The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-09-28
CHINA'S ARMY
NEEDS RAILWAYS

The army OF China is = subject OF q
good deal of interest along now, not
that It is formidable, but because Of
the Importance of China as factor in
oriental politics, and of the POSSIBLE
tiles that lie in the development of her
military strength. The army is said
to include all told, and as it now
stands, between 100000 and 100000
men. Most of them, however, are
poorly trained and poorly equipped,
and ineffective except for suppressing
uprisings of unarmed natives. They
are little better than tin soldiers,
and would be of no account whatever
in suppressing a real rebellion or in
repelling foreign invaders Never
theless, there are in China probably
100000 effective soldiers, trained in
military maneuvers and practices, and
armed with modern rifles and rapid.
fire artillery. They are somewhat in
telligent, can read and write, and real
ly know something of modern warfare
WHAT is of still more importance, they
are Differed by men who had studied
in military colleges abroad or those
in China in which foreign instructors
are employed But even if China had
an effective army of a million men, it
would be OF no great service to her
under present conditions. TO render
good service an army must be easily
handled and able to be at the right
place at the right time This is inn
possible now, owing to the lack of
transportation facilities. The Chinese
government now plans to construct
within the next ten years, network
of railway which will not oily develop
the country, but also facilitate the
handling of troops, it plans also to have
an effective army of 100000 men by
1913, and one of 1,1S5,OOO by 1920.
Whether all this will be effected or not
remains to be seen.
A curious phase of the question has
developed within the last few years.
| This proposed system of railway build
/ ing and army development is of course
| the scheme of the Manchu dynasty.
/ The plan includes sending students
abroad to get a foreign college eduCe-
! ton and get in touch with modern
/ ideas of progress and development,
and this has been done to a consider
able extent But when these young
men have been abroad three or four
years, they find themselves, on re-
turning, out of sympathy with the slow
ways and feeble methods of the very
government which has educated them.
{ In other words the plan succeeds rath
er too we'll The young get in touch
with modern methods all right, but the
| slow-going government is unequal to
| the task of adopting the methods.
What the final outcome will be, no one
can tell; but if there grows up, as
| seems likely, a strong body of patrio-
| tic young Cinnamon, with ideas of
/ their own, and with the strength to put
IuSlu III pldCICe' inc MdHCHu Wy nasty
may be sent to keep company with
the deposed Sultan of Turkey. Only a
/ few days since a London paper pub
lished a dispatch from it's Picking cor
respondent saying th9t the Chinese
government has sent an offer to Lord
/ Kitchener to take charge of the Chi
nse army, believing that he can place
it on an efficient footing, and trans
form it iatc q great lighting machine,
If this is trne II is signiti 'ITi chi.
cago Advance