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Show OVER IN ASIA. i Over in Asia the events of the past two weeks ; have not been productive of great results. Xo battle bat-tle has taken place on land, no engagement at sea has sent ships and sailors to the bottom. For awhile nobody knew the whereabouts of the Jap- J a nese fleet. Xow we know they are throwing shells into Port Arthur. The Japs also took a few shots at the Russian ships and fortifications at Vladivostok. Vladi-vostok. Meantime the Bussians are slowly arriving and concentrating near the banks of the Yalu. So are the Japanese. Dispatches say a battle is expected ex-pected in a short time, but no faith can be placed in dispatches. One need not have military knowledge knowl-edge to conclude that the Kusians are not ready, J and for the time being the czar's soldiers in Asia will rely upon the strength of fortifications to upset up-set the plans of the Japanese. This is not saying that detachments of hostile troops will uot meet and give battle. It is simply predicting a decisive engagement to come not any sooner than a month or two hence. In the brief dispatch announcing the bombardment bombard-ment of Vladivostok the statement is made that each shot from the Japanese guns cost about $500, the total for 200 shots being about $100,000. These figures are impressive, but they give only an inkling ink-ling of the tremendous cost of . modern artillery operations. In a recent issue of the Xew York World a competent authority estimates the present cost of the war to Japan at a million dollars a day, while the cost to Russia will be not less than a million and a half dollars per day. As the average wage rate in Japan is about 12 cents a day, it is evident that it would take the earnings of 8,000,000 Japanese Jap-anese laborers to pay the cost of the war, while the Russian?, at a higher average rate of earning, would require the constant effort of 7,000,000 work-! work-! men to pay the cost of maintaining the army. |