New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-26

THEY ARE MOVED AND MOUNTED
The average civilian in this country may we'll
be pardonel for not knowing that a siege train
is an outfit Of guns specially designed for bat
te"ing strong fOrtilicatiOns. In Germany the
well Informed lawyer merchant is just
likely to know about siege trains to know
about cavalry brigades because there the siege
train is a permanent part Of the empires mill
tary organization. and has been 50 for-to in
sure safety by vagueness-many generations.
But both in this country and in the Queens do
minions. outside of India. the scraping together
OF siege train when the occasion calls for it
is one Of those practical difficulties Of a great
war which tend to make the personnel Of war
offices Individually averse to IA vigorous for
eIgn policy"
1t is not that either Uncle Sam or his friend
John Bull is short Of siege guns with brown
prismatic powder, smokeless veriform ditto, cast
iron and steel shells, lyddite, thoritc, dynamite
and all kinds Of disintegrating chemical and
mechanical contrvances. These things are kept
on hand, like the harmless necessary ipecac in
the closets Of large and we'll regulated families.
But whereas the German siege train is as much
a standing organization Of specially trained men
as any regiment of Uhlans or Jagers, the per-
sonnet of the British siege train in times OF
peace-or Of the chronic small wars which serve
to maintain the Pax Britannica"-exists in 4
skeleton form being merely a body Of specially
instructed officers and non-commssoned off
GERS qualified to instruct others at comparatively
short notice and the same is true Of this coun-
try. This is why the British War Office has TO
ask the people to give it time for the prepara-
ton Of that siege train with which the Boer
capital is, or, it may be presumed, will
be, threaten
According 10 the dispatches the train in que5-
ton is TO employ altogether about a thousand
men. Little or nothing has been reported as to
what these numbers mean in the way Of horses,
guns and other material II has only recently
been reported that the principal weapon will be
the G-inch howitzer, and that the allowance II
horses will be twelve to a gun. 1t is. however,
interesting just now to consider the regulations
in that case made and provided for the United
States Army. The regulation field train Of the
latter is made up in regard to it's batterln5
equipment. If 5-nch rifles, 1-inch howitzers and
a certain number Of finch mortars OF these
the first mentioned is the regulation "B. L. r."
or breechoading rife which the American pub
lie learned TO know by name during the late
war
GUNS AND MORTARs
The difference between an ordinary gun such
the "B l.. r." and a mortar is that the
mortar is made TO fire very heavy projectiles At
a low velocity. the range being increased by ele-
walton. As the school text books Of kinematics
say, the propellinS force. weight and volume
Of n projectile being constants, the range in
creases with the angle Of elevation up to an
angle Of - degrees" At this angle the range
attans its maximum. and any further eleva.
ton reduces the range Fired at this maximum
elevation. projectle will strike the earth with
a velocity very little more than it would have
if simply dropped from height equal to that
which il attained in its trajectory. But the OBJ
ject in firing shells in siege operations often
is not to penetrate but simply to get to
given spot and then explode. Hence the utility
Of mortars. which mounted that their
least elevation cannot be less than 10 degrees.
\ howitzer is a piece of ordnance somewhat
longer. and therefore OF higher prOpel.ing
power than a mortar but stlSrter in proportion
to its length than the ordinary gun OF the same
calibre.
AS 10 the usage in the United States, the
j-inch b. L. r. carries a shell weighing 80
pounds. the finch howitzer's shell weighs 100
pounds ard that Of the finch mortar 125
pounds. The charges Of powder for given
vary. first with the range desired
and secondly with the character Of the pOwdeO
used. In issuing ammunition ii is customary in
the United states Army to estimate the average
charge Of powder as three-fOurhs Of the maxi
mum. For the J-inch rifle the charge Of smoke
ltss powder varies from > pounds to 10 pounds.
For the 7-inch howitzer the average charge Of
the same powder is 3l2 pounds; for the finch
mortar / :, pounds. II brown prsmatic powder 10
used, tn Sc figures must be multiplied by about
3ia. Every shell, with it's charge Of high explos-
ives. costs the Department at the rate Of so
cents per pound; smokeess powder, - cents per
pound; brown prismatc, 33i2 cents. so the
ov.rao. cost nf firms, shell from he 5-inct,