The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1917-09-21

as much as they might. Siam Is not
altogether bit Of picturesque scenery.
In the fiscal year of 1915-1916, she ex-
ported more than 1,250O00 tons of rice
| valued at more than 32,449, ,000-yes,
she Is as solid as all that and this
must mean something in the days when
food-simple primitive nonfanciful
| food is the most fashionable topic of
conversations in all the chancellories of
all the great powers of the earth.
| To be sure Siam cannot make much
impression on the war finance of the
entente allies. Her revenue for the
| fiscal year 1916-17 is estimated at
| $26,692,0 600; the entire amount does not
cover just one days war expenditure
of Great Britain alone.
When the Siamese army is mentioned
the good people of Europe and Amer,
lea somehow let their fancies wander
to comic opera. Before the Russian
war they We're won't to do precisely
this very thing about the Japanese
army. And they should be reminded
of this fact in the most unkindly man
| IlC1 pSSSiDiS. AIlu JtcI W A"o II iii'
the good American friends should be
reminded of an undeniable fact that
| Siam was ahead of the proud and very
up-to-date United States in the matter
of compulsory military service-ahead
of her by about thirteen years. 1ncred-
ible, of course but true.
Old Fighting Methods Gone.
OF course the old style army of Siam
had it's share of entertaining traditions
| to make a tremendous demonstra
| ton Of overwhelming force to scare
| the enemy, always at good safe dis
| tance from him-waS one Of them, and
when an accidental blunder placed the
opposing forces within reach of a hu-
man voice, then to hurl at the enemy
terrific stream Of heroic epithets and
vile vituperations, and if the matter
came to the worst, then under no cir
cumstances whatever let the men lose
their heads to the extent of launching
bayonet charge, but let their spokes-
man challenge the other side to put up
warrior-the champion warrior-to
uSdtllN uuSI With lllS llCIO VI lliCll
own camp, and let the two warrior rep
resentatives decide the fate of the
war. My own heroic countrymen in
Japan have not the slightest excuse to
make merry over this procedure. Not
so many centuries ago their own brave
ancestors were wont to resort to this
method of economical warfare, espe-
cially in many interclan brawls.
This sort of thing Is now but q
quaint memory with the modern army
of Siam, however. In 1904 the law of
universal military service went into eff
| feet Years before that q number of
| the sons of the Siamese nobility had
been trained in the military schools
of Europe and of the United States.
They had returned home literally
kindling with enthusiasm for the new
order of things. They had seen that
modern army and navy had good
deal to do with the dignity Of a mod
ern state and with her very moral
standing. They could not quite make
| out the logic of the thing. But they
! Just knew that it was right. Back
| home in Siam they lost no time in be-
coming at once the prophets and
preachers of this new doctrine of ma
tional prestige.
What they have accomplished up to
the present writing is not likely to
! turn the tide of the world war in Eu-
rope, as has been hinted. But they
have made something of beginning.
Of that there is not ghost of doubt.
And the development of the Siamese
army and navy should be more inter-
esting to the British statesmen than to
the militarists of Germany-if truth
were told