New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1898-06-08

was taken when the breechloading &C
ton was invented. Well known scien-
tifc rules Of boring and the improve
ment in projectiles and powders have
done the rest. The field gun now in use
by the powers is as accurate at its range
as rifle and has tremendous energy.
The United States has no better field
guns than those with which the armies
Of Germany and France are armed, but
they are every bit as good. Like our
other ordnance, they are all made on
this side of the water. The American
manufacturer yields to no one in ability
to make perfect weapon. Indeed many
Of the chief improvements in field guns
and in the larger Sizes sometimes called
"siege'' guns, are the products of Amer
lean brains.
The field guns Of the United States
army are made at Watervliet, n Y,
just as the large guns for the navy and
for coast defense are turned out at
Washington. They have caliber of
little more than three inches, are, of
course. breechloading, are rather
lengthy for their width and are lightly
but strongly mounted. They use point
ed shell which explodes either on con-
cussion or by time fuse, generally the
former, and are fired with great rapidity.
Each gun of a battery is in command
Of lieutenant, who, under the eye Of
his superior, sights it and directs it's
working. He has his elevation, depres-
sion and wind gauge formula at his
fingers ends, and with him good shoot
ing is mainly question Of care The
powder used in these guns is Of the
smaller grained brown hexagonal kind,
though the pheroidal is preferred for
some cahbers.
The recoil Of this gun on level ground
is 26 feet, with the wheels unlocked.
With the wheels locked it recoils five
feet, and is run forward and resighted
very swiftly. Its point blank range is
1900 yards. It can be made effective at
much greater distance, Of course, but
officers prefer that range for accurate
shooting.
1t fell to me some seven years ago to
report the first field trial given the
Wateryliet guns. Three of them were
sent to Fort Sam Houston at San An
tonic, where Light Battery F, Third
artillery, was stationed under command
OF Major James B. Burbank, a most Ca
pable officer, now attached to the staff
of the governor Of New York Major
Burbank was instructed to try them out
thoroughly, and for this purpose select
ed an ideal range on Ganahl's ranch, 60
,,or+I, of Co.,
The guns were planted in line and
20 feet apart on the side Of a green hill
and pointed across a shallow valley
On the opposite hill, 1900 yards away,
tent fly was put up as target. It
was Is by 9 feet in dimension and was
stretched on two poles. At that distance
it looked like nothing in the world so
| much as mans pocket handkerchief.
One shot was fired as q range finder,
and that shot proved the range was
found Then the; work began.
For half an hour these guns pitched
shells through or under or over the tar
I get, according to the firing directions,
with as much accuracy as man would
use q Winchester rifle at 100 yards
The work was done with the precision
Of a clock There was the rush Of the
piece into its first position, the quick
command to load, the rapid aim and
discharge, the faint scream of the shell,
the puff of smoke and dull. report as it
struck and the dust rose up in q pillar.
| When it was ended, we rode across
the valley and up the opposite slope to
the spot where the tent fly had stood
bits of it lay about here and there. One
Of the poles was bitten short off. For,
so yards below the other pole, for 80
yards on either side Of it and for 100
yards above it the earth was not plowed,
lit was narrowed An ant could not
have lived on the ground
It was not difficult to imagine what
would have become Of an opposing force.
Men and, horses would have been dead
and all guns dismounte in five minutes
| after the firing began. There could have
been no better nlustr lion Of the abso-
lutely fatal character Of these pieces.
It was found that they did not become
unmanageab1e through heat, that the
breech mechanism displayed no sign Of
| strain, that the recoil was not greater
than was calculated and that accuracy
was as perfect with the last shell as
with the first These findings were re-I
ported to the Washing ton authorities,
and the manufacture of the gums went
on The regular army is now thorough
| y supplied with chem. Chicago Times-
Herald ~
l so Yv,.% xs1ps. : - !, 81. "a
e seems like q Dream he said ii
peaking Of his court ship
boy, z replied the veteran,
when you wake up after marriage you.
will find that that IS Just exactly what
= is-nothing but 3 dream = Chicago
Post.