Backbone. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. ;) 1897-1906, 1905-07-01
Sober laps VS.. Drunken Russians
The Lesson OF the War Pointed Out in
an Influential Daily

SlOn OF l6dQluS special dfClCl0 dp-
pearing-not in prohibition or tenn
perance journal-but in the anti-pro-
hibition Chicago Tribune of recent
date. No summary evidence put out
from straight prohibition sources ever
pressed it's moral home with more eff.
fectiveness than this contributor to
the Chicago Tribune, who signs him.
self "Ex-Attache" The article thus
pictures the contrast at the front:
Russia has in this conflict labored un-
der many disadvantages. But it is doubt
full whether there has been any that has
handicapped her more heavily. than the
ors, and more particularly of her officers.
Every foreign newspaper correspondent
on the Russian side, even those whose
as Col. Won Gaodko, formerly of the Ger
man general staff has drawn well nigh in
credible pictures of the prevalence of
Japan and of appalling conditions arising
nIdT T 1S 6rE1SgEs KN1Mg TaAE pbEoz#ED TIE FOB r
WATCH THE OPERATIONS IN MAN
CHURIA HAVE MADE STILL MORE
5GeT rs TE1R HhRRRTs REsPEcT7 PE TIVE ao
ERNMENTS, creating so deep an i'm
preston that the English secretary of
the other day declared that the victories
of Japan were largely due to the sobriety
of her officers and men, while the Kaiser
in remarkable speech to his officers at
Strasburg, gave expression to much the
same views"
Then follow the most remarkable
sections of the article. Apropos of re-
cent naval battles, the Tribune article
says:
Everything depends upon the. preci-
whose every shot carries home is practi-
cally certain to win the day. That con-
stituted the extraordinary. success Of
more phenomenal victories of Admiral
Togo in the present war. TogO's gun
ners, like those of Dewey. went into ac-
tion cool-headed and completely sober,
whereas most of the men who handled
the Russian guns were under the influ-
ence of powerful stimulants,, rationed out
ed idea of improving their fighting quail
Under the subhead .Drinkless
Fighters Last Longest, this astonish-
ing "ex-attache" correspondent sharp
ly takes issue with all the Tribune's
editorial news on the canteen question.
He says:
"In the case of hostile operations on
must weigh in the balance Of victory or
defeat. The soldiers shooting, as well
m IN these days especiay
with new quick firing rifles and guns,
there is a tendency on the part of the
troops to fire wildly and to squander their
ammunition at the outset of the engage
ment Indeed, the one object of officers
is to keep their men calm, cool, and col
lected, and free from all excitement, so
that they may reserve their. fire for
the proper moment, and then fire to hit.
Nc Moreover experience has demonstrated
upon the physical endurance of the
troops"
Recalling Lord Kitchener's historic
Soudan campaign, Ex-Attache says:
When one remembers how devoted the
man to his mountain dew, and the
Irishman. to his drop of the craytur'',
Of cabinets iii advised enough to attempt
an increase of the tax on these. stimu-
lants which are regarded not as luxuries
ness and likewise the difficulties of the
innovation will be appreciated, and 1t is
doubtful whether any general less stern
Of ha Eord wond Tori
the scheme fulfilled ali his expectations.
able to make forced marches Of the most
extraordinary character across the burn
ing desert and under a blazing sun, the
heat of whose rays can only be appre-
ciated by those who have lived under the
equator.
achieved by Lord Kitchener in his Sou
dan campaign, he was unable to secure
the adoption of an equally stringent
policy in the war in South Africa. Yet
the trend of the British army today is
all in the direction of abstinence from
stimulants, especially when in the field,
and the phenomenal endurance displayed
by the Japanese troops in their struggle
with Russia, as well as their equally
amazing immunity from those sicknesses
even more deadly than the enemy's fire
may be ascribed to the circumstance that
the same rules prevail in the Mikado's
aC W1
forced in the Soudan"