--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 2 published: 1904-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Topics of Moment," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 2 (December 1904): 137–144.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0802unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0802unse start_page: 137 end_page: 144 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0802unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Topics of Moment TOPICS OF MOMENT. Shakha, the Second Battle of Liao-Yang. It was on the 2nd of October that General Kuropatkin issued an address to the Russian army, calling attention to the history of the war for the past seven months, and incidentally praising his men for their bravery in their retreating battles from Port Arthur to Liao-Yang. In it he stated that the enemy had so far Chosen as he deemed fit his time for attack, but now the moment to go to meet the enemy, for which the whole army has been longing, has come, and the time has arrived for us to compel the Japanese to do our will, for the forces of the Manchurian army are strong enough to begin a forward movement. * * * We must go forward fearlessly, with a firm determination to do our duty to the end, without sparing our lives. The will of God be with us all. This forward movement of the Russians began with the occupation and rebuilding of the Shakhe station and bridge, on the railroad, fifteen miles south of Mukden, and it was confidently expected that the Czar's army would advance southward to the relief of Port Arthur, while this turnabout movement was heralded abroad as a turning point of the war. But the fortunes of war did not change with the face-about of the Russians. The Japs met them, and for a week, from October 9 to 18, one of the fiercest and most terrible battles of the war raged, resulting in a de feat of the Russians, with a loss of life exceeding that of the battle of Liao-Yang. The slaughter all along the line was terrible. More than 4,500 Russian dead were left in front of General Kuroki's army alone, and the total Russian loss, as per official report of the general staff at St. Petersburg, was 45,000 men and 800 officers, killed, wounded and missing. Early in November, 138 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Field Marshal Oyama reported the Japanese loss at 15,879 men. It is said that more ammunition was expended than in any other battle in the world's history; and that the Russians fired more shots in this and the battle of Liao-Yang than during the entire Russo-Turkish war. The Japs defended their positions with hand- grenades, and in many cases died to a man rather than surrender. The Russians, who are without their winter coats, and who appear not to be clothed as well as the Japanese, quickly appropriated the warm clothing of the Japanese corpses. Barring some outpost skirmishing, little was done by either army up to the middle of November, but the Russian and Japanese outposts were only a few hundred feet apart, both being well protected by natural and arti- ficial defenses, and entrenched on opposite sides of the Shakhe river, between Liao-Yang and Mukden. On the 23rd of October, General Kuropatkin was appointed commander-in-chief of all the Russian land forces, the order coming ostensibly from Viceroy Aiexieff. The Food of the Japanese Soldiers. During the present progress of the war in Manchuria, much is said about the Japanese diet on rice, as though he were satisfied with a little of that article, and were receiving his nourishment and strength from this national diet. In earlier times, it is quite true that rice was almost the exclusive diet of the soldier, but he has grown to enjoy foods that are more common to western nations; and today he is probably as well fed as any soldier in the world. Correspondents at the seat of war give the menu of the soldiers in the field. They rarely receive pure, prepared rice. It is now the custom to mix it with hulled or decorticated grains. This mixture, it is said, he enjoys very much more than the pure rice which does not give the equivalent in physical strength of the mixed diet. The Jap soldier is now served also with meat and fish. His breakfast consists of boiled grain and rice, bean soup, and preserved vegetables. His dinner consists of fish, meat, boiled rice and grain, and cooked vegetables. His supper is the same generally as the dinner, so that the soldier has regularly his three meals a day. In the army, there is what is called the canteen, at which the- TOPICS OF MOMENT. 139 soldier may buy extras, such as white bread which he calls pan, and which he prefers to the black bread, called kuropan. He also often buys at the canteen a flat sweet cake called kalapan. This is about as large as the palm of a hand, and as thick as the little finger. Many of the Japanese also enjoy rice, wine and beer, which the canteen also serves. It is not, however, to be imagined that the practice of drinking among the Japanese can in any way be compared with the frightful vodka, or whiskey, habit among the Russians. The accommodations for the soldier in the field also contribute to his comfort and rest. He has good woolen blankets, and is supplied in the bivouacs with furniture made of braided straw, with camp beds and carpets. The generals have little houses set up in short order, though their conveniences are simple, and not such as to excite any particular envy on the part of the soldiers. It is also said that the soldiers carry along with them small stoves, made of paper that has undergone 'some chemical preparation that prevents combustion. The winter under- clothing of the troops is also made of a kind of water-proof paper. While the soldier is on the march, or in battle, he carries with him only his rifle and cartridges, and a small quantity of crushed rice. The Japanese commissariat is carried about on the backs of coolies, Chinese, and Koreans, who keep in the rear of the army. Such transports are easily moved through mud and storm, and have