The War

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 21, 26 May 1904, Page 1

The War

The campaign that is going on in Manchuria is by no means a military picnic, such as some of our boys in khaki expected to find in South Africa four years ago. What with torrential rains, bad roads, 'dossing on the wet earth, and the enormous difficulty of provisioning great bodies of men, the lot of the fighting man in Manchuria, whether Jap or Russ, is (like the p'leeceman's) not a happy one. The balance o/ stamina, endurance, and inarching capacity will probably be en the side of the hardy, athletic, muscular Japanese. But in this, as in practically all previous wars, sickness is sure to slay its tens of thousands where the rough surgery of the "bullet will slay only its thousands. Tn the Crimean war the French army lost 64 men in every 1000 from wounds ; it lost 236 in every thousand from sickness. The English losses were respectively 47 and 179 per 1000. In the ill-fated Mexican campaign, 49 men in every 1000 lost the number of their mess by wounds, and 140 by disease. From June, 1861, to June, 1863, the Federal Army in the American Civil War lost 53.2 out of every 1000 of its men. Of these deaths, only 8.6 per 1000 were caused by wounds, the remainder (44.6 per 1000) were due to sickness. When Russia last drew the sword against Turkey, 49 of her fighting men in every 1000 had the partnership between soul and body dissolved by wounds. More than twice that number (113 per 1000) were carried oB ty disease. Generally speaking, only a fifth of the deaths in modern wars have been caused by bullet and bayonet. The remaining four-fifths represent losses from sickness and exhaustion.

The war in tihe Far East promises to be a long and exhaustive one. A long-drawn campaign, like that of South Africa, produces serious results on the morale, temper, and physical condition of an army. General Von der Goltz, who waded through the whole of the relatively brief Franco-German campaign of 187>0-71, declares that 'in a long and wearisome war armies undoubtedly deteriorate in quality. Exhaustion and weariness may be borne for several weeks, but not for >nany months. It is Lard to remain a hero, ever ready for self-sacrifice, after daily battles and constant danger, after long marches through the mud, and nights passed on the wet earth. All this has a bad effect on courage ' How far these conditions will affect the more phlegmatic yellow men of the Distant East, remains to Le seen. In dash and elan the Japanese soldier has proved himself the equal of any fighting man. It wIII bo an interesting problem to watch how far he will develop the possession of the still more valuable soldierly quality of toughness and bull-dog endurance