THE SUNDAY OREOONIAN, POBTLAKD JANUARY 1, Mm.
Americans Best Trained Military Men on Earth
West Point Academy Produces Them So Declares
a Noted English Expert.
IK
LONDON, Dec. 15. (Special correspon
dence of the Sunday Oregonlan.)
"At "West Point the United States
has the best training school for army of
ficers In the world. It Is incomparably
superior to our military school at Sand
hurst." It is the fact that this statement was
made to me by Dr. T. Miller Magulre.
which makes it peculiarly interesting and
gratifying, for over here Dr. Magulre It
is of law he Is a "doctor" Is accounted
as much an authority on all that pertains
to military education as Edison s with
respect to electricity. He has made It a
life study. At his famous private acad
emy In Earl's Court Square he has
trained more pupils for army staff exam
inations than any military coach in the
TTnlted Kingdom. Just before I called
ho had been engaged in delivering a lec
ture on the Virginian campaigns of the
American Civil War. Lord Wolseley has
epoken of him as "one of the ablest lec
turers on military history and the art of
war we have. In England." Lord Roberts
has extolled his military knowledge In
equally flattering terms.
He had been talking about the state of
the British Army when he startled me
by the remark quoted, for while Ameri
cans are proud enough of the equipment
tand organization of their Navy, they have
'a general notion that with regard to their
Army they occupy an Inconspicuous back
peat.
"In what respect Is West Point so far
ahead of the great English military
school?" I asked him.
West Point Leads in Everything.
"In everything that counts for effi
ciency," he replied promptly, "and there
Js not a General In the British army who
takes his profession seriously, from Lord
Roberts down, who Is not aware of it.
The course at West Point lasts four years.
Instead of three at most as at Sandhurst,
and the training Is far more thorough and
severe, being based on a profound appre
'ciation of the requirements of modern
'warfare and the demands it makes on
"cultivated intelligence. The discipline Is
J rigid and the penalties for offences are
'inflexible. Social distinctions are not tol
I eratcd. Rich men's sons and poor men's
sons stand on the same level. Each Is
made to feel equally that shirking of du
' ties and neglect of studies Is fatal. From
the start the West Point cadet Is Im
pressed with the idea that 'keenness In
'all things is essential. Unless he Is thor
ough and efficient and capable of pass
ing the very high standard demanded at
the half-yearly examinations he is dis
missed. Muddling through is Impossible.
Accomplishments and courtesy and manly
exercises are preferred to silly, boorish
games.
"It is conceivable that a 'duffer' may get
into West Point by way of nomination or
otherwise, though history and geography
are obligatory, but It is absolutely im
possible that a duffer can come out of It
as an officer In the United States Army.
Not only is the training adapted to give
him the knowledge necessary for the pro
fession of arms, but what is equally im
portantto develop the necessary char
acter. It is because these two things are
so happily combined at West Point that I
rank it even higher than Germany's mili
tary training schools for officers which,
as regards efficiency, approach nearest
to It. though Baron Sumeyatsa has given
mc a full statement of Japanese educa
tion that is startling in Its spirit and ex
cellence. Compared With Sandhurst,
"Very different, unfortunately, is the
state of affairs at Sandhurst, which Is
Vractlcally a preserve for rich men's sons.
Its condition was revealed In the report i
of the Akers-Douglas Commission, ap
pointed to consider the education and
training of officers of the Army. Their
report showed that cadets had little In
ducement to work at Sandhurst and In
structors little Inducement to teach.'
Most of the military textbooks in use j
were found to bo antiquated and obsolete. 1
There was no insistence on a high stand-
From a New
Kent Howard Tells
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29. My Dear
Wife: How would you like to be a
Senator's wife? Every man who
comes to Congress as a member of the
House naturally looks forward to the
possibility of being promoted to member
ship In the august body at the other end
of the Capitol, and wc have built very
modest alr-castles on that remote con
tingency: but today it seems more of a
probability than a possibility, and I am
fairly staggered with "the prospect.
