Although tired, wet and chilled to the marrow, we again began this duel between two races. Daylight had hardly revealed the slopes of the so-called "Two Horned Mountain" when our batteries opened upon it with shrapnel. Tufts of white smoke marked the point where each projectile burst. With the naked eye we could distinguish the Japs driven out of their intrenchments by our fire. At first it was a single man who fled, then groups of three or four followed. For an instant we saw the profiles of their dark silhouettes; then they lay down; then disappeared, crawling away in search of shelter among the rocks. Our shots followed them, and the Japs literally fell like wheat before the sickle of the reaper.

On a mountain beside a Buddhist temple, one of our batteries was in action; another battery opened fire from the opposite side, and the Japs fled so precipitately that our cannoneers could follow them only with difficulty.

Presently the resourceful spirit of the Japs manifested itself. They set fire to a large native village on the side of "Two Horned Mountain," having previously determined that the wind, which was blowing from the east, would carry the smoke towards us and form a screen so that our cannoneers could no longer have an unobstructed view.

After 8 o'clock A. M., the attack was vigorously carried on against the whole line. The uproar of the firing continued as on the preceding day, and until noon there were no signs of the Japanese batteries. It seems that they had waited to ascertain our position, and even after they began, the bombardment was not so furious as on the day before. In the distance, the Japs tried to outflank us, from the west, but we had no cause for alarm there as we had plenty of troops to keep them in check. Two turning movements were taking place at once; their movement against us, and our against them.

Reports of great losses during the night begin to arrive. The Tomsk regiment suffered terribly. A mere handful of men is all that is left of the brilliant Tomboff regiment.

The troops fought like heroes the whole night; in the morning the ground they had so bravely defended was covered with the dead. The survivors continue the struggle in the village in front of us.

The shattered remnants of several regiments, after having repulsed the Japanese attacks all night, spread out behind the walls

of the houses so as to be ready to again take up the struggle the next day.

The Japanese attack on "The Mountain of the Temple," which was occupied by the Volinsky regiment, began at 9:15 this morning, but our batteries, from both sides, held the Japs in check and we repulsed this attack, doing so about 10 o'clock. Finally, the Commander in Chief and our entire force, retired from this position, to Shi-khi. Hardly had we left the hill, when the Japs swept it with a deluge of projectiles.

At Shi-khi we met with General Zalinsky, who had come to make his report. An aide-de-camp came up at a gallop with the news that the Japs had driven the Russians westwards from the railroad, but that they had not followed up their advantages but had stopped for their noon-day meal.

Late this evening we surprised the Japs in some awkward positions. The Morshansk regiment paid them back with interest. for their morning fusillades.

We have heard nothing from the Russian column which was to execute a turning movement on the left. We are anxiously awaiting news that it has reached its destination.

Our soldiers display the greatest courage and resistance in spite of the terrible obstacles they have encountered.

We have had to drag our guns by hand up almost insuperable mountains. In a narrow defile the Japs rained whole avalanches of rocks down on us. We could not possibly get possession of the defile, but our men, after sustaining most fearful losses, climbed the hills on both sides and captured the heights which command the Japanese positions. Our center and right have rallied; we have kept in touch with our turning column; so that from a strategic point of view we have decided advantage.

Then new reserves, just arrived from European Russia, with their new uniforms and equipments; all fresh, with faces not yet. tanned by exposure in the open air, or lined by fatigue and privations, are in most marked contrast to the veterans who fought at Liao-Yang. Nevertheless their energy and determination leave nothing to be desired.

The Japs struck an unexpected blow on our right flank to-day; they succeeded in seizing two of our batteries. One brigade of the enemy attacked a hill occupied by the Novocherkask regiment and partly surrounded our batteries, killing all the cannoneers.

But our infantry came to the rescue and retook the guns after a most desperate struggle.

We expect to hold against the Japs, the positions which we took two days ago.

It is impossible, just now, to give a just estimate of the situation. We shall probably have to wait several days in order to attain the final success in which our men are still confident.

