The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-15
OUR NEW YORK LETTER
SOME FROZEN TRUTH ABOUT OUR
LACK OF SMoKElESs POWDER.

l -SNmt ky0@ nA< AtAAL0tN<4 IN
sticking to Old Fashioned Explosives.
and somebody Is Likely TO Reap y
DisAgreeabie Reward.
NKw YORK, July ls.-(Special l-"The
papers are printing whole lot about the
lack Of smokeless powder for our guns by
sea and land, said n man who Is thor
oughly familiar with the progress Of i'm
provement in explosiyeness, ordnance and
projectiles this morning, land some of IL
is not exactly complimentary. We're we
not in the midst of a war, when our weak
nesses should by no means be exposed,
should be glad, as an American citizen
who loves his country, TO have this matter
fully ventilated.
Even as il is, the stirring up now APP
parently sure 10 come may do no harm,
since the world already knows that we are
behind the age with our explosives and
has learned that our gunners can do better
work with old time smoke producing
brown powder, inferior though 1t be, than
most gunners can with the latest and best.
In the circumstances, then, am willing
to permit the publication Of few bits OF
frozen truth about Uncle Sans failure to
have plenty of modern explosives on hand,
used for the present.
"Among the excuses given for our lack
of smokeless powder have noticed the
statement that, none of the foreign pow
ders Of that general variety being quite
satisfactory, 1t had been decided to wait
until our government could make its own
before dscarding brown prismatio and
black grain powder. The government not
having succeeded in producing the better
smokeless powder, wo suddenly found our
selves confronted with war few weeks
ago with only obsolete explosives available
except in small quantities, and so forced
to use powder the firing of which produces
q smudge that decreases the effectiveness
of our gunners by at least one-third. In
reproducing this statement some newspa-
per editors have allowed themselves to go
so far as TO declare the present situation
due to neglect and incompetence
American SmoSeless Powder the Best.
Listen now to what have to say, and
you will agree with me that neglect and
incompetence are mild adjectives to apply
to the conduct of the officials personally
to blame for our lack Of smokeless powder
"Somo years ago-at just about the timo
smokeless powder was first successfully
manufactured abroad, in fact-an Ameri-
can ordnance inventor discovered that he
had produced gun which could not be
burst by all tho black or brown prismatic
powder he could crowd into the piece from
breech to muzzle and that unless he could
get more powerful explosive-not dyna-
mite or gun cotton or any other nitroglyc-
erin compound-it would be impossible
to give his gun thorough test. He tried
20 N ntra1ntitV Of cpNoEalacc rnnxy1ap
from the other side of the Atlantic, but
failed and in desperation set about the
compromising of powder himself that
should meet his requirements.
"In due time success rewarded his ef-
forts. After following many formulas re-
sulting wholly or partially in failure he
found one from which a powder was made
that proved several times more powerful
than any other of which he had knowl-
edge, while at the same time its explosion
produced virtually no smoke-less, in
deed, than 'cordite, the smokeloss powder
of Great Britain, or 'melinite, the smoke
less powder of France.
"After he had tested the new powder in
every conceivable way the inventor made
known his discovery to the government
and afforded its authorities every facility
for carrying on exhaustive tests. More
over, he offered the formula itself to Uncle
Sam on exceedingly advantageous terms.
No Civilian Need Apply.
"Well, the government took samples Of
the powder and made tho tests, which, by
the way, resulted in demonstrating, among
other things, that many of our present
guns on shore and shipboard could not
possibly stand large number of maxi
mum charge firings were the new explo-
sive used. That was the last the inventor
heard about it for long, long time.
"In the course of some months, how
ever, he was informed that his powder
was very nice indeed-that it was rather
better, in fact, than any foreign powder
yet tested in the United States; still 1t was
not altogether free from faults. Its smell
when burned was unpleasant; 1t produced
great heat, which might disable the guns
after many quickly fired consecutive shots,
and so on. Besides some officers connected
with tho navy-I think 1t was the navy,
though it may have been the army-were
hard at work as smokeless powder invent
ors, and, as neither war nor rumors of war
were then in sight, there would be no
trouble about finishing the experiments
and making all the smokeless powder that
could possibly be needed long before the
need could materialize. And Of course
the inventors offer of his formula was do
clined on any terms, with thanks, to be
sure, but firmly and finally. Uncle Sam
was to be allowed to use no powder not in
vented by member of either the naval or
the military service.
"In the meantime the French govern
ment had heard about the new American
smokeless powder and sent to this country
for something like half a ton Of the COM
pound, which the inventor shipped prompt
~. Some time later word was conveyed to
him that the powder had behaved magnifi-
Gently while under test-so magnificent
ly, indeed, that an intimation, unofficial
but still trustworthy, was made that
France would like to know on what terms
the formula would be turned over to Its
government The inventor declined to
name any terms whatsoever, and from
that day to this only just enough Of his
powder has been manufactured to carry
on his experiments In gunnery.