It all developed at that dinner given by
Senator Burwell last night, of which I
wroto you last week. The possibilities are
fairly dazzling, tae only question being
as to whether I am willing to pay the
price, and it is on that point that I want
your confidence and advice. In this little
old town of Washington, advice Is the
only cheap thing I have discovered, while
confidence is as rare as redeemed political
pledges. When you give your confidence
to a colleague it rises up to haunt you in
the nose-count and even figures in the
newspaper polls of how the Congress
ftanJs on pending legislation. So, I am
receiving, if not accepting advice, and
holding my confidence for a rise in prices,
figuratively speaking, of course.
I had a notion that there would be a lot
of guests at Senator Burwell's dinner,
including the wives of some of the big
men, but I was utterly mistaken, and so
cannot give you any pointers on the social
nicotics of the function. They call them
"functions" here.
Instead of meeting the personages I ex
pected, I found myself a guest with half
a dozen Senators, three railway attor
neys and several men who are always
hero In Washington "just looking around"
and "taking a little rest": but who, I
found out, are in close touch with the
men whose names figure as railroad mag
nates, captains of Industry and all that.
Everything changes rapidly in this coun
try, "inere Is no longer any despicable,
debauching lobby In Washington. They
do It dlfforcntly now, and some of the
men I met last night are representatives
of the new school, the kid-gloved Influ
ence that has taken the place of the "big
mitt" In shaping Congressional legislation,
naming candidates for office, controlling
political machines and acting as commit
tee on membership of the exclusive club
known as the United States Senate. My
name has been proposed for membership
In that organization. All I have to do
Is to present certificates showing my
qualifications.
Here is the proposition, in brief. Sena
tor Burwell and his guests are convinced
that our state may be kept in our politi
cal column, if no mistakes arc made, and
that our party will have the pleasure of
selecting a successor to Senator Horton.
when his term expires In 1907. Senator
Burwell told me frankly that he was for
me, not because he knows me very well,
but, for purely selfish reasons. By a M- j
$ 4v mmmmmmw
ETON COLLEGK, THE MOST RENOWNED OF ENGLAND'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
ard of proficiency. To get through with
as little trouble as possible was the dom
inating idea. Neither as regards knowl
edge or character was the training of the
kind necessary to produce .competent of
ficers. " 'The Commander-in-Chief,' said the re
port, 'has expressed himself as dissatisfied
with both the technical and the general
education of the officers, and many wit
nesses have stated that It Is no uncom
mon thing to find officers unable to write
a good letter or to draw up an Intelli
gible report.' That this Is no exaggerated
statement I can vouch. I have had offi
cers come to me for Instruction rich
men's sons and former pupils of our much
vaunted public schools who told me they
were ashamed of being dependent on oth
ers to write their reports for -them and
show them how to perform their duties.
Wo Improvement Since Boer War.
"But the Akers-Douglas report was
made over two years ago. Surely things
have been Improved since then," I .sug
gested. "They have not Improved a bit," said
Dr. Magulre. decisively. "In some re
spects they are even worse than they were
then. If anything could be more humili
ating than that exposure of the con
temptibly Inefficient training and gross
ignorance of many of our military offi
cers it Is the fact that although over two
years have elapsed nothing has been done
to remedy the defects pointed out.
"In an address at the Woolwich Royal
Military Academy which, though much
inferior to West Point, Is considerably
ahead of the Sandhurst lnstltutfon deliv
ered a year after that report had been
published. Lord Roberts complained that
the examinations showed that the candi
dates were 'strangely deficient in 'spelling.
knowledge of the English language and
map reading." Properly to appreciate the
significance of this, censure it must be
understood that Lord Roberts was ad
dressing young gentlemen who had ceased
to be cadets, and having passed' the en
trance competitive examinations were
about to join the commissioned ranks of
the British army. It would be utterly
impossible that such words could ever be
spoken of West Point graduates. For
such gross ignorance of rudimentary
branches of learning they would have been
dismissed long before their final exam
inations were reached. It was stated la
a leading journal recently that in general
education and capacity board school boys
are far superior to the average Eton,
Congressman to His Wife
of Influences at Work to Land Him in the Senate.
