The Washington times., 1914-09-25
RUSSIA NOW PROFITS
BY JAPANESE WAR
raining in Far East Helps to
Make Army Wonderful Fight
ing Machine.

PETROGRAD. Sept 25.-After the
! amer in which Japanese soldiers
! owed so superior to Russians in the
J Isso-Japanese conflict. it is difficult.
] D doubt. for people to understand the
! emingly wonderful improvement in
: . effectiveness of the Russian war
L sChine, as being demonstrated in the
! esent war.
h"re. who have made Petrograd their
J ,me for years, could at first scarcely
/ lieve that the army which little Japan
\ hipped was breaking up Emperor
] ranZ Josef's army of more than loo. 900
! en-. II was hard to believe that this
: me Russian army was storming
c erythinC before il with reverses few
aud comparatively unimportant. But
11ey soon realized the three answers.
Russia has benefited vastly by her
! istakes in the Russo-Japanese war;
re fighters in the rank and file know
tlat they are giving up their lives for
tie Slav race: the priests have worked
7 le army up to pitch of religious
rvor and enthusiasm by making the
: ar. for Russia, holy war.
Acting under orders from the holy
synod in Petrograd. the entire priest
J ood of the country for weeks before
: ne war broke out. devoted almost their
sole attention toward stimulating
:. al for war. The peasants, il must be
! nembered, are very largely under the
fiuence of their spiritual advisers.
Germany has been held up to execra-
I on as the sworn foe of the orthodox
church. and this feeling has gained as
eager adherentS Of war the common
: diers and the peasant classes. The
J n-Slavic ideal has added to the sup
! rters of the government in its war
i Q attitude, the middle and better
{ ucated classes. These two things.
T 1re than anything else, are what have
Ditcd Russia and ended, at least tenn
rarily, the threatened internal strife.
] very body of marching Russian troops
preceded by a priest of the orthodox
{ Nurch. who, with his flowing beard and
nC black garment, is a striking
{ ough figure. The priest carries
o-oss. or is attended by a cross-bearer.
- 10 bears the burden of the holy image
I him. The military bands play sacred
r-usIc alternately with the barbaric
], arch music that suits these warriors
q Tartar blood.
1t is not merely a war. it is a holy
on which the soldiers of Russia
{ 81 that they are engaged In the
{ mps and places of bivouac, in the
i0rts of the fortified towns, wherever
l. 1ops are assembled or moving, the
: .igious element is very much in evil
E. nee: the priest plays as important
T as the officer in the preparatory
At ledSl, VI Tie S<1lllpdlSb MI
u Il the majority of the priests be con-
tent to confine their administrations to
the preparations for war. Many spur
on and encourage their spiritual fiocks
and go right into the fighting lines TO
rffer the dying the last consultations of
religion on the battlefield.
These priests in Russia are of the
people, and they feel with the men in
ne ranks to a degree astonishing to
4 stern onlookers. Altogether an i'm
i essive spectacle-this Russia under
arms. They do not look like barbar-
ars. these soldiers of the Car; they
are mostly simpleminded; docile peas
ants, full of religious ardor which will
turn them into fanatical fighters when
the decisive moment arrives.
they may be slightly inferior in train
ing. but they are the best raw ma
-ial of any country in Europe, and
e hard training of the war will trans
m them into a host of the most
-midable troops in the world.