The Washington times., 1895-01-20
CLOAK ROOM AND GALLERY.

The inventor OF the Calling gun was at ths
Capitol yesterday. DR.. Gatling is a phiIan-
throphist in appearance. An old gentleman.
with white hair and whiskers. his face wears
the appearance that one would expect TO find
in viewing the inventor of some elixir of
happiness TO be distributed free of charge.
Still II is question whether the most deadly
gun known to history has not saved thousands
OF lives and prevented much misery.
Il have received at least fifty letters" said
DR.. Gatling, to TIMES reporter yesterday
afternoon, telling me Of instances in which
my gun has caused the suppression OF riots
without bloodshed. simply because the people
knew their deadly effect, that fact causing the
crowd TO disperse.
by the way" continued the doctor" the
most important invention tN the military
world to-day is smokeless powder Such
powder being twice as powerful as ordinary
powder, has made the old small arms of the
past useless. The barrels of such arms are
not strong enough 70 stand the strain incident
TO firing the smokeIess powder The result
is there are 100000 OF guns for sale ID
Europe at S1.50 each, and 20, ,O00. 900 car
tridges that can be bought for 81 per thou
sand. although they cost the possessors $40
per thousand.
"As for my Gatling guns, both England
and Russia have at least twice as many OF
them as has the United States"
DIR. Calling is recognized as an authority
on small arms. Any officer OF the Army or
Navy feels that he can learn something about
arms and ammunition by a talk with him.
The older officers OF the Navy complain be-
cause of what they consider to be unjust bro
visions Of the bill TO reorganize the personnel
Of the naval branch n
bill is passed all the officers entering the serv-
Ice since 1863 will be pushed ahead I53 places
One hundred officers Will be placed on the re-
serve list and of the officers who came into
the service as volunteers twenty-three will be
set aside. while there will be promotions to
make fifteen new captains and fifteen new
commanders.
This Will make 153 vacancies to give the
younger officers promotions, which, it is ar
gued, is excessive, rs q promotion of thirty
places Is the highest that can possibly be Sc
cured for bravery, while usually exceptional
yalor shown by an officer wins him but fifteen
places. They say the bill lust introduced in
the Senate and the report made on it are de-
ceptive. While the report leads the reader to
believe that duties are assigned to officers on
the reserve list they are not in fact so as
signed IN the bill, although the duties OF Off
GERS or the active list are given in detail
On the other hand. the Younger officers OF
etiS Navy SetN tHeJ Will grow Old, as tlelr I'M
mediate predecessors have without knowing
the feeling of being in command of ship un-
less something is done TO break the stagna-
ton in the Navy. The bill has a great many
friends at the Navy Department, although
1t will be vigorously fought when it comes
up in the House of Representatives.
The rules of the Senate and House OF
Representatives are very hard to understand.
During an ordinary session Of the House
cards may be taken to Representatives at any
time When eulogies are being delivered on
deceased members, however, as was the case
Yesterday afternoon. the delivery OF cards to
members is prohibited. The ushers are az
liberty. however to go on the floor and tell a
member that he has caller waiting for him
in the corridor. 1t takes a very finely ad-
jusred legal mind 10 understand the logic of
the reasoning that caused the framing OF this
rule.
ALL members OF Congress are hardworkers
for the good of their country. but the absent
mindedness of a representative from West
ern State would cause suspicion in the minds
of most people whether ne attends his COM
mitIee meetings as much as once in every six
months. This member was asked yesterday
of what committees he was a member.
"Well, II am a member of the - let
me see - Here he gave his head gentle
scratch) well really - just at this moment
- the fact is don't recall what committees
] belong to Just now