Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/150

144 active army or the reserve. In the reserve, whether as officers or privates, they are liable to be called for duty any time before their thirty-sixth year."

Fred asked what proportion of the male population was taken for the army every year by means of the conscription.

"As before stated, every able-bodied man is liable," was the reply; "but it is generally found that a conscription of four in a thousand will produce from ninety thousand to one hundred thousand men. On a peace