tie system of Free Masonry the parties
have both agreed that geography shall
figure In the selection of Senators from
our state. Burwell comes from the south
ern part of the state, and has his forces
so organized that he controls the machine
In that section. The Tenth District Is in
the northern section, and Burwell agrees
that we are entitled to a Senator. There
are several candidates In the southern
part of the state, and If one of them Is
elected the northern section will be hot
for recognition when Burwell's term ex
pires, so he wants to head off that kind
of a fight right now, by taking a northern
man.
It is pleasant to find a man who Is so
frank as Burwell In his selfishness.. It
appears that all I will have to do to be
listed as preferred stock In the Senatorial
race is to place myself and my vote In
the hands of Senator Burwell and his
friends. I am to be allowed to air my
anti-monopoly views on the stump in the
Tenth and may even include them in my
maiden speech, which I am to make after
the holidays, but so far as my vote is con
cerned, I am to be guided by the wishes
of my new associates, the men who are
to shape my political future and who
promise to make It highly attractive to
me, from a material point of view.
It is all a part of the "system," Mary,
and the man who is In position to see the
benefits that accrue from following the
plan outlined to me must hesitate before
turning It down. All of the talk during
the dinner centered apparently In the de
sire to make the outlook roseate for me.
Senator Crlsswcll Inquired casually as to
where I was living, and looked pained
when I told him. He delicately told me
that much depended on a member's sur
roundings In Washington and advised me
to move to his hotel, one of the finest In
the city. When I told him frankly that I
could not afford It, he smiled knowingly
and said he might put me next to some
thing that would temporarily, at least,
relieve any financial embarrassment.
You remember how we slaved and
scrimped to pay the mortgage on our lit
tle home, and how proud we were when
the deed came to us without any encum
brance? Well, It made me feel that I had
wasted all that effort when my Senatorial
friend intimated that he was associated
with some friends who were building a
new railroad out In the West, and that he
could put me In on the ground floor with a
lump of stock at a nominal price, to bo
paid for when It suited my convenience.
Of course. I see now that he wanted my
support In my committee, and my vote
In the House, in support of the bill which
gives that company a right of way
through a lot of Government land that Is
supposed to be rich In coal and mineral.
It was the first move In the game of win
ning a Congressman, with certain wealth
and political preference staked against a
mere vote, and that for a measure which
can be plausibly supported on the plea
that it Is to develop a rich section of the
country that is now without proper rail
way facilities and Is being oppressed by
the soulless corporations which refuse to
make proper freight rates for It.
Your honest heart probably bolls with
indignation and your first impulse Is
dpubUesss tp urge rne to reject these
o -
Harrow and fashionable school boys. If
the latter schools be not reformed or abol
ished soon the richer classes of England
will soon be decadent.
"We have profited nothing by the nu
merous 'regrettable incidents' of the Boer
war that were so largely due to the In
capacity of commanding officers. Only a
few days ago General Hutchinson Issued
a report on the examinations for promo
tion of officers in the regular army which
reveals a state of Ignorance among many
of the candidates that can only be char
acterized as disgraceful. General Hutchin
son states that 'bad spelling and Inability
to express themselves clearly were the
failings of a large number of them. Many
of them showed that they were unfit for
the duty of Instructing noncommissioned
officers and men owing to being them
selves Insufficiently Instructed. The Gen
eral deplores the fact that officers neglect
to keep their military knowledge up to
date by reading and study, as men in
other professions have to do. He de
scribes the results of the examinations In
military engineering, tactics and topog
raphy as 'indifferent,' the candidates gen
erally falling to appreciate the situations
In the problems given them to solve, the
'majority of them Ignoring the enemy or
giving him credit for little Intelligence.
Humiliating Ignorance.
