The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-10
KEEPING UP TO DATE.
Enormous Waste Involved in Military
Changes Here and Elsewhere.
Grant Hamilton.

Grant Hamilton
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 G15O 600, or $750G90.
In no private business, and in no other
branch of the government service, are such
enormous losses possible as in the army
and navy. A sudden change in the fashion
of women's clothing may make or break
manufacturer; the rage for bicycles may
bring ruin to the carriage maker, but their
losses are small, comparatively, and may
be retrieved.
But when new gun or new system of
fertilization is devised, the old is abandoned
forever, and the value which it represented
is a total loss.
n ent of the United States ever made was
when it discarded the Misunderstanding rifle
for the breech-loader, and the smOoth-bore
cannon for the rifed 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 million and a half in number,
and their cost had been from $12 to SIS. AT
inally $22, 500, 900. OF this sum about one
third or one-quarter was recovered by the
sale of the guns to other nations in time of
war, so the actual loss to the government
was 900. These guns, it is true, had
been used in the war, and presumably the
government had got $l5,OO0,0 600 worth of serv-
Ice out of them; but they were in good con-
dition and might have been used by our
little standing army of $4,000 men for half
IL
The Springfield rifle costs a little more
than the od-style musket. 1t was replaced
by the magazine gun of small calibre and
high velocity. The old guns were not dis
carded when the new ones came in. They
are las good as gold" says General Flag
Ter the chief of ordnance of the army
They were put through the armory, where
all worn parts were replaced, and 80 per
cent. of them was restored to prime condi-
tion They will be kept in reserve for use
in time of trouble The officers of the gov
eminent will not even say how many of
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
seventy-eight guns have been given away,
principally to Grand Army posts; also 132
gun carriages and about nine thousand shell.
This ordnance, like the muskets, had seen
good service, and, besides, its original cost
was comparatively small. An old eight-inch
smooth-bore cost about $780, while an
eight-inch modern rifled gun costs $15 900.
There is an amazing difference in the eff
cheney of the two, however. The old smooth
bore was a y-six-pounder, and used 1912
pounds of powder The modern gun of the
same calibre is a three-hundred-pounde
and uses 1875 pounds of powder
When the Navy Department adopted a
new rifle recently 1t turned the old rifles
over to the naval militia. There were more
than 1000 OF them, and they. were worth
about $4,000. Even If there had been no
militia to equip, the loss by this change
would have been comparatively small
IICIS are lO,VVU VI tie new EluGS,
those for the marine corps, and they cost
about $175 900.
At the end of the war the Navy Depart
ment did not forthwith tumble overheard
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 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 $3.50 900 to s., 900 600
each. 1t is not likely that conditions will
arise which will render them entirely obso-
lete AS for our 4-inch and 13-nch guns
which cost the government from $3.50 to
$50 900 each, the only changes likely to oc-
cur 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 wholly new construction
which will leave millions of dollars worth
of heavy ordnance practically useless on
our hands