The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-21
THE MAN AND HIS RIFLE.

THE MAN AND HIS RIFLE.
One OF the lessons taught by the Span
ish-American war was that 1.-The man be-
hind the gun" was as important as the
gun itself. The old idea that soldiers and
sailors are but so much food for powder
and that a given number of armed men,
provided they were thoroughly drilled
and capable Of performing certain evoIu-
lions and had acquired some dexterity IN
| the use Of their weapons, were as good
for the purposes Of war as any other body
of men SO drilled and subject to discipline
was to q large extent dissipated. The
! moral as we'll as the physical stamina Of
| the soldiers and sailors was shown to be
great factor in deciding battles, and
the individual intelligence Of the rank
and file was the deciding power which
inclined victory to one side or the other
The training Of the soldier, the personal
and special training of each and every
man, was shown to be most important and
this lesson is being emphasized in the
Boer-British war in South Africa.
The chief power of the Eoer army lies
in the individual experiences of its units
Their skill as marksmen, their ability to
keep under cover and their moral stam-
ina have made victory possible, where
without such qualities-without the spe-
cial personal training each man has re-
III
sheep before the attacks of the drilled
and disciplined British soldiers
Such individual qualifications have been
rendered an absolute necessity by the
revolution in weapons. Long range rifles
and artillery have resolved the cohort
into its component parts, and the private
soldier is no longer the mere unreasoning
part of destroying machine, but an
active intelligent entity upon whose in
dividual skill and fortitude depends the
issue of the fight
From earliest youth each Boer is given
a modern rifle and unlimited ammunition
and he has daily opportunity to perfect
himself in the skiliful use of his weapon.
Suppose that the United States had had
an enemy like the Beers instead of the
spanish, to encounter in the late war
We would have sent against them our lit
tie disciplined army of q, COO regulars and
our 100000 men drawn from the national
guard Of the different states. Only a
small percentage Of this army were mon
who could be classed as expert rife
shots The regulars receive every year a
certain amount of ammunition and are
supposed to fire so many rounds at
target. In some states the national guard
Is furnished with an old fashioned rifle
and smaller amount of ammunition
and is supposed to be fairly proficient in
craftsmanship. AS matter Of fact they
are not proficient and a large pecentage
are unfamiliar with their weapons. which
are of an obsolete type and the amrnu
milton is the old fashioned powder.
Place modern long range rifle. sucb
as the Mannlicher, in the hands Of nine
tenths Of the members Of the national
guard and they would be as efficient in
the use of 1t as infants Their prnat-
great-grandfathers armed with their m,z-
zie-loading muskets Of 1776 would be
capable Of doing ten times the execution
The sum and substance of the matter
is that the national guard and to a less
extent the regular army Of the United
States is not trained according to the
most modern methods, methods which
have rendered large and comparatively
! undisciplined body of men like the Roars
such formidable foemer for the elabo.
rately drilled and disciplined soldiers IF
the British army
The day may come when the citizen
soldiers Of the United States will be called
upon to defend the country from foreign
attack, and they should be so couinned
that every man would be in possession Of
a modern weapon and ammunition and
the ability to use them, with the effect
the Boer is now doing in South Africa
If each state pursued such a policy n
regard to its national guard, and the
| abandonment Of much that Is Ornamental
but not useful would largely offset the
expense entailed in arming the men q,
they should be. the danger of attack
from foreign nations would be reduced r.
a minimum and 1t would be the stronges,