Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-27
COSTLY CHANGES,
Enormous Losses Caused I'm KeepinI
Armies Up to Date.

Enormous Losses Caused in Keeping
Armies Up to Date.
From the Philadelphia Press
In no private business and in no other
branch Of the government service are such
enormous losses possible as in the army
and navy
When a new gun or a new system CT
fertilization is devised the old is abandon
ed forever, and the value which it repre-
scented is total loss.
The British navy. not long ago. declared
obsolete a certain type of torpedo. In do
ing so it discarded torpedoes which had
cost it about 100000. or $4,000.
The costliest change which the govern
ment of the United States ever made was
when 1t discarded the Misunderstanding rifle
Tor the breech-loader, and the smooth-bore
cannon for the rified gun at the end of the
civil war The heavy ordnance discarded
at that time represented an Investment Of
many millions-it would be difficult to say
Just how much. The discarded muskets
were about a million and half in number
and their cost had been from $12 to $1S
At an average Of SIS they were worth or
iginally. $225OO,OOO.
OF this sum about one-third or one-quar-
ter was recovered by the sale of the guns
to other nations in time of war. so the ac-
tuai loss 10 the government was $4,000 600
THESE guns. it Is true. had been used in
the war. and presumably the government
had got $15.OOO.OOO worth of service out of
them: but they were in good condition and
might have been used by our little stand
Ing army Of 5000 men for half a century
II the style had not changed.
The Springfield rifle cost a little more
than the old-styie musket. 1t was replaced
by magazine gun of small caliber and
high velocity. The old guns were not dis
cdrded wnen the new ones came in. They
are ''as good as gold.' says General Flag
ler, the chief of ordnance of the army.
NUT 30
all worn parts were replaced. and 80 per
cent of them Were restored to prime condi-
ton. They will be kept in reserve for use
In time of trouble. The officers of the gov
them there are, for fear foreign nations
should base on that information an esti-
mate of our fighting resources.
Some of the Old heavy ordnance still has
uses, but most of 1t has been sold for old
iron or given away. Three hundred and
seventy-eight guns have been given away,
principally to Grand Army posts; also 1872
gun carriages. and about 1900 shells.
This ordnance. like the muskets had
seen good service. and. besides, it's original
cost was comparatively small. An old
elsht-inch smooth-bore cost about 81 800,
while an eight-inch modern rifle gun costs
sio,oo There Is an amazing difference in
the efficiency of the two. however The
Old sHooth-bore was fifty-six-pounder
and used ten and one-haf pounds of DOW
der The modern gun of the same caliber
powder.
Whens the Navy department adopted
new rifle recently. it turned the old rifles
over to the naval militia. There were more
than 5000 of them, and they were worth
about $1,000 Even If there had been no
militia to equip. the loss by this change
would have been comparatively small
There are ten thousand of the new rifles
includingthose for the Marine Corps, and
they cost about $4,000.
AT the end of the war the Navy DEPART
ment did not forthwith tumble overboa I'd
the old cast-iron cannon and substitute the
modern built-up gun. The change has been
gradual, and some of the old guns are still
IN use on our ships of war. Nor were the
wooden ships of the old navy discarded, ex-
cept as they wore out.
The ships Of the new navy are of the very
latest design. and cost $3.50 600 to s., 600 900
each. 1t is not likely that conditions will
arise which will render them entirely obso-
lete AS for our four-inch to thirteen-inc h
guns which cost the government from
$3.50 to 10000 each, the only changes
likely to occur are in their mechanism and
these are small compared with the total
cost of the gun. Still any day some genius
may come to the front with a wholly new
construction which will leave millions Of
dollars worth of heavy ordnance practi-
cally useless on our hands.