Evening star., 1898-10-22

An incident showing how wel-trainei
soldiers are ablo to look out for them
selves said a retired naval officer to
Star reporter. occurred during the war
with Spain when the troops We're advanc-
irx against the Spanish lines near Sam
ti.go. / get the story from an officer in
Orrr army who was there As we all know.
owing tn the great obstacles encountered.
tn, men were much embarrassed with their
impcdimerts. and in the excitement of the
InOmert dives;ed themselves of almost
everything but canteers arms and amIuu-
milton
"A regiment Of reguIars-dismoCnte ed cav
alry-left behind them under orders of the
officers haversacks. pOnchos. blankets and
perhaps other effects. Now mark where
military training showed 10 advan-
tage. These men-clvalry-had been
drilled to act dismounted. when one
man is detailed to look out for a Ger
tain mum her of horses. They had no horses
in Cuba. but the principle of looking ont
for their belongings was not forgotten;
men were detailed to guard the temporarily
discarded important effects. and when the
action was over the men of this regiment
were well provided for and ready for
further service.
We have learned from the papers thai
many of the troops suffered for lack of food
ana protection from the clements because
the discarded articles had been lost or
taken ny the Cuban hauGers-on.
This example of how trained soldiers act
may be OF U.s.. in future campaigns. Never
having seen this method referred TO- ana
thinking that it may b. of interest. per-
haps value. l give it for what it may be
worth
"Smokeless powder is 20 great extent
a matter of the future. explained an ord
nance expert to a Star reporter. There is
no doubt that it will come some time. but
50 far there has heen no complete success
i'll that line. Nearly all countries al
work on it, and the best chemists are Civ
ing it attention The result so far is three
CT four combinations of nitric acid and
glyceriue or niJrU-glycerines. but they are
not entirely smokeless. OF course, they are
ali an Improvement on the old-fashioned
black OF charcoal powder, which got its ex
piosive power from nitrate OF potash. far
as strength is cone rued. but is The b own
powder. which is nearly zm"keless. There
has been d powder on the market for over
five years which is known as nitro powder.
II is known also as smOkeless powder. and,
as far as sporting uses are concerned, has
almost entirely supPiauled black powder.
1t Is a much stronger powder, one-half OF
the quantity doing the work OF black pow
der when made up into cartridges. 1t costs
slightly more. but there is no reason why
il should except that Il Is d novelty. 1t has
received the Endorsement of all OF the best
spOrtsmen. and for all practical purposes
Is SInOkeIcSS much any powder, but,
as SAID before. i not entirely so. During
the several days " hen CUR army actual
ly engaged in WARFARE III CuUd there Were
frequent references IN the newspapers 70
the statement that the Spdniards were bet
prepared than army that they
mad an actual smokeless powder. This was
an error in fact. and no official report has
ever been made bearing il out. The Span
iardS had only what We haVe-brOwn pow
dtT-and there i still some smoke discern
lhle when II is exploded. There have been
hundreds Of formulas prepared and tested,
and while nearly all Of them are an i'm
provement on the charcoal powder of for
mer times. it is missioner as yet to call
them Smukelcss powder. But snokeless
powder will be fact in less than Two years.
hut We Will not have any advantage over
other nations in its use for they will he as
well off in this particular as we will be
There j. a difference in the formulas. buI
the base Is the same nitro-gIycarfre
SmOkeleSs powder has part cular value for
sharpshCOters. II allows them an oppor-
tunity to do damage 10 the enemy and re
duces-the chances Of them being discovered
SharpshOoting IS only an incident of war
fare and small one in comparison to oth hers
though ii is well enough 10 take every ad-
vantage that is fair and possible. This fact
- nat !" III HdStt tI tIe coming OF SEnOkeleSS
powder II will be of no advantage for
naval purposes, for naval work has TO be
done in the open"
There Is very general objection among
business men to serving on juries in civil
or criminal cases observed a welI-known
business man to a Star reporter: mot alto
gathe' because il occupies time which
Business man can hardly spare but be
cause Of the methods pursued by lawyers
in trying cases. They waste too much
time in words. words and nothing but
words. An ordinary business man will de-
velOp and absorb all the material facts in
a given case in less than half the time 1t
takes lawyer 10 do so. He applies busi-
ness methods, direct and positive, while the
ordinary lawyer APPLIES legal methods
which are covered w with time-hOnored
c"bwebs. The lawyers don't use direct
questions or leading questions because it is
against court house practices to do So
while a business man always uses them in
preference TO going about it in a rounJa-
bout way. II is very tiresOme for a busi-
ness man To have To sit in a court room
sll day long listening to lawyers splitting