Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-10-13
FIELD GUNS IN WAR.
THEY ARE THE FAvORiTE WEAPONS
 AMONG MILITARY MEN

Fired With Great Rapidity, Are Ac-
 ert Tremendous Energy.
 Ths betterment of the modern field gun is fully equal to the development of other branches of military armament
 It has been especially rapid within the last dozen years. The work of special ists and the results of extended tests have ended in the production of weap- on of great accuracy and of titanic force The field gun of today is the fa- vorite weapon of the military man, and he expects from it some very remark able demonstrations when opportunity to use it occurs.
 Napoleon is credited with the remark that Providence is always on the side of the heavy artillery, but the artillery which Napoleon knew was not worthy to be mentioned on the same day with tho light, graceful and deadly arm with which the moderns are prepared to do slaughter. The first great step forward was taken when the breechloading ac- 1 tion was invented We'll known scien- l tific 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 it's range as rife 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 arc every bit as good. Like oue other ordnance. they are all made on ] this side of the water. The American manufacturer yields to no one i'll ability to make Q perfect weapon Indeed many of the chief improvements in field guns and in the larger sizes, sometimes called l "siege' guns, are the products of Amer ican brains
 The field guns of the United States army are made at Watervliet, N. Y, l just as the large guns for the navy and l for coast defense are turned out ot l Washington. They have a caliber of little more than three inches, are, og course, breech1oading, are rather lengthy for their width and are lightly but strongly mounted. They use point ed shell which explodes either on COIL cussion or by time fuse, generally tho former, and are fired with great rapidity. Back gun of a battery is in command of lieutenant, who, under the eye of his superior, sights 1t and directs it's working He has his elevation, depres. sion and wind gauge formulR at his fingers ends, and with him good shoot 1 ing is mainly question of care The powder used in these guns is of the smaller grained brown hexagonal kind, l though the pheroidal is preferred fer come calibers
 The reeoil of this gun on level ground is 26 feet, with tho wheels unlocked. l With the wheels locked 1t recoils five feet, and Is run forward and resighted very swiftly. It's point blank range Is 3, 900 yards It can be made effective at 0 much greater distance, of course, but officers prefer that range for accurate shooting
 l It fell to mo some seven years ago to report the first field trial given the 1 Watervliet 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, q most ca= pablo 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 s ranch. 80 miles north of San Antonio.
 Tho guns were planted in line and 20 feet apart OH the side of green hill and pointed across a shallow valley. On the opposite hill, s,200 yards away, tent fly was put up as target IL was 15 by feet in dimension and was stretched on two poles At that distance it looked like nothing i'll the world so much as man pocket handkerchief. One shot was fired as 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 tho tar get, according to the firing directions, with as much accuracy as @ man would ase 0 Winchester rife at 100 yards. The work was done with the precision of clock There was the rush of the piece into it's first position, the quick command to load, the rapid aim and discharge, tho faint scream of the shell, the puff of srlcl.o and dull report as 1t struck and t.lo ,-ast rose up in pillar.
 WEcn 1t was ended, we rode across che 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 90 yards below tho other pole, for 30 yards on either side of it and for 100 yards above it the earth was not plowed -.it was narrowed An ant could not have lived on the ground.
 It was not difficult to imagine what would have become of m opposing force
 Men and horses would have been dead and all guns disnounted in five minutes