The Portland daily press., 1896-06-11

|
partment Issued-Cost of Maintaining
the Great Armies of the Old World
Reducing the Ca1ibre of Infantry
WeapOns-Aluminium Growing in
Favor.
New York Times.)
Washington, June 6.-The long-await-
ed annual from the military information
division of the War Department. has ap-
peared, styled "Notes on Organization
Armament and Military Progress. The
work is revision of former notes. bring
ing the military information down to
date. The notes On foreign artillery
which it was hoped to include in this
edition have been reserved for q future
issue. and the notes or inirenching tools
which formed an interesting portion IF
previous numbers have been omitted.
The present volume starts off with a
description of the arimes of Austria, Bel
GUM, Colombia, England, France, Ger
many, Holland, Italy, Mexico, Russia,
Spain and Switzerland. The informa-
ton includes some particularly valuable
data regarding the available streng tn
and cost of the various organizations from
which some idea may be obtained of the
contributions. human and fiscal, poade
to preserve the peace of continent
The inoomprehensible sum of $500, OOO,-
600 is annually offered as tribute to en-
during tranquility among the European
countries. The largest fund expended
yearly by any country in behalf Of it's
army is that Of Russia, TIE latest mill
tary budget of which amounted to $213,
COO, COO. This fund went to support, in
maze of organization and government
the monstrous army of 3, J77 600, which
serves as a nucleus for the more gigantic
force of 12, 91S, 00O in time of trouble
The Germ ans come next with their
expenditures. that their army of 584, 734
may be ready for emergency. when the
force can be increased to 3,7o0, OO0
France expends 1923, 600, COO to keep 524,
1853 men In training ready to be
augmented into force of 2,930,00o. The
cost of Great Britain's army is but $50,
Q00,C which is an economical SUN,
and abroad, carries on its pay rolls a
force of S65. 421. That interesting coun-
try, Spain maintains an army of 95, 900 at
a cost of $23, 100, QUO per year. Compared
with other European armies, the Span
ish force appears trivial, but it is nearly
four times larger than the American or
ganizaui on, if not as intelligent, efficient
and well disciplined. Belgium has force
Of 43, 359 Holland one of q, 500, and Italy
has a peace army of s22. s75, and PRO.
spectlve for war Of 3, 1897, GOO.
| In the notes On small arms valuable
| table shows the principal weights and
Dimensions of the infantry weapons of
| the various armies, and evidently is the
result Of much careful compilation. A
| glance at the table shows that the small
| Ter States, which have but recently re-
armed their infantry, have adopted small
Ter calibres than the great military pow
ers whose armament antedates the former
by several years. Should calibres of
smaller dimensions prove decisive su-
periority over those now employed by
Germany, France, Russia, and other
countries, nothing Of course will be al
lowed by these nations to stand in the
way of a rearmament with the most i'm
proved weapon of infantry. How far
further reductions of oalibre will 60 it
is impossible to foretell at this time, but
it may be stated that voices from various
quarters begin to make themselves heard
against any further reduction in calibre.
The inventors, while tireless in their
| efforts, appear to have devoted them
selves to devising automatic small arms
and to improving the present models,
rather than to the production of new
patterns of magazine rifles. The i'm
proved Mauser and Mannlicher rifles, or
combination of them. have met with
great favor in recent Tournaments, par
Gicularly in South America, and, in con-
sequence, Germany and Austria have be-
come the leaders in the manufacture of
small arms for service use.
In reyolvers and pistols, the military
powers generally cling to calibres over
40, with bullet weight from $50 to 31S
grains, although their officers are often
supplied with lighter and less bulky
weapon of reduced calibre. 1t is re-
marked that the United States Colt, cali
5re .3S, has, with the exception Of the
Swiss dismounted officers, and French
pistol, lighter weight bullet. by nearly
80 grains, than any other. The Italian
model 1895 cartridge. that of The French
model 1892, and that of the Russian
three-line pistol, are the only cases
where the bullets are jacketed, and the
Italian and Russian revolvers are the
only instances in which smokeless pow
der is used. Unfortunately the resultant
initial velocity is not given, except for
the Russian pistol.
The experts are watching with much
| interest the experiments being conducted
with repeating pistols and the automatic
weapons of that type. There are oppo-
nents of the system, mainly on The
ground that such pistols are too compli-
| Gated, easily disarranged, wasteful of
| ammunition, and of greater liability to
| accidents, especially to comrades 1t
some of the systems the pistol continues
| firing as long as the finger presses the
triggor-that is, until the magazine is
exhausted; therefore, the effects of the
involuntary grasp or pressure of this
trigger can be imangined, in the hands
| OF wounded or killed soldier. The ad-
vocates Of the system find good many
technical reasons why the old type of re-