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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1904)
Nippon Denji Hi .. :r;v ir-, t i . ARRIVAT, OB" A COMPANY OP INFANTRY Photo by James U. Hare, Colllera Special - -: : -: . RED CROSS StIPPTIF.fl FOR JAPANESE ARMY IN CORKA. Photo by Jamea It lfare, Collier Special War I'hotographer, Copyright, 1904. (Copyright by Colllera' Weekly, 1904.) " I " I not travel far In Japan at this A I MAmAnl t it riialivn thn nilvnntniFA of her Innular compactness. Com pared to KuMln, her prtaent task Is as ensy aa that of a postman with a dosen letters to deliver In as many prairie counties. In another way, the sttunt'on, on this country's part, Is much the rame as If all tho American army were In New York and New KiiRland, and, using tho net work of railroads of theHe stales, we wero to mobilise our troops In great divisions at Portsmouth, Hoston, Fall River, lrvl donce, New Haven and New York; on th enemy's part, It Is much the same as if land extended as far as the Sandwich Islands, and we had to Bend the army In midwinter by a single pixir railroad I ne to tho relief of a hcNlced Honolulu. It In the cmplylig of a cank with a number of lit funnels, on the one hand, and emptying It by siphoning through a small tube, on the oth r. In Russia proper there Is a standing aimy Cf twice the sire of tho whole tltth ing Strength of Japan. "The best modern rifle will carry only 3,(Xi0 yards," sild a Japanese officer; "the RuHbluns need one that will Curry S.003 miles." General Forrest once uid that he owed his success to "getllnr there first with most men." Plstance ac cords this fortune to Japan. Kven when we read of the mobilization of the Siberian reserves, and think of Siberia's vnst ex panse, we And tho Russlun in the il tht of an Arlzonlan who starts on a Tuesday to catch a Wednesday's steamer In New York. If yo;: will look at a map of Japin and Its railroads you will see how the nyftom of four great Islands, whose length hugs the mainland of Asia, Is provided with fun nels that may flow Into transports that have to cross only a short stretch of wa-. In a country Indented with harbors, whera the population Is iSti to the s piure mile, no soldier may travel far to reach his transport unless the government wishts. For the embarkation of troops Japan Is better prepared and situated than Ger many for putting troops on the Fren -h frontier. There nre seven great mill ary dtvlwlons, Toklo. Bendal. Nagnya, Os ,k i and Hiroshima on the main Island of Nip pon, Kumamoto on the Island of Klutlu, and Sapporo on the Island of Yeso. Kaeh of these divisions draws from th' unrounding country. When the Firet re serves receive their pink tickets they move Into the hcudiiuarters. where they till up the division to Its war strength. It is thU that has been going on according to th9 same uutomatlc s stein for the last ten days." Whether at Sappoio, Toklo or Ku mamoto you see the same soldiers In the aame uniform of blue, with drah leggings, except the few who have khaki; for khnkl Is not yet the rule. Kconomy requires slow change In the army, except where a mi and ammunition are concerned. The time tables of all the railroads have b-en changed at one time to meet demands which were as char to the general staff Six months ago as today. A certain num ber of passenger and freight trulns were taken off. The pnssergrr trains carry the oldlers who have on their backs all the rations they need for the Journey In a land where- all Journeys must be short; the frdgtit trains carry" the cavalry. Utsrally, Nippon DcnJl mean man of to the Front f ; FROM A PROVINCIAL TOWN.. War Photographer, Copyright, 1901. .-rh hHr-torrp t: f Japan. Proadly, It means what tho boyt in blue meant to the north, or the little soldier of France means to France. Ac cording to the Japanese Idea, Nippon Penjl Is the favored youth of Japan, who has thi physique and the good fortune to get Into the army. He has little money to srend, but spends that like a king. He Is gener ous, charitable, light-hearted In hardships and longing to die for hl emperor. In a word, ho stands for the heart of the natlm, for the patriotism which Is the nation's religion. Of all tho warriors I have Fcen. ho has the leapt weakness for cafe b( act ing. You Hire him better when he Is In uniform than when he Is not, for he Is more gentle-mannered. That fighting army which Is now pre pared for Invasion Is the flower of tho land's physique and humbl? character. Not half of the avullable youths who toicli conscription ago each year nre