The Forrest City times., 1891-02-27
SMOKEUESS BATTLES.
eome Speculation as to What Future Eu.
 agreements Will be Like.

The air will be full of noise. says the London Broad Arroso, sharp, crisp, rattling. believing detonations. com ing from many quarters, deceiving the judgment. shaking the nerves of the timid and possibly interfering with the condition necessary to catch quick ly and clearly the words of command. Smoke-volunes break and shut up sound. and in their absence there will be need of greater calmness. the strain on the mind will be more severe. the discipline required will have to be more rigid the attention will have to be more concentrated. lest the far dts- tant should attract aud disturb. All this will come with the training. of which there will have to be consid- erable amount, involving much waste of powder. before our troops will be fit to fight with an enemy using smokeless gunpowder. Indeed, 1t will be for some time necessary to train the British soldier to engage in the old as well as the new battle with an enemy making great smoke. as we'll as with an enemy making none at all. Ac- cordingly the new powder will not be all gain. and it will impose deal of extra work and anxiety.
 1t is by no means clear what the issue would be if two bodies of soldiers equal in other respects. were using diff ferent forms of gunpowder. The ad- vantages of quick firing and clear sight might not long be with the smokeless weapons. and iii the thick of melee troops trained in the smokeless system might be somewhat bewildered. On the other hand, especially with artil- lery. massed or in detachments. and of fairly long range. the use of smokeless powder would undoubtedly be an ad- vantage. not only as regards rapid and accurate firing. but as offering less aim to an enemy obscured by his own smoke and with nothing but sound to guide him.
 With armies using smokeless pow der il may be that one of it's early ef- fects will be to affect the color of the soldiers dress, subduing 1t in tone. and so depriving the battlefield of an other oi it's picturesque elements. Judging distances by colors will be- come a most important feature in mill itary training and more attention will
 
 ranges as the different arms in use will carry. How eiiis may affect people afflicted with short sight will become very grave question, indeed. not who'll lv to be settled by the employment of artificial aid. Maneuvers will take place over larger areas before actual fighting begins. and something of an lnsiian's craft and natural keenness will be needed on the part of staff of- ticers. The impact of solid troops will be rarer probably and surprises much more frequent than they have been in recent warfare. unless freer handling of mounted troops is rrsorted to or surveys from fixed balloons can be made to play an important part. Smeke has been so good cover on many occasions that its absence will impose now conditions and natural cover will have to be much more extensively utilized.
 These are general suggestions not intended 10 do more than excite pre- limlnary surveys and ideas as to what the smokeless battles ef the future may be like. The strictly practical is for more elaborate examination in the light of the best information obtain able interpreted by the eommon-sense which ought to be brought to bear up- on the whole question. With the van- ishing poetry of the smoke of battle the prose of a new era will begin, in which combat will be more like game of chess in view of the pieces as whole. and new dispositions Of old qualities and virtues will be wanted. Cautioa will pay in u >nokeless combat. cnter- prise and vigor will win as before. but blunders will receive terrible pun ishment, fatal to armies and ruinouy t0 nations dependent on them.