The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-10-20
MOSl CHANGE TACTICS
General Brooks Makes an In.
teresting Report on Army
Improvements.

| WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 1894.-Briga-
dier General Brooks Commander of the
Department of the Plato, which IN
cludes the States of Wyoming and Ne
braska, with headquarters at Omaha,
in his annual report to the Adjutant
General of the Army refers briefly
to the fact that during May and part of
June the operation of the Union Pa
cifc Railroad. now under control of the
United States Courts, was interrupted
by the action of certain irresponsible
bodies calling themselves industrial
Armies and during the months of July
and August up to the date of his report,
August 27, the trans-continental roads
and branches were seriously interfered
with by strikers. In both cases the
U. S. troops under his command We're
successfully used to restore order and
open the roads to traffic. A full account
of these troubles were reserved by Cen
eral Brooks for a subsequent special
report. During the year two of the In
dian Infantry companies in accordance
with law and at their own request, were
discharged from the service. The In
dians throughout the department were
quiet and peaceable.
Gen. Brooke submits very interest
ing report from his ordnance officer,
Captain Ayres, who conducted a number
of experiments, and makes some valu-
able recommendations. The new maga-
zine rifle. 80 calibre, was not tried at
the range as no ammunition had been
supplied for it. An objection made to
the gun is that the position of carry
arms" with it is very uncomfortable.
The remedy, however, is plain; the army
must abandon the carry altogether.
1t is also quite probable that the right
shoulder position should be changed.
Certainly no sportsman ever carried
his gun while hunting as prescribed IN
the tactics for right shouloe, arms.
The tactics must suit the ride, and
they become obsolete as soon as an i'm
proved weapon renders them inconveni-
ent. Objection is found to the new Is
calibre revolver, the accuracy Of which
was found considerably superior
to that of the old calibre As.
The main spring, however, was too
weak and sometimes failed to explode
the cartridge. The revolver breaks to
the left and most of the officers think
it should break to the right. 1t makes
probable that with practice more rapid
firing could be done dismounted with
one on the reverse plan. The revolver,
however, is essentially a weapon for
use on horseback and the reason is plain
why the cylinder should open to the re-
port The reins are held in the left hand
and the revolver in the right in fight
ing. 1t is simply a question as to which
hand can be more conveniently empt1ed
50 that it can be used to handle the
cartridges. Evidently the revolver can
be thrown into the left hand much more
easily than the reins can be changed to
the right, and it follows that the cylin-
der should open to the right.
A radical recommendation is made IN
favor of experiments at the rifle ranges
with black targets and buff bullseyes
and rings, the idea beng TO reduce the
element of glare to minimum. By the
simple change of making the body of
the target black. the reflection of light
from the target could be almost entirely
obviated, since the only visible rejecting
surface in this case would be the bulls
eyes. For distribution of ammunition
for line of battle it is proposed to aban-
don carts and wagons, and use pack
mules exclusively. 1t is stated that a
pack-mule will carry three thousand
rounds of new calibre cartridges. The
animal can go wherever Il man can, and
thus take advantage of natural shelter
from fire. He could be taken along
ravines. behind ridges, through timber
and under cover of buildings and thus
keep out of sight of the enemy. Two of
those mules would be sufficient for
each company, and they would be use
full on the march for collecting supI-ies
from the country, to gather wood for
the fires. and to bring water to a dry
camp.
AS result of the policy of encourag-
ing Indians to agricultural pursuits,
Gen. Brooke mentions that all the wood
and hay and a portion of the oats re-
year have been purchased from the
Indians in the vicinity of the post,
which is 147 miles from any railroad.