Evening star., 1899-04-07
ARMS FOR THE VOLUNTEERS
An Argument in Favor of the Abandonment
of the Springfield Rife.
Slur Upon Their Intelligence to As
sert That They Cannot Learn to
Handle Improved Weapons.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:

IToiu -Md1lHd dS puDilSneu IN Inc star OF
| March n, the same statement that has be-
fore been made from there. and that came
so frequently during the operations at San
| tiago, thai our volunteers were handicap
ped in fighting by the fact that their Spring
field rifles of shorter range than the
Mauser rifles in the hands of the enemy
Besides that disadvantage, as all know,
the Mauser can be fired far more rapidly
than the Springfield, and how impirtant that
| is is shown by the repeated statements as
to the terrific volleys with which our men
were met when attacking or charging the
Philippine intrenchments and at other
times. A writer in Harpers Magazine in
October last. describing the operations at
Santiago, said:
Perhaps the greatest blunder was in
arming the volunteers with Springfield rifles
shooting 1000 yards and burning black pow
der against Spanish rifles shooting 2,0o0
yards and burning smokeless powder. This
was not a bunder ii was criminal
Adjutant General Corbin. in speaking of
the difficulties of equipping the volunteers
at the breaking out of the war, is reported
as saying: We placed many of these men
| in the ranks short of cartridges, short OF
cartridge belts and armed with muskets of
antique pattern, interesting in museum,
but out of place in modern battle.
For that there was some excuse then, but
there is none now, for according to the re-
| port of the commission to investigate the
war, September /, 1898, there were on
carbines, and. as since stated in the press,
there were 6000 of these rifles lying in the
arsenal at Benicia, Cal. and which might
have been sent to the Philippines at any
time.
AS stated in The Star, the volunteers in
the Philippines were actually more vet
! eranized than many of the regulars, have
been in the service now for nearly year,
and in that time have done more hghtlng
| than any other branch of the army-that
they were put to the front for that reason,
. tlnXr
kept there indefinitely, although their term
| of service has expired. Why were not these
men provided with the best arm, so at least
as to put them an equality with the en-
emy? The excuse now given is the same as
was given in July last in answer TO the
| complaints from Santiago, when Roosevelt
said that 4,00o men armed with the new gun
would be equal to 1o,oD armed with spring
fields 1t is that the kraag-J orgensen Is as
delicate and gets out of order as easily as
watch: that the volunteers could not
learn to use il in less than six months, that
| the Springfield is equally as good, and IN
| fact was preferred by the regulars. See The
| Star of July IS 1898, and of March IL, 1883.
This is the same old excuse that was
| Urged in S61-6s against the adoption of
breech-lo leaders ard metallic cartridges,
when the then chief of ordnance INSISTED
| that 1.-The best arm ever made, and the only
arm fit to put in the hands of the common
soldier was the old smooth-bore fiint-lock
musket. with buck and ball"' 1t Is the
| same was urged in the fortles against
| the adoption of the percussion cap in place
| of the flint. In tho words of an experienced
| regular army officer who served in the civil
war. this is mere tommy rot" There Is
no sense or reason in it.
If the K~aag-JorgenSen is so delicate and
gets out of order so easily, why was 1t
| adopted by the army board? If the Spring
| field is good gun, why was II discarded
| and the Kraag-Joreensen adopted in its
| stead? If preferred by the regulars, why
| are they armed with the Kraag-Jorgensen?
| If the Springfield is the best gun for the
volunteers, why are they so anxious to
| have thS other. as our District men were
| and are? If the men prefer the old Spring
| field why was it, stated in The Star at
| the time, that a Virginia regiment refused
| to go to Cuba until given the Kraag-Jor-
| gensens-and why We're the latter sent to
| Porto Rico to take the place of the Spring
| fields then in the hands of the men? The
| statement that American volunteers cam
! not learn to use the new gun in less than
| six months is an insult to the intelligence
| of the volunteers and of the American peo-
pie.
Who are these volunteers that they are
| so stupid? The President was reported in
| The Star recently as saying that many of
lhe prlVateS were graduates of our col
, leges, as We know many in the Rough
RIDERS We're, and as those of our District
| regiment were of our high schools And do
! they mean to tell US or to make the public
| believe that these men haven't sufficient in
| telligence or ability to learn to use the new
| gun? 1t is simply absurd. A regular army
| officer, Gen. F. V. Greene writing to our
| peace commission at Paris, in speaking of
i tnese very volunteers now doing the fight
| ing IN the philippines. says that when the
Spanish officials at Manila after its can
| ture declined to perform their duties he
| Iouhd among the American volunteers
| men competent for every position in The
| government service. legal financial admin
| lstratlVe, mechanical and clerical who took
| charse OF the various positions with conf
| promptness; and that in the California and
colorado regiments of volunteers he found
| no less than thirty good Interpreters -
| (See Treaty of Peace Sen Doc NJ co
| l, p. 42S) '-' p''
| correspondent of an English n.nar
speaking of these same volunteers. said Of
| lhem: They are excellent specimens Of
| robust manhood; their standard Of adnoo
ton and intelligence far above tbe a,orarra
| ana the readiness with which they learned
| 10 handle the new gun was remarkabia ;,
lhese are the men who we are now told
cahhot learn to use the new gun In less
| Ihan six months and who we are now in"
formed are being unnecessarily Slaughtered
because OF the want of the new guni
III the intelligent American volunteers can
hot learn to use and care for the new gun
now is 1t that the ignorant Tagals whom
We We are loIo are uncivilized and unfit for
more complicated Mausers? "
How is 1t that American citizens and a,,an
OUT ihoiahs buy every year thousands of
Winchesters Martins and other magazine
guns and use and care for them from The
day they are bought without instrnct;or.
4
from any one?
Take the list of our District volunteers
Whom Commissioner Ross mentions as
wanting positions, including lawyers. first
class mechanical craftsmen bookkeepers
stenographers and typewriters real estate
clerks, capable young men with college edu-
cation, machinists, locksmiths, bell-hangers
pressmen, boilermakers, ironworkers black
smiths, timers, carpenters, etc, and many
young men capable, as he says, of filling re-
sponsible positions, and then tell us that
such men are not as capable of learning
to use magazine gun as are the Filipinos
or our own Indians! 1t is too absurd to
talk about. / assert without fear of sue
cessful contradiction, by actual trial that
any ordinarily intelligent American citizen
can learn to use the new gun successfully
| in an hour, and as to taking care of it
there is no more difficulty than with any
| modern magazine gun, and which private
citizens and the Indians do all the time
without the instruction to which the vol
| unteers are entitled and should receive
Again, am informed, what 1 believe
to be reliable authority. that while the gov
ernment was in possession of a large num-
ber Of the most improved Calling guns
of recent make, only seventeen of the old
Styla were sent to the Philippipes