not been subjected to the hindrances which it was supposed the rainy weather would create during the summer months. The North Sea Imbroglio. Some time ago it was announced that the Russian Baltic squadron would leave for Chinese waters, in order to relieve the struggling garrison of its desperate situation at Port Arthur. The fleet stopped for a few days at Libau. The report of an early departure of this squadron had been circulated so frequently during the early part of the war between Russia and Japan, and its excuses for remaining at home had been so many times given, that people became quite skeptical about the bona fide attempt of the Russians to jeopardize this division of its navy in Chinese wa- 1 40 IMPRO VEMENT ERA. ters. Again, progress of the squadron was slow, but it finally reached the North Sea on the twenty-first of October. During the night of October 21 and 22, the Russian fleet ran into a lot of Dogger Banks, not a great dis- trawlers, fishing off tance from the English seaport of Hull. To the consternation of the fishermen, the fleet opened fire on them, killing the captain and mate of one of the crews, and wounding about thirty men. One of the trawlers was sunk, and without giving any assistance and without further ado,Rozhdestvensky and his battleships steamed on toward France. When the news of so unaccountable an event reached England, public sentiment was set aflame. England immediately demanded satisfactory explanation. Russia with her usual oriental diplomacy was not in a hurry. Among orientals there is always a diplomatic virtue in procrastination. Admiral Rozhdestvensky had gone into the Spanish port of Vigo. Here he read the newspapers, and awaited his leisure to give explanation to the Russian government for what his battleships had done. All the while, England grew more and more impatient, until further delay the English positively would not brook. Thereupon, Rojestvensky, in uncomplimentary terms of the English press, whose news he had evidently been reading, informed the home government that he had been attacked by torpedo boats in the middle of the night. One, he claimed to have sent to the bottom of the sea, and the other to have disabled. This explanation was greeted by the English press as wholly ridiculous; some papers characterized the fleet as a mad dog let loose. Finally, however, through the mediation of France, it was decided to submit the question of fact raised by Rozhdestvensky's explanation to the Hague Tribunal. This does not mean that the Tribunal has any authority under arrangements to render any other decision than that of whether torpedo boats in the English channel really did attack the Russian fleet. The burden of proof will fall upon the Russians, who, if they fail to make out their case, will still remain in a very awkward and compromising situation with respect to England. The Japanese denied that they had purchased any torpedoes in Great Britain, since the outbreak of the war, and that they had TOPICS OF MOMENT. 141 any boats whatever in that part of the world. They ridiculed the Russian explanation, and held up the Russians to the world as guilty of the same reckless and headstrong policy toward a helpless fleet of trawler fishermen that they had manifested in their eastern policy where weaker races, the Japanese said, had been overawed, ruthlessly treated, and subjected to barbarous Russian practices. The German War in West Africa. The Herrero outbreak, in the German territory of West Africa, has not been so easily overcome as the Germans expected at the outset. Indeed, Germany is now learning that it is much easier to criticise than to do. For years, the Germans have declared that England always erred in overestimating the resisting forces of an adversary, especially in her colonies. It seems that notwithstanding all the observations of English policy that Germany has been able to make, she is nevertheless in about the same position that England so often finds herself. For more than a year, these Hottentots have resisted successfully Germany's effort to suppress the outbreak, and of late some curious complications have arisen. The German territory in West Africa is about twice the size of California,and has a coast line of nine hundred and thirty miles, which has practically no suitable harbor. On this coast line, however, England owns the only real satisfactory harbor, that of Walfish Bay, and about four hundred and thirty square miles surrounding this harbor. Recently, the Germans asked England for the privilege of using the bay, in landing troops and obtaining easier access to the interior of their West African possessions. This England declined to grant, but for just what reason does not appear in the refusal. The ownership of this bay by the English, is the most serious hindrance that the Germans find in their efforts to colonize and promote commerce in West Africa. It may be the English hope that the Germans will some day relinquish West Africa to the advantage of Great Britain. If Germany did this, England would be practically in possession of all southern Africa below the eighteenth degree of south latitude. Besides, England owns a large strip of country just east of Ger- 142 IMPROVEMENT ERA. man West Africa, about a thousand miles wide, and known as Rhodesia. The English company that has been exploiting this immense territory has expended over fifteen million dollars, and has realized no profits out of the expenditure. The necessity of finding an outlet from Rhodesia to the east, and the long railway and steamship transportation necessary to bring Rhodesia in touch with Europe, make colonization and commerce very slow. No doubt the English would be glad to obtain a direct route across German territory to Walfish Bay. The refusal of England to permit Germany to use this bay cannot satisfactorily be explained on the ground that, in a war between Germany and her Herero subjects, England would be violating the rules of neutrality. Opening of the New York Subway. On the 27th October, the finished portion of