The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-02-17

There are 74 pages In the last annual re-
port of the Ordnance Department. By stages
we are journeying through leaf after leaf Of
the book. to discover the motive for Its pub
lication We do not know II the West Point
manual Of the DifTerential and Integral
Calculus is In the report. We have not yet
come to 1t. Indeed. we have for over week
been in quarantine near PEIRcE's Criterion
FOR the rejection Of doubtful observations
III computing probable error and precision
In measuring the force required to com
press the spiral springs OF the BENTON
pynamometer through vertical distance
VI o." /. The lieutenant Of ordnance who
manpuves these italic rs and other letters,
upper case and lower case, OF the Greek and
English alphabets. and makes 2 equal 233
and fraction, and makes l. e In one place
reject II. 10. and IA. and in another do Moth
Ing at all IN the rejecting line-he must be
tremendous warrior. What lighters SKoBE-
LEFT. GHoURKo, and OSMAN Pasha would
have been II they had used nth powers cube
roots, square roots rs, and letters V turned
down on their sides and holding other letters
In their armsl This ordnance lieutenant
Is Just fascinating. He makes this bulky
book Of 704 pages more teasing puzzle
than was the apple In the dumplng TO King
jA>IEs. What have these mathematics got
10 do with fighting? MARLBoRoUGH and
Prince ErGENE did not conquer on cube
roots. FREDERICK the Great did not fight
with the various equalities Of the letter C.
BoNAPARTE and his marshals did not sweep
Europe with square roots and logarthms
There are four establishments In the
United States where perfect muskets
and pistols are made by mechanics whose
knowledge OF mathematics is limited to
the four rules Of arithmetic. Private
ioundries ana FORCES turned out perfect
cannon for the Government In the late
civil war. made by workmen who never
looked into m algebra, and to whose skill
iul production OF artillery knowledge of
mathematics was wholly unnecessary. The
nluskets, rifles. and revolvers produced at
the Springfield Arsenal, which IS so heavily
set ON by the Ordnance Bureau, are made
by mechanics under days wages II the
arsenal were burned to-day and all It's ma
chimes aud tools destroyed and the sixty
four officers Of the Ordnance Department
were required, under the penalty Of death, 70
make one army-pattern musket of their own
work aud knowledge within year, they
ticer in tho department who can take the raw
materials, iron, steel, and wood, and make Il
gun that he will dare to tire, or that would hit
anything aimed at II he should fire It. But The
mathematics Of that gun as made by practi-
cal menl the epaulctted professor Of ord
nance will plash through his ( D Is and his
square rOots aud nth powers like a sea lion
In tank. Not very useful for war, these
officers are tremendous as pedagogues. But
they cost too much. And there are sixty
four ~ them, They are unquestionably
funny. But we are too poor to stand them.
They must he abolished.
As iar as We have toilcd through this
report Of the Ordnance Department, we can
find but one motive tor making and printing
II. The work Of this large family OF sine
curists Tor the fiscal year wa so small the
disnrUpUrtiun between their cost 10 the tax
payers and their worth 10 the country was
so large, and tue peril of an inquiry by Con-
gross or the newspaper press 50 great.
that the slXtylUur felt tho necessity OF
manufacturing a big octave volume, on
seeing which the American Of average care
lcssnoss would say: "Phcw. those must be
busy fellows. What Il heap Of work they
nave dpncw Somebody ought to get hurt
IOr the publication Of this book. In the
present distress Of the people it is
wicked waste Of money
The first 81 pages are consumed in his
tory OF the island OF Rock Island from lsOi
10 lsGI, and the Insane romance Of the Rock
island Arsenal down to June 1876. Chapter
first actually opens with Cen IARNIsoN's
treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians in 1904
u nj GOO BIZ dun and easy stages to our war
With Great Britain in 1912, AMI through that
ami through the settlement Of the Western
country, u tho Black Hawk war in 1881.
Dryer than corncob as told, what has the
story oi that war 10 do with ordnance. with