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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1904)
Japanese and War Correspondents Frederick L. Palmer, Collier's Special Correspondent in Japan 0, m luaiu, narco is, linn. wc nave w I I cetved the first home papers with fcccounis OI xne eanjr uai ui iu war. They convince us of what we had supposed from the first; that Now York and London are fnr mor excited over the war than Toklo. Reading the pages and pages- of wild account!", Mildly Illustrated, a foreign resident ex Claimed: "What a devil of a row they or baking about it " It takes imagination for any dweller in Oils peaceful town to realize that lie Is In the capital of a nation engaged in the most stupendous struggle of modern times. Xa8t week I wrote that we were still wait ing; this week I write the same. Nomi nally, at le, st the correspondents have made a little progress. The general staff has selected five American and eight Brit ish correspondents, who are to proceed to the front as a first contingent. Mr. Yokoyoma tells us this morning that wo must bo ready to start on the 20th. Mr. Yokoyama is our Impresario the contrac tor who Is going to supply us with Euro pean food and bring up our transport on the campaign. On the 0th he hopes to have us, our horses, our tents, and our blanket rolls nil aboard a small steamer, which will sail under sealed orders. Soon thereafter we shall at least see soldiers In the field. But many W(ks may pass before we sea any fighting. The winter campaign, which delighted the fearful fancy of some of the rumor mongers on the China coast, seems no more In the domain of military practice In the Orient than In the Occident. We know enough to know that the period of preparation Is not yet complete. It goes without saying that the navy could strike without a moment's warning. It could he on a war footing without exciting sus picion. The army went as far as It mlKht without making the country's Intention clear. Kach new development of the situa tion reveals still others than the first ap parent reason for the timeliness of Initia ting operations as soon as the Nlsshln nnd the Kastiga had left Singapore. A war begun In winter was quite unexpected to the Russian navy, which we now know was thoroughly taken by surprise. A war begun in winter serves the Japanese army, be cause Japan can make better use of the Intervening time before the weather per mits actual campaigning than Russia can. With the warm days cf April. Japan will be ready to strike on land. Will Russia, be ready to receive the blow? Actions will come In as quick sequence and with as little warning as those of the navy. The city was no sooner empty of one lot of reservists than another appeared. In the last few days we have seen a repetition of tho scenes of the first week of tho war. Another army has sprung out of kimonos Into blouses. Many of the members are veterans. Tho medals which they wear tell of battles against the Chinese In 18M-9C. They will assist to make again the conquest of ground which they once won. Some of them are stooped with hard labor, but, even more than the younger men who have gone before them, they perhaps have tho quality which wins victories. They are married, and, of course, being Japanese, have large fami lies. One Incident, not characteristic of all, but, nevertheless, significant of the steel that Is in the blood of a race which sacri fices everything to patriotism: When one of the twelve-year men was called, he succeeded la placing all of his children In the care of relatives except one little pirl. None could take her. So, doing what seemed to him a mercy and a duty, ho cut her throat. It is said that the . h HA If- RUSSIAN PEASANTS EEOUOnT INTO MANCIIUBJA BX TIUB OOV-KBWMENT. 3 . ::ti?;;.'l;; ';, RUSSIAN RATTIjWTHP RRTVIZAN right, 1HU4, by Collier's Weekly. oflicers praised him for the deed. Accord ing to their view, he loved his child so much that he could not see her sufTcr, but he loved his country more. Of course, he expects to be killed. His farewell to his family was for eternity. They will boast far more of a father who dicj In battle than of a father who fought and still lived. There is another story of two men who were missing when the com pany was lined up for roll call. One of them was found, lie explained that family uffalrs had detained him and he l ad had no real Intention f deserting. "If that Is so- said tho officer In charge, "you can prove it by taking your own life." The man drew his small knife and 1'e clnred his willingnrss to plunge It Into his abdomen there and then. Hut hara-kiri is against the law, us well ns against the spirit of modern Japan. "Sinco you want to d!e for your country, you may," paid tho officer. "We will take you back Into the ranks." Those are two of many stoilos going the rounds, which. If difficult of ve-i-ilcation by the foreigner with hl.i limited means, none the less show the temper of the people and the times. Nothing Is more significant of where the news In the home papers comes from thin the lnfroquency and the brevity of the dis patches from Toklo. The cable correspond ent never saw how his dispatches were sent. The authorities cut out whatever they thought undesirable, nnd, with these eliminations, whether it made s 'nse or not, the