the New York Subway was opened from City Hall and Brooklyn Bridge to 145th street; a distance of nine miles. When it is completed the entire length, it will be the longest of any subway in the world, and will cost more than $75,000,000. The work of completing it has taken three years and seven months, including delays due to labor troubles. The road will be run by electricity, the third (electric) rail having a protection which aims to eliminate all the dangers which now exist on the elevated road. The current can instantly be cut off from the cars, and all stations are connected by telephone. A fire alarm box is located at all stations, and at every four-hundred feet throughout the subway. The road is equipped with a complete automatic block-signaling and interlocking system, adapted for spacing and directing trains. Every precaution known has been taken for the safety of the public, and the carrying capacity of the road is estimated to be nearly 100,000 persons per hour. From 2: 30 p. m. to midnight the trains carried 110,000 persons, and the receipts, $5,500 were given to the hospitals. The day following the opening, 350,000 passengers were carried. The first train carrying the mayor, ran from City Hall to 145th street, in twenty-six minutes. Other parts of the road will soon be opened, and next summer the extension southward from the city Hall to the Battery, will be ready for use. This will connect with a tunnelroute to Brooklyn. The city owns this wonderful transportation TOPICS ( F MOMENT. 143 system which will revolutionize traffic in New York. The construction,however, has been done under private contract, with money which the city loaned to the contractor who has secured the right to operate the road for fifty years, with a right of renewal for twenty-five years. Within fifty years he must repay, by annual installments, $35,000,000 with interest, and at the end of the lease, the city comes into full possession of the entire property. The Lucin Cut-off and the Jungfrau Railway. By thu finding of a peculiar, perspective-cube crystal, pushed to the surface in great numbers by the immense weight of the filling, in the seemingly unfathomable depths of what is doubtless the Bear River bed, Alfred Lambourne, the artist, has incidentally called attention to the magnificent engineering skill displayed in the Lucin Cut-off. These crystals are being examined by Dr. Talmage, who has promised a report upon them. The Lucin Cutoff ranks with the world's greatest engineering triumphs, and grows upon the visitor, as he sees it over and over again. Few people in Utah thoroughly appreciate the wonderful achievement. A foreign engineering work, showing great skill and ranking with the Cut-off, is the Jungfrau railway, eight miles long, and now nearing completion, though much work yet remains to be done. The Jungfrau is one of the chief peaks of the Bernese Alps, in Switzerland, rising far above the limits of perpetual snow. The question of getting to its summit has puzzled many engineers. In 1894, the late Guyer-Zeller, of Zurich, obtained an eighty-year concession from the Swiss Federal Council; and by 1896 the line had been decided upon, while in September, 1898, the first section was opened. The road begins at Scheidegg on top of the Wengernalp which is conveniently reached by rail from Interlaken. Before the Jungfrau can be scaled, the Eiger and the Moench must be pierced, to obtain the desired grade. At the Eiger is a six-mile tunnel, four miles of which is now completed. The calcarioua nature of the rock in this tunnel makes the work of tunneling very slow, and an advance of only two yards a day marks the slow progress of the workmen, who are completely cut off from the world, during the winter months. The stations on the way up are comfortably provided with heat and light, as well as ample 144 IMPROVEMENT ERA. protection from the avalanche. The power is generated by electric dynamos located on two mountain streams, and is transmitted in the usual way, except in the tunnel where the wires are suspended from the roof.The terminus will be located on a plateau just below the summit, from which tourists will be raised in an elevator two hundred and fifty feet to the top of one of the highest mountains in the world — 13,671 feet above sea level. The present method of climbing the Jungfrau— over glaciers, precipices of ice, and perilous crevasses — requires one hundred hour's time, and an expense of three hundred and sixty francs for a tourist and two guides; but when in a few years the new Jungfrau railway, the steepest in the world, is completed, at a cost of many millions, the journey may be made in comfort in two hours for the small price of nine dollars for the round trip. But every westerner should see the Lucin Cut-off before climbing the Jungfrau by rail. A Great Encyclopedia. Eight volumes of the Jewish Encyclopedia have already been issued from the press. This great work will be complete in twelve volumes. Funk & Wagnalls, the New York publishers, have issued no publication so voluminous, scholarly, and important as the Jewish Encyclopedia. The work contains not only every phase of Jewish life from the most ancient Bible times down to the present, but also gives a clear and accurate conception of the relations existing between the Jews and the nations with which they have come in contact. It is really a history of civilization. Every important thing, directly or indirectly associated with Jewish life and literature, is fully considered. The articles are concise, and yet comprehensive enough to give the reader an intelligent conception of the matter treated. In volume six, special attention is given to Hammurabi's code of laws. The famous tablet containing this code was found in ancient Susa, a city of Babylon, by J. De Morgan, in 1901-2. Mr. Morgan is a French archaeologist, and his discovery is regarded as the most valuable of all ancient Babylonian monuments. The code is compared with the laws of ancient Israel, and in many instances the most striking similarity is found.