- ropatkin and his magnificent army. It is not a mere defeat, such as was suf- fered at the Yalu river. at Nanshan hlll, at Liao Yang and at the Shakhe river. At Nanshan. although the Rus sians were decisively beaten. they were able to retire in good order to the for tifications of Port Arthur. And at Liao Yang and the Shakhe. Kuropatkin was able to retreat in such splendid form that the victories for the Japanese were practically barren
 But the battle of Mukden, as 1t is likely to be shown in history. has not resulted in a mere defeat for the sol diers of the czar. They have been hurled from their entrenchments and overwhelmed. Their retreat at this writing seems to be a rout, such as modern history has not recorded. The stupendous proportions of the Japan csc victory will probably amaze the world, when all the facts are known. The brief dispatches from the front have told of hordes of demoralized Russians, wildly fleeing to the north ward, the Japanese assailing them with machine guns. shrapnel and rifle fire. Such a sickening slaughter Of human beings is calculated to cause a shudder in the remotest parts of the earth.
 This battle. which is not yet finished, presents horrors which the experts have been telling us would be impos- sible under present-day conditions. They have asserted that long-range arms would make fighting at close quarters a thing of the past, and that battles would be notable for the spec tacular artillery duels rather than for high mortality. Artillery duels, and rifle duels at long range there have been in abundance during the Man churian campaign, but the experts have not taken note of the necessary conse- quences when one army is beaten and thrown into a panic by another. It is then that the long range guns. with their shrapnel, and the machine guns. with their hideous death music and ceaseIess rain of bullets. make war a literal hell.
 In the great battles of the Napoleon ic era, and in our own civil war. the beaten army, always able to travel as fast as it's pursuers-excluding the factor of cavalry-could hope quickly to get out of range of the pursuing hosts, for the smoke of battle usually enabled the defeated forces to get a good start of the victors. But the rifles of today. with a deadly range of two miles, and the great guns, throw ing shrapnel and shells five miles and eight miles, enable the victors to stand and coolly now down the routed troops, as hail from the clouds beats field of grain into the earth
 It will be remarkable, indeed, if Ku- ropatkin finds. when he gathers his
  more than the remnants of the grand army from which so much was expect ed two weeks ago. When his losses from death and wounds and capture are footed up it will be found, no doubt that the Russian army has been com pletely shattered. Anything better thar this will stamp Kuropatkin as an in comparable general in retreat.
 As soon as the fight has ended eye will turn once more to St. Petersburg What will Russia do? Will she oper negotiations for peace, or will sh' stubbornly insist on getting anothe beating. and another, and another What can she hope to gain by con years in getting together in the ia east the army which Oyama crushe in this battle. Acting on the defen sive, protected by carthworks, an numerically as strong as her enemy she has been defeated in every battl of the war. There is nothing to jus tify the assumption that she can q better in the future. American arm officers say that Japan can raise he armed strength to one million men,
 figure is merely a question of finances It is doubtful if Russia can maintai a half million men so far from hom
 it will be months before her Man
 in army {s aoaiy iy, frlaffnp ron