The independent., 1907-02-21
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT

the causes of the Russian defeat.
which he based in general upon the
warlike spirit of the Japanese, their
preparedness and valor. which he says
has never been seen in any previous
war. and their ability to maintain
the numerical offensiveness with the
against the army. The loss of the bat
tie of the Shah river is accounted for
by
F'irst-Lack of skill displayed by the
eastern army chief in handling the
large force intrusted to him.
Second-Absence of a firm handling
of their troops by the leaders of the
western detachments.
Third-Unsuccessfu tactics and lack
of energy on the part of the Tenth
army corps commander, who retired
unnecessarily from the left bank of
the Shah river without even warning
his neighbor the commander of the
First army corps.
F'ourth-The unsuccessful operations
of the commander of the Thirty-frst
infantry division, who several times
unnecessarily retired his troops.
Fifth-Insufficient firmness Of many
troops, who left their ranks under the
rear or without any pretexts. The
disaster Of Mukden he ascribes largely
TO the incapacity and insubordination
of General Kaulhars. Early in the
battle the latter remained inactive
when ordered to attack At q later
time. says Kuropatkin, the command
er-in-chief ordered Kaubars to send
all troops possible to the right bank of
the river He did exactly the con-
trary, moving two regiments over to
the left bank. We could have concen-
trated more than 100 battalons and
thrown them against Nogi. KauIbars
not only disobeyed the order to throw
troops over the river, but having lost
five days, he went SO far in allowing
the turning movement that on Feb
ruary 20, part of his force was still
operating, not against Nogi, bUt
against Okus left wing The loss Of
time and the weakness Of the force
opposed to Nogi constitutes the entire
explanation of our Mukden failure.
High water in the Platte river oc-
casioned great damage and some loss
of life in Nebraska. Fremont and
Columbus were partially inundated,
and railroad service blocked. Discus
sion of railroad bills in committee
hearings occupied much attention from
the legislature The senate by de-
cisiye vote defeated the county option
bill This bill was intended to permit
voting by counties on the question of
licensing saloons, thus giving the pop
ulation outside the towns a voice in
the matter.
Emperor Williams bloc Of radical,
liberal and conservative parties which
he formed to beat the clericals on one
hand and the socialists on the other,
seems in good way to shake apart
even sooner than had been expected.
The opening wedge appears with the
charge that the government contrib
uted officially to the campaign funds
of some of the candidates in the re-
cent elections. The sensation created
by this discovery far transcends the
feeling in this country against cor
poration contributions to campaigns
In this country we have ever been
careful to keep our public treasures
free from direct participation in cam
paign expenses. We permit our pub
lie officials to campaign at government
expense, that is, to spend their time
campaigning, meanwhile drawing
salary for supposed service in their
respective offices. We have always
maintained lot of head Offices at
large salaries, such as our numerous
state and county offices, oil inspectors
and highly paid city postmasters,
when comparatively inexpensive clerks
would do the work better, in order TO
provide men and money for political
work. We assess subordinate officials
for campaign purposes, all of which
means indirect support of parties from
the public treasures. But we never do
anything SO rank as to appropriate
money directly for such purposes. 1t
is painful to think that Emperor Will
liam would do so coarse a thing
Belgian hares imported into the Ar
gentine republic have multiplied at an
astonishing rate. Some fifty of these
hares were introduced into the coun-
try, and they have now spread to