used. Thi strong boys and the good boys are picked out and the surplus Is discarded by lo The chosen ones have the dlHtlnctlon of a volunteer and far more; for not every m n who chooses c:in tie a soldier. In height. Nippon IenJI Is not more than five feet four or five Inches. This Is to his advan tage. Hut when I tell my Japanese friends so, they are not pleased. Rather, they say that the race Is growing taller, and th3 foreigner overlooks the fact that many Japanese are good-sized. (I wonder If Na poleon ever wlshid that he waa six feet two He may have, when the old gneraU looked down to the level of their shoulders to find the head of a man who was to t ike command of tho army in Italy.) I.Ike all other peoples, the Japanese most want that which they have not. With their doll-like women and short men, they admire the big wrestlers with their vast paunches and big wads of flesh, who form pictorial t:i umphs for the masses In place of the lean, agile prize fighters for a taller race. It is not the height of a man, but how he is built, that counts In a soldier. To the slim, tall column of bone and tissue, the heart Is what auxiliary steam power Is to a sailing yacht. Nippon DcnJl has the power of a towing tug. He is not all bowsprit and overhang. He has some strength to put Into the transport of his rifle and kit. as well as transporting him self. Anyone who has seen a Japanese coolie with bare body at work, his muscles as firm under his brown skin aa If It were bronze, knows that for his weight no race can give the Japanese soldier odds in strength. I,ook over the ranks of any regiment, and you will never find a spindle shank. At 10 the Japanese reach the solid ity of maturity which goes with 27 or 28 in other races. Iiest of all, Nippon Denjl Is a small target. The bullet that would go through the throat of a tall man goes over his head. As a sailor, his size means more coal and gun space. An Occidental can not stand up in his engine room and bumps his head between decks. If there is any chivalry In your heart, Nippon Penjl will And It. I have been bis neighbor now for ten days. He owns the land, but does not seem to claim it. Hot water makes him near to godliness. He Is always wuehlng, aa he may to his heart' content In this land of moisture. Your reservist's trousers may not fit; he may be able to tell which is seat and which la front only by technical Inspection; but they are speck less and hla face shines with soap. For rest ba plays In water. Yo By Frederick Palmer, Collier's Special War Correspondent in the Far Fast m j 4.' v. ,. w jjr t a- XI i.k' i " s. Is J V. I T X i, I I H 'ARRIVAL OF COMMISSARIAT WAOON AT A COMPANY'S nEAJXJUARTERS.-. l'hoto by James II. Hare, Collier s Special War Photographer. Copyright, 1904. K.' rl U " ISSriNO SLTPUES TO INFANTRY RECRUITS AT THE BARRACKS, TOKIO. l'hoto by James H. Hare, Collier's Special War Photographer, Copyrig-ht, 19'H. may sleep elbow to elbow with him, feel ing that he is as clean as you are. Rich and poor alike welcome him as a guest whom the government billets. A well-to-do Japanese friend of mine had a dozen sol diers In his house. The government offi cially paid him Jl i'5 for lodging. Of course, the Nippon DcnJIs received this back In tobacco. They need not shoot tho Russians out of Manchuria; they will go there with cigarettes enough to smoko them out. The women of Japan are playing the same part in this war as their foreign sisters have In others. While the emperor devotes the bullion and plate In the palnce to the war fund, the sweethearts and wives throw their pin money Into the common coffer and lay aside luxuries from their tables for Nippon Denjl. To me, the undying source of wonder is how Nippon Denjl mnnages to efface him self. He owns the land nnd enforces his ownership with politeness and modesty. Mobilization with war nhead has come to be a synonym for n kind of riotous posses sion nt which pntrols have winked from time immemorial, doing forth to die, the foibles of the fighting man are overlooked. In a town of tiny houses of wood and paper in narrow streets, booted warriors should produce some of the havoc of the bull in the china shop. It is the Japanese art of using feet and hands, his industrious habit of keeping out of mischief by washing, the diversion of chatting with his host nnd thanking all tho world for the sweetmeats and tobacco that It brings, the expedition nnd quietness with which he is moved here and there, which makes him already seem a part of Toklo rather than nn overwhelm ing visitor on an epochal