"It is appalling to reflect what disas
ters such incompetency as is here shown
would lead us Into If we were engaged In
a war with a first-class power with Rus
sia, for Instance, for the possession of
India.
"It should be borne, in mind that the
shortcomings to which General Hutchin
son calls attention Indicate not merely de
fective military training,, but Imperfect
elementary education. The report, there
fore, constitutes quite as much an indict
ment of our swell public schools Eton,
Harrow, Rugby and such places where
the classes from whom our officers are
drawn are chiefly educated as of the In
structions whereby they receive their pro
fessional training.
"Owing to the shortage of officers caused
by the casualties of the Boer war many
young gentlemen graduates, most of
them, of these public schools received
commissions without passing the usual
examinations. In India large numbers of
them, according to an official report, were
found to be 'so wanting In elementary ed
ucatlon as to be incapable of receiving I
the ordinary garrison Instruction. Many
of them, therefore, had to have recourse
overtures as insults to my manhood, my
Integrity and all that. That's the way I
felt about it, at first, but there's another
side to the picture. The men who have
practically convinced me that they have
the power to make me a Senator have
also shown that they can break me If they
like. They did not hesitate to remind mo
that I came to Congress on a fluke, be
cause none of the prominent members of
my party wanted the nomination, which
they felt spelled defeaL If I refuse the
temptation that looms gloriously before
me, there Is no question but these influ
ences will be put to work to defeat me for
renomlnatlon, and thus write finis to my
political career. I am In favor now, be
cause the rather radical wing of our
party, with some Populists, admire my
supposed opposition to the "money devil"
that used to cut such a figure in the poli
tics of our state. My candidacy for the
Senate would lull the suspicions of this
element until it would be too late, and my
reward would be personal aggrandizement
and political promotion, at the same time
cinching Burwell's hold on the state ma
chine. So the question Is up forsettle
menL Political advancement by conscience-smothering
methods, or back to
the law office in Holllngsdale, with a pos
sible income of J2500 a year and the prefix
"ex" to my name.
Members of the House, you must re
member, Mary, are divided into two
classes, those who count and those who
don't count, with the first-named class
In about as marked a minority as native
Americans on a metropolitan police force.
But there are no blanks in the Senate.
When a man gets into his Senatorial toga
his position is fixed. He may have made
his money in lard and be as ignorant cf
etiquette as a Choctaw, but his social
status is established. The doors of the
most select homes are thrown open to
give him welcome. Messengers wait at
his elbow to do his bidding, while minor
officials court his favors with an obse
quiousness that would be disgusting it
were not so flattering to the vanity that
runs through us all.
At the Burwell dinner I sat opposite a
Senator, a timber product, who poured his
French peas Into his plate and ate them
with a knife, never missing a shoL It
was the most daring ieat of sword-swal-lowlng
I have seen since the time we
went to the circus at WaynesvlHe, and
yet members of the select circle here are
ready to barter their immortal souls for
Invitations to that Senator's social doings.
I wonder what his wife Is like.
Do not think, dear, that I am going to
act hastily In the matter I have been dis
cussing. These men know the value of
time, as-they hold out the allurements of
the proposition to roe, and I have been
assured that I will not be called upon to
play a part In their game until after the
Congress reconvenes next week.
In the meantime, I feel like a man who
had been condemned and was waiting for
the arrival of the hangman. Affection
ately, KENT HOWARD. M. C.
(Copyright, 1S04. Washington News As
sociation.) The Latest Kipling Story.
When Rudyard Klplinp was revising the
T. MILLER MAGUIRK. THE .FAMOUS ENGLISH MILITARY EXPERT.
to the regimental schoolmasters to rem
edy the defects of expensive educations.
"which had left them ignorant of the sim
ple branches of earning that are obliga
tory in the higher-grade classes of the
board schools, as we term our free schools.
Surely no more humiliating report was
t ever issued about the officers of an arm v.
