The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-04
ARMY

| GOO, and the total army, including both British and natives, Is only 2S8,00o | This is scattered all over the peninsula. | There are eight divisions in the north, | a large part of which guard the from | tier, and there are four divisions in the south, as well as the troops in Burma | and garrison at Alden Arabia.
 4 The army all told would be small even if the country were homogeneous and peaceful. It is nothing in compari- son with the great forces which are forming in Europe and in the far east | If India had as many soldiers as Japan has on a peace footing Its army would number 3,0000 900, and if on a war footing | it would be more than 100000. The l Germans have 1 per cent of their whole population under arms and in times of war they could put per cent of 1t into the field. At the same ratio India could | have 15,0O0,000 under arms in the great wars of the future, and the only power that might possibly surpass her in num- bers would be the Chinese, who at the same rate could muster, perhaps, 1000, ,00O more.
 Lord Kitchener and the Army | The Indian army was made over by Lord Kitchener. I met him about year | ago here at Calcutta, when he was still | in charge of the troops. He speaks highly of the soldiers as a fighting force and says they are loyal to the govern ment, although attempts have been made | to corrupt them. Lord Kitchener when he came to Indian about eight years ago found three armies, each confined to one part of the country. He consolidated these and mobilized them He made nine divisions, each of which had its own gen. leral and staff These, were organized for war and each could take the field intact leaving enough troops behind to maintain order Every division had its own trans port and supply arrangement and the divisional generals had great authority At the same time additional officers were appointed and a military college nsti- tuted to supply others. Lord Kitchener reorganized the cavalry and infantry as well as the other departments and it was during his administration that the army proper was divided from the de- partment of military supplies.
 Military Supplies
 This last department has now It's own secretary. and it is one of the great bus- ness institutions of the government. It deals with army contracts, the manu- facture of clothing and ordnance, the transportation of animals and food. and various other things It has factories for making boots and clothing for the soldiers, factories for making harness and also large establishments for the manu- facture of field guns, shells and arma- ment of various kinds. It has camel and cattle farms, and it supplies mules and horses and other animals for transport
 There are several camel corps, and there are parts of the country where the camel owners are given lands free on condi- ton that they hold certain number of
 camels available for military service. This department has also to do with ele- plants, some of which are used for drag ging the great guns through the jungles and over the roads. In coming long dis tances both elephants and guns are trans- q ported by railroad.
 The chief breeding farms for horses, mules and donkeys are situated in cer- tain selected districts in northern India and the Deccan. The system Is to pur- chase young stock and rear them on the government farms. Horses for the cav airy are also imported from Australia and stallions from Arabia for the i'm provement of the native stock
 The Army as An Asset
 The officers here tell me that the army is the best paying asset in John Bull s schedule of East Indian investments. Ii Is kept up without taxing the people at home, and it gives him big fighting force which he can shift to any part of the world upon order. He used 1t against the Boers, and also in China at the time | of the Boxer rebellion. In case of an 1 Asiatic war of any description it would | be invaluable to him, anG upon the whole l is makes India worth far more than 1t costs This is especially so as the l Hindus pay the total expenses of the | military supplies and of the soldiers. The 1 cost amounts to something like $100, ,0O0,- l GOO a year. but this is all raised by the | taxation of Hindustan.
 The army is not extravagantly kept l from a western standpoint. The native | scldiers receive something like S2 or | s3 per month which Ia rnnd nav fns