Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1901 — Russia’s Neat [ARTICLE]

Russia’s Neat

The Russian soldier’s diet is largely vegetarian. Favorite dinner dishes include "stche” —a eabbage soup—potatoes, peas, beans, macaroni and various kinds of porridges, eaten with onions and lard. Only half a pound of meat is allowed each man daily, and the Russian pound is ten per cent less than in this country. Mushrooms are consumed in great quantities when in season. Three pounds of black rye bread are included in the daily rations and if any is left over the men are at liberty to sell the remains. As the soldiers’ bread is very nourishing and purer than the ordinary bakers’, the extra rations sell well. In the way of drink, beer is too great a luxury for him, so he quenches his thirst with **qvas,” a cheap substitute made from fermented black bread. On high days the soldiers are regaled with vodki, often at their officers’ expense. Their games are of the most primitive character. Their greatest pleasures are singing, dancing and playing on the "garmonika,” a musical instrument like a concertina, or on the “ballailalka,” a national musical lnstru-

ment something like a banjo, which will keep them amused for hours. Singing, however, is the soldier’s greatest pleasure, and choriis singing is a great feature in the Russian army’s accomplishments. The number of songs an ordinary soldier knows is beyond belief. Singing is encouraged by the officers, and the men with the best voices are especially rewarded. Among illiterate people the singer will always be able to exert a great influence. One has hardly to see a Russian regiment on the inarch to understand what moral power the singers can give the Boldiers. According to the latest returns for 1901, the statistics for the Russian army are as follows, on peace footing: Infantry, 900 battalions of foot, or 450,000 bayonets; cavalry, 69 regiments, or 51,000 sabers; artillery, 400 batteries, or 1,700 guns; Cossacks, 58,000 men and 108 cannon. The general total on peace footing, including those not in the ranks, garrison troops, and local reserve forces, amounts to 950,000 men, with 350,000 horses. On a war footing, including the reserves, the soldiers of the czar

amount to 3,500,000 men and 600,000 horses.