I "Napoleon anDralsed the relative value
I of brain power and physical power in
warfare at three to one. Taking into ac
proofs of "Traffics and Discoveries" this
Summer, his little daughter, Elsie, was
seated In a chair In the same room. Pres
ently. Mr. Kipling began to sing: "On
the Road to Mandalay." His daughter
looked up In surprise. Her father kept on
singing.
Suddenly the girl interrupted Kipling,
saying: "Father, didn't you write that
song?"
"Yes." was the reply.
"Well. It seems to me you should know
the tune betteT," she said.
Christmas in India.
Rudyard Kipling.
Dim dawn behind the tamarisks the sky
Is saffron yellow
As the women in the village grind the
corn.
And the parrots seek the riverside, each
calling to his fellow
That the day, the staring Eastern day, is
born.
Oh, the white dust on the highway! Oh, the
stenches In the byway!
Oh, the clammy fog that hovers over
earth!
And at Home they're making merry 'neath
the white and scarlet berry
What part have India's exiles In their
mirth?
Full day behind the tamarisks the sky Is
blue and staring
As the cattle crawl a-fleld beneath the
yoke.
And they bear One o'er the field-patch, who
is past all hope of caring.
To the ghat below the curling wreaths of
smoke.
Call on Rama, going slowly, as ye bear a
brother lowly
Call on Rama he may hear perhaps your
voice!
With our hymn-books and our psalters we
appeal to other altars.
And today we bid "good Christian men
rejoice!"
High noon behind the tamarisks the sun. Is
hot above us
As at home the Christmas day is break
ing wan.
They will drink our healths at dinner those
who tell us how they love us.
And forget us till another year be gone!
Oh, the toll that knows no breaking! Oh,
the Helraweh. ceaseless, aching!
Oh. the black dividing Sea and alien Plain!
Youth was cheap wherefore we sold it,
gold was good we hoped to hold It,
And today we know the fullness of our
gain.
Gray dusk behind the tamarisks the parrots
fly together
Aa the sun Is sinking slowly over Home:
And his last ray seems to mock us, shackled
In a lifelong tether
That drags us back howe'er so far we
roam.
Hard her service, poor her payment she In
ancient, tattered raiment
India, she the grim stepmother of our kind.
If & year of life be lent her, if her temple's
shrine we enter.
The door Is shut we may not look behind.
Black night behind the tamarisks the owls
iff gin their chorus
Aa the conches from the temple scream
and bray.
With the fruitless years behind us. and the
hopeless years before us.
Let us honor, O my brothers, Christmas
- day!
Call a truce, then, to our labors let us
feast with friends and neighbors.
And be merry as the custom of our caste;
For If "faint and forced the laughter." and
if sadness follow after.
We are richer by ope mocking Chris Unas
l?t
rttr v-: .flax , " nmmmmammmmmimammsmaKsm vj v
count the enormous strides that have
since been made In the application of sci
ence to war. Lord Roberta now estimates
it as ten to one. And yet we continue, to
bestow commissions In the army on men
who arc not only Ignorant of all scien
tific HnowlcdSe. but likewise of" the very
rudiments of an ordinary education. The
officer class Is not to blame. It has clam
qred for general and technical education
for the past 15 years, but social Influences
Fighting Spirit of Japanese Farmers
Real Condition of Patriotism as Noted in Country Towns and Villages.
OKIO, Dec. 2. Japan's real condition
In war time her fighting capacity
and burning patriotism Is not ap
parent In Toklo or In the other large
cities; it Is found In the country towns and
villages. The men who are famous fight
ers are country men. the landowners and
the sons of the landowners, tho farmers
and their sons, the 1011613 and the land
tillers. It Is they who produce the Jap
anese soldier, hard like Iron, clever like a
snake. It s they who are imbued with
the spirit to protect their own. Few of
tho people of the city have such a pure
samurai spirit. Having observed this and
wishing to ascertain more truly the real
condition of Japan, I left Toklo last week
for the provinces, first for the province of
Owari, the little town of Tsushima, which,
small as It Is, gave 40 soldiers for Japan.
