Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-02-03
Love of Fighting and the Ad-
miration For the Profession
of Arms, Brings Thousands
to Britain's Ranks.
STORY OF CAPTAIN DAWES
ev CAPT. ARTHUR I. DAWES.

Nraptdln Dawes. OF SailX. Ia. Is on
route to England to assume Il command
with the British forces In the European
war. He served nine years in India
with the S0th native infantry
Almost five years & today, Il skiing
party was sitting after dinner one eve
ming round a red hot stove in the hall
of Il pensioner i'm Norway. Counting
the writer. there We're present seven of
tlcers of various armies, one or two
Norwegian men of affairs, and a Ger
man Herr professor. who either was
or had been an officer of the reserve.
Ialk ran on current politics and drift
ed naturally to the subject of Austria's
recent aggression in Bosnia and HerZc-
SoVina TO the question of ~ European
war. Herr professor held the floor and
In the course OF his monologue had
reached the point of Enginnd's mill
tary position. 1T is an axiom OF Euro
pean craftsmanship. he observed thai
england would never fight the Euro
pean power unless she is attacked i'm
Europe. Ireland is disloya! to the core.
tne flrst breath of war would cause a
Dutch uprising in South Africa. a ma
tlonai insurrection in Egypt. and IA gcl,-
eral outbreak i'm India.
You have no army worth c%onsidera-
tion. he said. I'm the face of the FIJI
ropean power first class YOU would be
helpless"
How about the indian army" COM
mented the writer.
10 this the Persian captain replied:
The Indian arlny is good against saw
ages, but against European armies
there probably remembering he was adj
dressing an officer of that despised ser
vice. he stopped and waved an explain
atory and cOntemptuous paw.
What of the South Africans. Aus
tralians and Canadians?" asked the
Norwegian captain. who wore English
1Hno all 81,
leader i'm n Of the light horse regi-
mentS
Mere irregulars.' was the reply. "Of
no value in modern warfare
sometimes wonder whether the
herr captain, now possibly Il Herr ma
Jor. or a late Herr major. has witnessed
the fallacy of the indian armies i'm SUI
periority to his own service. wiped out
oy the dripping bayonets of the Skins
n Punjabis, and l wonder whether
Princess Patricia's own Canadians. 20
per cent of whom. it is common knowl-
edge. wear South African war medals
or cuban Philippine or China war
badges. or are fresh from service in
Mexlco. viii permit themselves to be
dismissed with an airy wave of a leu
tonic mailed fist. Scientific research
IN war may do much. The Teutonic
framing may do much. but all that is
peace preparation. and one grain of
- WOiSu i.UVu,VuV tons OF the
ory. The veterans of Uncle Sans little
roubies and Il gentle pickering In South
AFRICA VIII be no mean brothers i'm arms
Tor u. Atkins, esq. when they Join in
next spring. after six months train
ing on Salisbury plain.
Two Army Coros.
O let us briefly consider the CON
stitution and organization of the In
dian army. Numbering. exclusive OF
reserves and a few thousand military
organizations. like the Barina and the
Assam military police and the armed
police of Bengal. about $50. 900. divided
into two army corps. northern and
southern. Burma has a separate di-
vision and Alden, a separate brigade. In
ADDITION is the British army in India.
ABOUT tO.OW strong. and some thous-
ands of imperial service corps. The
regiments. raised and kept up by the
native princes, Differed by Indian Of
ncers. but inspected by the British Of
ncers of the imperial service, troops in
spection brand. On service heretofore
normal composition of a mixed bril-
gade has been. two British and two
native battalions, or one British and
Ihree native. In the present war. it is
believed that the higher units are
formed on an all British or all-Indian
basis. Regimentally. the organization
- eight companies. commanded by ma
tive officers, organized as four double
companies under British officers. Pro-
motion to company and halt
commands is normally through the
ranks. Few native officers have less
than Is years. service in the ranks
when they are first promoted to a COM
mission. Service in the Indian army
IL for three years or for IS; up to three
Years h Sepoy is the recruit. and can
be at any time dismissed from the
service as not likely to make an ef-
n0fnnt hut r@. 1,.-.- T. ~
Der offering to enlist and so select are
the chosen ones. that this rarely hap
pens unless, as occasionally happens,
= man is enlisted whom all the ongue
Of men cannot make into a first class
shot. After 10 q the Sepoy may
retire on u pension.
The reserve Is composed of men OF
more than three years service. who
Tor private reasons have to go to civil
Ike. Every. recruit must be q land
owner. excepting certain specified regi-
lments, n 1t often happens that. ow-
Ing to death In his family. a mar must
return to his farm. Hence the re-
serves. which IL fixed at one-third Of
the hEhttug strength OF the regiment.
The Indian army ID the cheapest vol
UNFAIRLY enlisted army in the world
The average pay Of nm i~nfantryman Is
about 81 q month, out of which he pro.
yides his w food and uniform. The
cAvalrymen get more but they feed
their own .animals n provide their
own groOms n have to pay $50 be-
fore they r flIiAlly accepted as re-
cruits. This sum il supposed to pro-
vide the troopers horse. In reality all
feeding arrangements are regimental
committee. under supervision OF regf-
mental quartermaster. Recently the
payszM the army was raised. Pre-.
#N1QilGly 1t wAs lowered. but even now