At present we are wet to the skin. Last night there was a terrible downpour of rain which flooded our trenches, and the deluge has begun again to-day. The sky is lit up with flashes of lightening and the thunder is more deafening than even the fire of artillery. It is now ten o'clock in the morning; the tempest only increases in fury; the thunder mingles with the roar of the cannon and the hissing of the projectiles and balls.

It is a terrible sight--and yet a glorious one.

THE PRESENT MILITARY EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES.*

"THE peace of the world rests on the point of the sword." This seems a hard saying, and yet it is quite as true to-day as when it was first uttered. Indeed, if we compare the events of the past ten years with those of any former decade, I think it will be readily apparent that we are living to-day in as warlike an age as the world has ever known. Rapid transit and instant communication have brought the nations so close together that they are now dangerously jostling each other in the great race for commercial supremacy. The thirst for trade and colonies and dominion has developed so amazingly in the past twenty years that it seems well-nigh insatiable and fills the world with constant unrest and apprehension. So that, instead of disarmament and confidence and peace, we have had during the past decade a veritable epidemic of international strife. Beginning in 1894, when Japan swept the Chinese fleet from the seas, liberated Korea and reduced the stronghold of Port Arthur, we have had in quick succession the wars between Turkey and Greece, the United States and Spain, the Allies and Boxers in China, England and the Boers in South Africa, and now again Japan in a stupendous struggle with Russia-of which the end is not yet. In addition to all these conflicts, we observe many significant alliances, offensive and defensive, and a notable increase all along the line, both in armament and sea power. In the light of such a record we can hardly hope for the early dawn of that beatific day, of which the poets tell us, when the spider shal' weave a curtain over the cannon's mouth and the bullet shall rust on the beach.

Not unmindful of these conditions and recognizing the new relations which the war with Spain has brought us into towards the rest of the world, our War Department has taken up the subject of military preparation and training on a broad and systematic basis never before attempted in this country, and which, if faith

*An address by Lieut. Col. A. C. Sharpe, U. S. Army, delivered before the Colorado Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, at Denver, December 6, 1904.

fully pursued, gives promise of placing us, in a few years, on a much safer footing. This plan, of course, recognizes that our regular force is small and widely scattered, and that the country must therefore look, as heretofore, to the citizen soldiery for the great mass of its armies. While it is the theory of a repúblic that every citizen is a soldier upon occasion, it is manifest that only a selected few of our vast population will ever be needed or called to the colors. Therefore we have learned to depend upon volunteers, that is, those who voluntarily offer their services, and we have gradually lost sight of the conscription system which our fathers adopted in 1792. The result has been that many of our good citizens, deeply absorbed in business affairs, have apparently forgotten the old democratic doctrine of conscription, and have come to regard the idea of compulsory military service as an institution of imperialism. So strong is their repugnance to this system and so unwilling are they, in fact, to lend any support or countenance to a military establishment in any form, that I am told instances are not wanting where members of the State or volunteer militia have actually been threatened by their employers with dismissal if they continued to serve the State in this highly honorable capacity. These short-sighted men seem to forget that were it not for the volunteer soldiery, which now comprises our Army and National Guard, we should be compelled to go back to the old conscription system of 1792, for whether we like it or not, soldiers we must have in every State and nation, just as every city must have its policemen; so that these very men or their sons, who now consider themselves too busy or of too much consequence to enter the ranks might possibly be the first to fall under the draft. It is to be hoped that no considerable class will ever arise in this republic so sordid and mean as to be willing to live under the protection of the American flag and yet be unwilling or unable to understand and appreciate the American soldier. If there is any body of citizens above another who deserve the respectful consideration and gratitude of the people of this country, it seems to me it is the State volunteer-the man who is willing to devote his time. and energy to the public service without adequate compensation, and often at the sacrifice of his health and life. Instead of threatening such a man with dismissal from employment, we should say, all honor to the American volunteer-regular or militia; all honor to the man who has sentiment enough to love his country and courage and devotion enough to fight, and if need be, die for the maintenance of her laws.