dispatch was sent. No malignity was intended by this, for Japan Is unused to a censorship, being a free country and hav ing none In time of peace. When the cable correspondent pointed out the unfairness of tho method, they expressrd their wil Ing neHs to remedy It, An arrangement Is to bo made whereby the writer may see the elisions, and at least make sense of the message before It Is sent. The truth Is that there Is little to send in Tokio except facts and official reports. You can hear more rumors In an hour in Shanghai than in a week here. All the rumors from every Chinese port are sent by the Indefatigable army of news venders. Never has the world feen so many wild reports as those that appear In the home papers. We here t i T , VW, " p .4.'' Vi r . ON TUB ROCKS AT TIIR HARBOR ENTRANCE, wondered how the slxtern-pnge mcrnli'g edition was to fill the space which the Im portance of the war demanded. Now wo understand the rccret at th same t'mi that we fun see heavy dividend for th coming year for all tin- cable compacts In the Orient, l'robably tho sprcd he:.d give no one inure satisfaction than tl e officers of the general staff. Anything that leads to confusion of information terves their purpose--the general MafT working so quietly, so quietly, so quietly. What Is now inont Impressive to the for eigner Is that the elation of vletoiy has left tio aftermath of over-confidence, l'efi r the naval engagements the Japanese nske.l themselves tlie question, "What If KusMi should w in 0:1 the n-i ?" They tock nil possibilities Into oonsldi ratluii. Now th it the sea Is clear, now that the lirst preiniS" is a.siird, tliey do not look to e. sy le. torics on the land. Instead of saying, "We are going to Harbin," they rsk the fi r elgner xilitely, "Can we go to Uarbla?'' (In their hearts they may be perfectly sure that they can; for 10 man has yet fath omed the potentialities behind the J ipanese smile.) I have talked with no intelligent Japanese who did not fully realize that the laud, not thecea, was the Russian's natu:al element. The attitude of the officers them selves recalls the remark of an ensign of our squadron at Santiago. "When I saw the Spanish ships com'n? out," he said, "I remember thinking that in ten minutes the scuppers would Le run ning with blood. When It was all over I couldn't quite reullze that I was still alive." The Japanese exct carnage in Man churia; nothing more or less. They are counting upon gigantic battles and heavy losses. They go to their work with the grim determination of one to whom the cost Is- clear. If they have swept across the railway behind l'ort Arthur by tho first of July, as many of their admirers expect that they will, without on appalling list of dead and wounded, tho average ofllrer will be surprised. Perhaps tho general staff will not be. Wo fancy that Kodnma knows all. He knows not only where the landings will be made, but where the battles will Ix fought. The Japanese officers dressed a Chinese, who are acting as spies, must U-' RUSSIAN 0rnCER3 ON THEIR .- "J f. - -nr. x- - TORT ARTirt'rt.-rhoto, Oopy- keep tho general staff Informed as to every Russian movement. They can slip back Into Coron. or New Chwang with their news, and once It Is In Jap,ine.-e territory It I'les over a wire held exclusively for govern ment purposes. It Is Impossible for 11 Rus sian to be a spy in Japan. He inn adopt no dh'gulse whli' will deceive the native. The movements of every foreign) r nro known. If he Is at all suspected he Is never out of sight of the police. If he goes on forbidden ground or does a forbidden thing lie Is Instantly warned with tho omnipres ent smile, of course. This land of 4".,(Ki0.000 inhal Hants Is like a club. Only members ran get past the doorkeeper. The intelli gence work of the geiieial staff, like most of the Inside history of the war. will never bo written. No one knows the names of the three olllrcrs whom the ltussl ins handed fur an attempt to dynamite a bridge. No one snows how many others nre now playing some hazardous part un der tho Russian ting. The most romantic ami human chapters of the war with h ure dully being enact) d are a sealed book to everybody except fe.ur or live rcsimnslble men. Political speculation Is common to all capitals, and wo have our share of It In Toklo. After the Foreign ofllee phase and the naval phase, we rnme to the poll1 leal phase In Japan's attitude to Corea. The c nsor dors not allow the use of that naughty word "protectorate." If no Japa nese will say that the arrangement is a protectorate, none will say that It Is not. The complete occupation of a country bjr foreign soldiers, its transformation from Independence to suzerainty, have been ao compllshed with a deftness peculiarly Japa nese. Yesterday Corea was Corea n; today It Is Japanese. The change seems only a set part of tho program. You may read th Japanese papers In vain for any elation over this musterful piece of polity. From Masampo to I'lng Yang there Is ab solute peace. Tho Japanese soldiers havn stepped into their plao s as guardlins as softly as a butler Into a dining room. Th Coreans accept them as a matter of course rather than as tho Inevitable. Stripped of ail nicely worded Foreign office statements, (Continued on l'ogo Sixteen.) v.. WAY DOWN THE AMUR TO HARBIN.