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Show THE OLD WORLD SITUATION. B The war in the East is on in earnest. Thus far B it has been strength and partial unwieldiness H against alertness and momentum the tiger BH against the polar bear. But the woods contain B few tigers, comparatively speaking, while there is B no limit to the bears. But if Japan continues to ' H disable Russian ships, she will have a mighty ad- H vantage very soon and her land forces are more H than equal to Russia's army in the Far East. H It is more and more clear that Russia's design m was to temporize until she could get more ships WM upon the scene and more soldiers to back her Vfl present forces in Mknchuria. Her critical time will be in the next six weeks. Should Japan sink her Eastern fleet and cut the railroads aboVe ft f M Port Arthur and Vladivostok, Russia would be in M a bad fix. It is clear, too, that Japan Is preparing M to try to take Port A?thur by a combined sea and M land attack. If sho does, she will have plenty M of business on her hands, for Russian soldiers, es- X pecially in batteries, are superb fighters. They JM have many a time established that fact. Japan fl knows that her salvation is in the very swiftes't M kind of work and there will be plenty of war Bfl news during the coming twenty or thirty days. M Meanwhile the solicitude and disquietude of Eur,- ope are evident enough. Great Britain and the H whole continent is stirred to their depths. It iff clear enough, too, that the Sultan of Turkey is. B keeping a close watch with the purpose of engag-. H ing In more spring massacres, if he sees a fair - BB chance to win back the terrritory in Europe which H he once held in his grasp. Should that attempt ' H be made, it would hardly be possible to keep the H German races out of the struggle. Again, the Em- BJ peror of Austria-Hungary is very old. Were he H to die, the chances are a hundred to one that Hun- H gary would declare her independence; the chances H are eight to ten that the Austrians would ask fl the help of northern Germany, and were that to come the Kaiser would never stop short of the Aegean sea, probably not short of the Bosphorus, ' I for a glance at the map of Europe shows what $ BJ must be a picture of enchantment to the German ; H Emperor, an empire jresting on the Baltic and , fl North seas in the north and on tho Adriatic and ' I Aegean seas in the south, with all the German peoples In accord and not enough Turks and Slavs to be any menace to their power. But with this I going on, what would Great Britain and France jfl be doing? It Is apparent enough that Europe has il a prospect ahead that is disquieting enough. 'I But should the war be confined to Russia and ft H , kill 'A Japan, there would be enough to make the world B I I 111 11 anxious. Should Japan win temporarily that would Bl' ' Itii 11 be a11 sue coul( llPe t do, for it would not B'' ' j &' fill f change one purpose of Russia, for she holds Hi' I J,, I'l h I her purposes through the centuries, if needs be. B ' V; f ' 111 I She lntends to have China down to the great wall, B I V I ' ill I including Manchuria and Korea, and then to make H j ,H Iji I Japan itself a half-depsWIent nation; to limit the HM ' i illj jjj size of her army and not permit her to maintain B ' Mr If a nayy JaPan's only hope lies in her whipping Hi l , P j n1 Russia to a finish in 'the Far East now, and then H ' 'II III to maG & closG alliance with China, and to train Bi ' '-III In tne Chinese as soldiers. If she succeeds in this, B If II! tnen ero wI11 e cause enough for disquietude all B I'll ll1' tne world ound, for practice and training will B 'lM. lll make soldiers out of them. But the Moslems are B ! I I III "" a ar greater menace now than the Mongolians. H I ll! I They have all the natural attributes of soldiers; H f I all they need is to become more familiar with H M It modern weapons, and how to dispose of armies to H & If ! 1 gIve an enemy tne least chance at them. Speak- H ; 1 1 I ! ing of this last proposition, if Russia undertakes B V i'llif to flght JaPan m tne old way that Is by massing B h HlBi troops and depending on their weight to crush B ISi tlie enemy sne W'U suffer a slaughter compared B 4 j 16 K j with which Boradino was but a skirmish. It is B i Mfflf l sad at e military experts on the continent B lilt ' 3li say the Boer war taught them no new lessons. If B H i 111 that ls so' and Russlan military men accept the B f ' i! ill statement as true and act upon it,) then Japan B iiff! f ' wil1 overrun Manchuria before the spring fairly H 5jji M 1 opens. It is a bad situation all around, and the H M Is ' United States should be most wary not to much B i 1 1' mix In the business, but rather to hurry her fight- B ' i It If' ing sn,ps to completion on the shore, and inland B m It 111 plant more wheat for a hungry world. |