The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1915-06-10
HUMAN LIFE IN RUSSIA
IS NOT WORTH A BULLET
HurI Men Into Face of Kaiser's Giant
Artillery, Regardless of Loss.

They tell me that some American
juries have variously fixed the price of
human life at ten, fifteen and twenty
thousand dollars and more. But | know
a country where a human being is not
worth half that price, nay, tenth of
that price. nay, not even ten dollars
And that country is Russia. To be
more explicit, would say that there
the life of man is worth exactly moth
ing, not even the price of cartridge ="
This statement was made to me by
DR.. Michele Scarfoglio. who was six
months with the Austrian General
Staff.
What l have seer" DR.. Scarfoglio
told me, has filled me with such hor-
ror that am powerless to express. 1t
will last me as long as live, and my
contempt for Russian war methods is
deep, intense, heartfelt, undyIng.
Il was at Czernowitz at the time of
the first Russian advance, and was at
Uzook and Dukla passes, and the
scenes l have witnessed battle de-
scription. l will give you only one in
stance of how the Russians waste the
life of their men. One day, at the
time of the second advance on the Car
pathians, ten charges were made to
capture hill on the Uzook Pass de-
Tended by triple line of quick-fring
machines manned by men strongly en-
trenched, to say nothing of a large
number of heavy field pieces the fire of
which swept the eastern slope of the
hill and made it almost impregnable.
added to that, the Russians could
not protect their infantry by using
their artillery, and so pave the way for
the infantry attack. Just below the
hill thick forest extended for several
miles and hid the crest of the hill.
was a short distance away, behind a
rock where the Geographic instruments
were located.
The Austrians were prepared for
the attack, and as soon as the Russians
appeared on the border of the forest
the artillery opened a harmless fire
which encouraged the Russian officers.
The column approached, came nearer
and nearer. When it reached the foot
of the hill and began the ascent the
fire became terribly intense and aim
accurate, with the result that within q
few minutes several hundred men lay
on the ground. The column wavered
then took to flight repairing to the
forest.
The Austrian fire slackened, the aim
became inaccurate. The Russian officers
gathered the men together and resum-
ed the march onward. This time the
Austrian artillery allowed them to
come nearer, but only to open fire at
closer range.
The plan worked fine, splendidly.
When the charging Russians were half
way up the hill rain of bursting shells
fell on them, and the Russians fled
once more But only five or six hun
dred reached the woods. The rest lay
dead or writing in the agony of death
all the way down. At some points the
ground was literally covered with
| bodies.
The same thing had to be repeated
six or seven times before the Russians
could understand that the capture of
that particular hill was sheer madness.
While the fourth charge was going on
and the Austrian artillery systematically
moved down the second regiment. the
colonel commanding the position came
behind the rock to send out some Mess
ages.
Addressing me he said:
g You see? This is way we get
them. They have around here fifty or
seventy thousand more men than we
have, but several tons less of brains
Why, they coulden't get here even if
they renewed their charge fifty times
In succession, and if they took the hill
they could not hold it for more than
half an hour
Look there he continued, point
ing to number of ridges from two to
four miles away, the fire of our mask
ed batteries would annihilate them.
The key to this position is thirty or
forty miles below. They don't know
the topography of the country or else
we would not be here. They are like
flies who break their heads humping
against thick pane of glass and over
look the open transom above through
which they could easily pass.
Talking of the Russian army's NOR
ais. DR.. Scarfoglio said that while the
plain soldiers fight only because he is
ordered to fight, conversation with
the officers soon convinces one that
this war is merely in the interest of
France
IA Russian major who was wounded
and taken prisoner at Czernowiz frank
ly admitted that it was the military
party that precipitated events and
brought about the war. The member,
of this party are paying debt of graft
tude to France, as it was France that