'Russia and India in 1903' [‎4v] (8/68)

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RUSSIA AND INDIA IN 1903.
the number remaining over is greater than the number
the locality is required to furnish, those declared liable
draw lots, the highest numbers exempting about 3 per
cent. The remainder are given furlough until the New
Year, when their service begins.
As far as practicable each section of recruits is drawn
from the same area. But no regiment receives more
than three-fourths of its deficit from its local source.
The remaining fourth is made up of non-Russians—
Poles, Finns, Jews, and others—26 per cent, of the
whole.
The Grenadiers, the Rifles, the Cavalry, the Horse
Artillery, and the Engineers have no fixed recruiting
areas, but receive their contingents from several dis
tricts. The Guards recruit from the whole Empire,
with the exception of Jews, who are ineligible. Every
regiment of the Infantry of the Line has a definite
recruiting ground.
It is calculated that from 60 to 7° P er cent, of the
recruits are illiterate. If, however, they fail in educa
tion, no army is manned under such excellent physical
conditions. Mature age and hardy training make the
tall, broad-chested Russian an excellent soldier from
the very first. The French, Italian, or Spanish con
script is hardly to be compared with him, and he also
surpasses both the German and the Austrian. Of the
6 per cent, rejected upon physical grounds, 11 per cent,
are fit for the first class of the Reserve, a state of
affairs superior to any in Europe, and less than 3 per
cent, of the recruits accepted are found unable to bear
the strain within the first year of service.
The colour service is nominally five years, but in
the Field Artillery and Infantry it is reduced to four.
Often, too, the Minister of Finance brings such strong
arguments to bear upon his colleague at the War
Office that this is often diminished to three, or even less.
But whatever the colour term may be, the balance
of eighteen years’ service has to be made up in the