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stop at the pure military art, but, urged principally by the Japanese among their instructors, paid minute attention to organizing and drilling. medical corps, ambulance corps, signal corps, balloon corps, the commissariat, and the general staff.

Then the war between Russia and Japan broke out and China took advantage of her strategic position to have her higher officers see as

much of it as possible. The astute viceroys sent attachés with both armies to ob

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GENERAL FUNG.

serve, to study, and to report. The thoroughness with which the Chinese do things bore fruit in these reports, for the lessons of that great war were many, and invaluable, to the soldiers with intelligence enough to learn them, and the value of thorough organization down to the most minute details was deeply impressed upon the Chinese mind. The importance of modern arms, and the still greater importance of the knowldge of how to use them, of "the man behind the gun" in short, was appreciated to its

CHINESE OFFICERS.

fullest extent. After the war Japan was asked to send to China some of its brightest officers who, with the added experience of an actual campaign, brought to the newly organized, and still raw, battalions of their sister nation, teachers who proved invaluable. They had learned in what uniforms men could fight most comfortably, what rations were most sustaining and, at the same time, most easy to carry and to prepare; they had weighed the leather boot against the felt slipper and found the latter wanting; they had proved by personal experience how men could be kept healthy, and comfortable,

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ANOTHER GROUP OF OFFICERS.

in a hard campaign, and how their wounds could be healed most rapidly.

After organizing their troops along these lines, and getting them into what they considered presentable condition, these two viceroys organized in 1905 a great joint maneuver to which they invited representatives from many nations. They were the first maneuvers held in China, and the foreigners who saw them expressed amazement at the thoroughly modern appearance of the armies. But these were only a beginning and, last year, Yuan Shi Tung arranged for maneuvers on an even grander scale, and invited witnesses from all countries. The maneuvers took place around Chang-TeFu, in the heart of China, and about 40,000 men of all arms were engaged. The troops were divided into the army of the North and the army of the South, and they went through four days of sham battles, and tactical maneuvers, on a large scale. These, it is true, had been carefully rehearsed beforehand, for the viceroys had not yet enough faith in their general officers to trust to a real sham battle, in which each side had really to strive to win and which umpires had to decide. But they served to display to

the world the nucleus of the Chinese army that is still in embryo, and from this nucleus it is possible to judge of what the mature creature will be.

The foreigners saw soldiers in khaki clothes, with flat topped hats with peaked vizors, armed just like American or European soldiers, drilling as perfectly, and shooting almost as straight. The cavalry was mounted on little Manchurian ponies for the most part, though many of the officers had imported chargers. Some of the foreigners expressed the opinion that these ponies were too small for use by cavalry, but experience alone can prove whether they, or the Chinese, are the better judges of that. The Manchurian pony is a hardy, tireless, strong little beast, and it may be that he will be found more serviceable on his native heath than any imported horse could be. He is an ideal animal for artillery purposes. Each soldier carries forty-five pounds weight of kit, consisting of ammunition, blanket, rations, water bottle, bayonets, and either shovel, pick or axe, besides his rifle. The service rations consist of rice or tea, each man buying anything more he wants out of his pay of $3.50 per month, which, by the way, is paid regularly. There were

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180 cannon, some from Krupp's, some of Japanese make, and eighteen rapid-fire guns made by the Chinese in their own arsenals.

All the Chinese wore pigtails and those whose queues were long enough hitched. the ends into their belt straps. The Japanese officers, of whom there were many in both armies, could always be distinguished from their Chinese colleagues by this absence of a pigtail. A most noticeable thing at the maneuvers was the evident contentment of the soldiers. Their officers are not martinets, but, while insisting upon discipline, take a fatherly interest in their men and look well after their comfort. This lesson they have learned from the Japanese, who know that the happy

and comfortable soldier will fight better than the downtrodden and discontented one. This good treatment was also evident in the barracks, which were scrupulously clean, supplied with plenty of baths, excellent kitchens, and cheerful airy dormitories. The soldiers do not use beds, but sleep on long benches, raised from the floor and stretching all around the rooms. There was also a plentiful supply of growing plants and flowers, which gave the barracks a cheerful air.

Within the last few months another long step forward has been taken. The Chinese army is no longer divided up into a series of provincial armies, each independent of the other and paid by the viceroys, but it is being nationalized. It is henceforth to be the imperial army. An imperial general staff is being formed and all the provincial troops are being organized and directed from Peking, which has become possible by reason of the popularity that has suddenly surrounded the army. There is a rush to enlist; educated men seek eagerly for commissions, patriotism has been aroused,

and the emperor's uniform is today looked upon with as great respect as it is in Germany.

Every year this nucleus of an army is growing, every year it is becoming more and more efficient. every year it is de

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A CAMP PITCHED IN A PLEASANT SPOT.

pending less and less upon its foreign officers, and more and more upon its natives. When one considers what a vast population China has upon which to draw for her armies, one inevitably pauses to think what limitless possibilities for the peace, or the strife, of the world are contained in the awakening of this giant that has slept so many thousands of years.

Educated Chinese smile indulgently when we westerners speak of a "Yellow Peril." They say China is the most peace-loving nation on earth and asks only to be let alone to work out her own destiny in her own way. They say she is perfecting her military power not from any ambition to aggrandize herself but solely to ensure her permanent peace. Japan and China are allies, with a sort of Asiatic Monroe doctrine as the bond between them, and Japan is helping China to build up the Chinese army to the same point of perfection which has been realized by Japan. All of which is full of matter that the statesmen and soldiers of the world may busy themselves with pondering and the people at large can afford to consider.

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THE WONDERFULLY BEAUTIFUL RAILWAY CUT AT MADISON, INDIANA.

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