The Anaconda standard., 1899-11-17

celve lts supreme test. Dispatches de-
scr1bing the skirmishes which have oc-
CURED say that "the shooting Of the
Beers was wretched' but as they
come from British sources they need
not be regarded as authoritative
In this war troops Of the line on both
sides are using smokeless powder. The
English cartridges get their force from
an explosive of secret manufacture, but
strongly akin to cordite, while the
Beers, of course, are using the regular
Mauser shell. What this shell is the
men who We're at Santiago are able 20
testify. The most calling thing en-
countered by American troops was the
fire from concealed sharpshooters who
did not betray their presence by a
wreath of smoke The Spanish, missr-
able marksmen are they were, proved
that the Mauser zone of fire was some
thing more than 1000 yards wide that
for 500 yards it's trajectory was as fiat
as a founder and that the little vapor
generated by the discharge of it's ex-
plosive was so gauzy and SO instan-
taneously dissipated that no human
eye could mark its coming and going.
Merits of smokeless Powder.
The number of fatalities in pitched
battle where smokeless powder is used
by opponents ought to show the experts
all of it's merits and dement's. 1t is
fact not generally known that the fire
of a single man using modern smokeless
powder is not visible at 40 yards dis
tance and the fire of "a men cannot be
seen 200 yards away. Artillery vapor
from smokelesS powder cannot be seen
from 1900 yards away. though there is
a sort of electric flash following the dis
charged of the guns and a cloud of dust
rising from dry ground and caused by
the shock 1t has been recommended to
artillery officers that where possible
they dampen the ground in front of the
guns in order to avoid betraying their
position by this dust. The Boer has
never demonstrated his value as cam
noneer, because he has lacked the can
non. Krugers men now, however; have
many Krupp guns and it is presumed
that they will be served with smokeless
powder. The British, of course, have
the smokeless article for their field
pieces and a battery duel will probably
occur during the battle which is COM
ing If so the deadliness of the modern
field piece when we'll handled will re-
ceye it's first proof in actual warfare.
At Santiago our guns, while worked
with great skill, were placed at a great
disadvantage by our use of the old
black grained stuff which makes a
smoke like a pail.
The German axiom that the offensive
is necessarily superior to the defensive
t1dS DeeH So WedkeUSu Dy the PROVE
ments of late years that Lord Wolseley
and other authorities now deny it to-
tally. In their opinion the advantage
has passed irrevocably to the side Of
the defense. They are confident that
the next pitched battle between armies
of approximately equal numerical
strength will prove this. 1t is certain
that the attack will have hard time
of it until means are found to lessen
the advantages now conferred upon the
defense by a zone of fire that has been
Widened to $500 yards and a powder
that does not betray position. 1t was
formerly good tactics to hammer a
hole in an opponents line of battle by
means of the concentrated fire of artil-
lery and then to swing an enormous
mass of troops against this weakened
point, thus piercing his formation and
separating a wing from the body. Just
how this is to be accomplished in the
present war is difficult to see and the
chances are that it will not be attempt
ed by the English, though their artil-
lery in weight of metal, number of
guns and expertness of service may
far surpass that of the Afrikanders. 1t
is difficult to hammer holes into an
enemy whom you cannot see and who
may have changed his position utter
ly without your being the wiser,
undiminished. Furthermore, it is cal
culated that field guns steadily in ac-
ton will be placed at marked disad-
vantage by invisible sharpshooters ad-
vanced to within 1900 yards of them,
from which point men about the pieces
may be picked off with safety and eel
Gritty.
Changes in Modern Warfare.
Twenty years ago commander upon
an eminence, viewing a battle through
glasses, could tell the position of his
men by the direction in which the
smoke puffs We're projected and could
tell also whether they were gaining CT
losing ground. In this war that is not
possible to him He will have flags to
guide him, if he can distinguish their
markings; he will have orderies gall
Looping from the front and, if he is
lucky, he will have a single strand of
insulated wire stretched along the
ground, with an operator and an in
strument at the other end of it, but
that is all. The troops will be too dis
tant for ''hurrahs" to come to him and
the swirling, vanishing haze will give
him no comfort. Defenders hidden in
bitches and behind rocks cannot De
placed by the smoke of their guns, and
shooting under the rolls of vapor, so
commonly practiced and with such IA
tai effect in our civil war, will not be
possible The still mooted question
whether advantage rests with the at
tack or defense ought to be settled by
the Boer- English war, supposing the
number of men on each side to be