occasion. He Is lined up in the narrow streets nnd pvit through a limited drill without confu sion, until he marches away to Shimbnshl station to he entrained. How any one who looks nt a line of these sturdy men can think of the Japanese as play soldiers is past understanding. The square Jaws, the high cheekbones, the bronze, tightly drawn skin, even the expression of the slant eyes aa they guide on the line, bespeak the other side of Japan, the military side. Nippon Denji is more than picturesque; he is mar-tlul-looklng. Without exactly denning how, you feel that war is to bis taste. This people are proud of their physical vigor nnd their prowess, not of their art products. The so-called femininity of tho nation, at the very point where It seems most essen tially characteristic, breaks into a mascu linity that Is Spartan. Your samurai of the feudal days might go from an elaborate tea ceremony to commit suicide by hara-kiri with coolness, which has no parallel in any other land. The samurai youth, who studied the arrange ment of flowers In the morning, might In the afternoon eat rice aoaked with freso blood to show his fortitude. The Russian towering over the Japanese even aa the barbarous trlbea that Caesar conquered towered over the Romans is not as military-looking as bis antagonist. Glance in at a shop window or nt a passing Jinrlkisha, and you see in the flesh the delicate women painted on the screens and fans. It la they -kA' w . .v . ' rwfc4r-tS4 J: .3iam---: :!.i?-r 7 - f f "V f who bear a race of men who, new to me chanical civilization, manning modern bat tleships, spring toward nction In frozen pens with a spirit equaled only by their skill, who on lnnd nre to face In snow bound mountain passes a vigorous northern race. Tho front of the station Is the same us In times of peace. Exctpt for tho troop trains that he passes, tho average passenger would not know that anything unusual Is going on. Rut go to the rear and sldo ol the stone building ut Shlmbashl, and In the little yard by the freight platform you sec where all the work Is done. The freight dispatcher's office is occupied by an officer; a row of feed boxes flanks one side of the Inclosure, and a pump proclaims that tho Nippon Denjl may wash his hands or.ca more before he entrains. The In closure Is never crowded. There Is a method, almost a leisurely method, about everything, which. In the end, thanks to years cf calculation, amounts to a rapidity pcarcely appreciated because it has none of tho signs of haste. 'Detachments are brought In only as fast as they can b entrained. Tonight I saw a company of sappers and miners, which had come in from some distance out of town on a rainy day, waiting in one of the main streets. Their heavily laden pack ponies formed a line a block in length. These Nippon Denjis had a busy wash day before them, for their coats were sheeted with mud. There they would remain, snow or rain, till the word should come that their train was waiting. All night long, every day, the embarkation goes on in the same uni form way, as If the working day were twenty-four hours long, Sundays Included. Only the horses break into the cut-and-dried program. The Intermixture of for eign blood has not bred out the character that the brush of the Japanese artist has given them. You can see the same twtat of mane and tall in action as that which has seemed impossible to the Occidental eye. The Japanese horse Is the only liv ing thing In Japan, apparently, that does not long to go to war In Manchuria. He backs at sight of the train and bltea, and once he has been roped In so faat that he can not even shake his head, he beat a tattoo of protest against the walls of the box car. Nj horse In the world seems to need so much looking after. Two sets of four are put Into the box car facing each other, with the troopers and their baggage between them. However enthusi astic the foreigner may grow over the Infantry and the artillery, when U comes . to the cavalry, he has to confess to soma Indifference. Beside those of Europe, if not America, the Japanese mount makes a poor comparison. I should have said out wardly a poor comparison. The horse is of a part with the rider's habitat and ona is accustomed to have the Japanese sur pass expectations. Being surprised at nothing these daya, one may soon be ac cepting aa commonplace the I superiority Of the Japanese over the Cossack cavalry. The other morning I was awakened be fore dawn by the cheers in honor of ths departing soldiera, which ahows that th (Continued on Pace Sixteen.)