I took ,the famous Tokaldo train. Here
all the way .the mountains are high and
the water Is clear. In the old ancient
days many a warrior was born in the
Tokaldo provinces. Such a greenness of
trees! What a luxurious yellow In the
tassels of rice plants! What a beautiful
and mystic Japanese Autumn! And, lo! a
hundred national flags peep out. And now
and then I see a triumphal arch with
which the people celebrated the Liao Yang
victory and still are celebrating!
Groups of children run to see the train
pass, shouting "Banzai! Banzai!" But for
the most part Japan expresses calmly her
courage and resources. Warriors spirit
under the mask of peace. The most quiet
man Is the most wonderful fighter, so our
proverb says. Japan Is fighting for the
sake of peace, for liberty, civilization and
the "open door." The farmers are the
backbone of the country. "What deter
mined faces I see among the country
folks!
After traversing 300 miles I arrived at
Tsushima. I called at one house, which
sent a boy to the front, and that boy
had been killed at the battle of Liao Yang.
He was a Lieutenant. His old mother
showed me his last letter from the front,
which was wonderful In spirit and pa
triotism. The letter closed with the words,
"If I die, mother, raise the national flag
at our bouse entrance and shout 'Banzai!'
because your son died defending your own
country. And send out my younger
brother Immediately to the front, and
make our family live up to Its reputa
tion." From the house next door tq this a boy
had also gone, and he had returned
wounded from Liao Yang. (By the way.
what a tremendous number of wounded
from Liao Yang battle!) Their boy was
then at Nagoya hospital and they told
me he was counting the days when he
could return to the battlefield. Then I
heard this story of the family of Masakl
Nomoto who was In the reserve of the
Imperial Guards. He was away on a
business trip, selling goods from town to
town, when the order came for him to
join tho colors. The family Is one of
the very poorest. Tho mother went to the
district office and obtained some days of
grace until her son could be Informed,
SANDHURST. ENGLAND'S GREAT MILITARY COLLEGE.
and false economy are against any re
form. "The truth is our fashionable English
public schools are about the worst in the
world. Useful studies are neglected for
Latin and Greek, and even these are 111
taught. The schools arc hotbeds of snob
bery. They kindle no desire for an Intel
lectual life. Games alone are pursued
with enthusiasm. Their ordinary prod
ucts are the most ignorant and uninterest
ing men of social position from Toklo to
Buda Pesth and thence to San Fran
cisco. Compared with the graduates of
American colleges and universities they
arc simply 'not In It. "
"But how about that famous saying of
Wellington's we hear quoted so often.
The battle of Waterloo was won on the
playing fields of Eton'?"
"I am certain that Wellington never
said It," answered the doctor, "for he
was a truthful man. and no man could
have known better the utter falsity of
such a statement. Wellington, fortunate
ly for himself, spent only a few months
at Eton: he trained for entrance Into the
army under a military coach at Brussels.
None of his famous Generals was public
school products. At an age when the
youths of these institutions are neglect
ing thpir brains to acquire proficiency in
football or cricket they were mastering
the art of war with their regiments In
actual service. There never was a great
soldier or a, great man of any sort who
was distinguished as a young man by his
devotion to games. It Is the cult of deca
dence; It represents the abasement of In
tellect. "Lest It be thought that I am too severe
on our public schools, let me read you
some things that Mr. A. C. Benson, him
self an Eton maKter, has said of them:
It must be frankly admitted that the In
tfllectual standard maintained at the English
public schools Is low, and -what Is more serious,
I do not see any evidence that It la tending
to become higher. ... My own belief Id
that a good many boys hare the germ of in
tellectual life in them, but that. In a good
many cases. It dies a natural death from In
anition. ... Unless a boy is very keenly
interested in intellectual things, his interest
la not likely to survive In an atmosphere
which Is all alive. Indeed, but where Intellec
tual things are. to put it frankly, unfashion
able. "The degradation of education which Is
fostered at these Institutions." the doctor
continued, "Is vitally connected with the
, question of army efficiency, because a
desperate effort has been made and is sun
being made to limit the selection of ofn-
and as no letter could reach him she
started forth herself. She raised 48 cents
by the sale of some kitchen utensils and
pawned a few clothes and thus set forth.
After long toll and the walking of many
miles at length she found him at a re
mote village and told him of the order,
and she cut off her long gray hair and
gave it to her son and said, "This is my
soul, my son. It will protect you. Go
forth and fight bravely for your country's
sake."
All have heard of the mother who died
that her son might fight for Japan. She
was not the -only one. A hundred thou
sand stories and Incidents, some grave,
some pathetic, some strong with brave
laughter, fly like great winged birds over
the country fields of Japan far and wide.
There Is one story much repeated con
cerning Klckizo, the master carpenter of
the village of Tsushima, and Major-Gen-eral
Oda. father of the junior captain,
who so distinguished himself at Port Ar
thur. KIchizo Is a good-hearted man, hon
est and genial, but his falling has always
been a too great fondness for saki. .He
was much patronized by General Oda and
at one time, not long since, the General
offered h:m of his favorite saki, saying:
"Drink, my dear fellow."
"My lord, I have given up drinking,"
replied KIchizo.
"What! You have given up drinking?"
"Yes. my lord."
"Well! That Is the last thing I would
have expected of you, KIchizo. Come,
take a cup and drink to Japan's victory-"
"My lord, I have stopped drinking."
"Do you mean It?"
"Yes, my lord, but allow me to pour a
cup for you."
"Yes, give me a cup. then; it Is well for
such a ro'jgh and simple fellow like you to
wait on an old soldier like me. My good
fellow, you remember when you were
threatened with death for your habit of
drinking, and even when a pistol was
pointed at your breast, you said you would
not give up saki to save your life even,
so what then Is there in the world that
has made you give it up?"
"You know, my lord," replied KIchizo,
"thirteen of the lads apprenticed to" me,
and who are under my patronage, have
been called away to the front and of these
eight have wives and children. It Is my
duty to look after these helpless ones, so
how, my lord, can I spend my time and
money in drinking now?"
Superstition also flies abroad throughout
the valleys. I heard a tale of the Taka
chiho Mountain, in the province of Hyuga.
this, the holy mountain, most dear and
historical, where Nlnlglno Mtkota, the first
to descend from the heavens, began to
govern Japan. All the Japanese look upon
this mountain with a divine respect. The
mountain Is high and the forest is deep
and a famous Shinto shrine, Klrishlma
Tonja, is hidden on the Mount Klrishlma.
In the shadew of Takachiho. Here It was
on the night of February 8, the hour our
glorious navy started toward Port Arthur,
that Selbel Ikeda observed a strange fire
sweeping down the mighty slope of Taka
chiho and lighting upon the Mount
Klrishlma, near the' sacred shrine- The
time was midnight. The fires were In
strange round circles, more than 10,000 of
them making' a chain three miles In
m
i ccrs to candidates for certain swell
schools and universities. It has been
abundantly demonstrated that many
members of the Cabinet, aifd many of the
War Office authorities, too, would prefer
"as officers wealthy Idlers from fashionable-schools,
who would display hopeless
Incapacity In war, to able men who have
.been well'eJucated at private day schools
or by private tuition.
"Despite all the costly lessons we have
received as to the vital need of scientific
training fbr our officers, the Army Advis
ory Board 'dons and schoolmasters." as
Lord Roberts contemptuously termed
them persuaded the Etonian Secretary of
War, last February, to agree to a scheme
of education which is a marvel of incom
petency. The course would have the ef
fect of keeping our future offlrers at big
boarding schools until they are 19 and by
a subtle' arrangement securing that rudi
mentary Latin or Greek shall take the
place of science or general history. In
other words, providing- for another abun
dant crop of "regrettable incidents' In our
next big war.
"The fact is, our ruling- classes prod
ucts of the same system of defective edu
cation and men for the most part quite in
capable of earning their own livings in
any industrial or commercial pursuits
are hopelessly Incompetent for the gov
ernment of the empire. Man for man the
members of the American Cabinet are
greatly superior to ours. They are prac
tical men who have demonstrated their
ability by achieving success In business
or professional life before they received
their high appointments. Tou pay them
only 5S0OO a year each. We pay ours over
three times as much. Yet when Ellhu
Root comes over here to settle the Alas
ka boundary question he easily scores
over our high-salaried law officials.
"If, after America has brought her Navy
up to the high standard which she aims
at, we should ever have the misfortune
to go to war with her which God forbid!
she would flatten U3 out like a pan
cake." In view of the startling character of
this exposure of the Ignorance and in
competence of the average British army
officer and the defects of his military
training, I submitted the above Interview
to Dr. Maguire before sending it to you.
It has received his full approval. He ex
pressed the hope that the comments elic
ited by Its publication In America would
produce some effect In arousing the au
thorities here to the need of instituting
immediate and sweeping reforms. (Copy
right, 1S01.) E. LISLE SNELL.
length. Selbel hurried to the village
Klrishlma and woke up the villagers, and
they also stood amazed before the strange
fire balls. At dawn the report came from
the village on the other side of the moun
tain that the fire balls had also been seen
there and that once before had they been
seen thus, at the time of the war with
China. So a great meeting for prayer and
incense offering was held at the shrine,
the people believing that a divine spirit
had appeared prophesying Japan's victory.
And today the shrine Is a sacred point of
pilgrimage.
Then there Is much superstitltlon at
tached to the Manchuriarr eagle, now m
the palace at Toklo. and the tale Is told
all over Japan. On March 14 last the
torpedo-boat destroyer Shlrataka (White
Hawk) saw a huge bird alighting on a
rock crag on the eea-bltten shore of Corea.
One of the sailors shot It In the left wing
and a boat was lowered and the great
bird captured, having fallen Into the wa
ter. It was seen to be an eagle, such as
Is on the Imperial flag of Russia, and the
sailors shouted they had caught Russia
when they captured it. It was sent to
Saseho, where care was taken to keep It
alive, and it was then presented by a
naval officer to the Emperor. AH the peo
ple take It as an omen of good fortune.
I visited the Tenno shrine the village
god of Tsushima to pay my homage, as Is
our country's custom. I observed a hun
dred lanterns lighted and many a holy fire
built. There were mothers and sisters and
wives of the men at the front gathered
together praying for victory. The sight
thrilled me with awe and respect. It is
the Japanese women, after all. who are at
heart the wonderful fighters, although the
men be heroes also. I heard a voice cry
ing, "Telkoku Banzai!" "Victory and safe
return!" YANE NOGUCHI.
What Happened to Young Billups.
Atlanta Constitution.
Mary Coles Carrlngton, of Richmond,
sends us the followins:
"One of the curious characteristics of
the old-time darkles is their ability to
make themselves always Intelligible, no
matter how twisted the long words, which
are their delight.
" 'Aunt Dllsey, what has become of
youns Tom Billups?' I asked my "mam
my recently.
" De la" sakes. Miss Baby she replied,
with uplifted hands and eye3 like saucers,
'he dun run off to de Lewis Imposition,
but we ain't heard from him. nary line,
'cept'n 'tis one o' dese sump'n n'er pic
ture cards: an I jes' believe. Miss Babv,
dat he's dun bin catnlpped!"
Willing to Pay for His Drink.
One day not long ago Archie got very
thirsty, and. turning over In his bed,
poked his mother and said. "Mamma,
gimme a drink of water." His mother
told him to go to sleep. In another five
mlnutea he again asked her for a glass
of water. This time his mother said to
him. "If I get up. 111 only give you a
good spanking." To which Archie replied,
"Will you give me the glass of water
when you get up to give me the spanking?"