Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-14
ALONG OLD LINES
The War With Spain Developed Very
Little That Was New.
WERE NO STARTLING INNOVATIONS
Same Rules Held Good That Have
Always Been Followed.
POWDER FOR THE FUTURE

| Written for The Evening Sta by Lieut. G. L.
| Garden. L y. y.
| The Spanish-Amerfcan war has taught the
| great majority of Americans that II is safe
! in time of war to place reliance only on
| weapons of tried value
AS late as a year ago a general belief
| pervaded the country that Edison or a
| Tesla could in twenty -four hours time de-
| wise scheme whereby the navies of the
world, if need be. would be swept off the
face of the ocean. The war came and pass
| ed away without the single addition of a
new -"aapon. From beginning to end &C
| lions We're fought out on the good old line
| OF powder and ball. Rifles were used the
| same as in the revolutionary period, only
| in this last war it was a case of guns ca
| pablo of muzzle velocity of 2400 foot sec
! onds as compared with the 800 foot sec
onds velocity of earlier day weapons.
The artillery of today differed from for
| mer pieces only in detail. Breech-loaders
were employed possessing the power of i'm
| parting extraordinarily high velocities to
| shells while the carriages and appur;e-
| nances generally were more lightly con-
| structed, and capa BILE of withstanding heav-
| Ter strains. On board ship the artillery
| employed was mounted on the same prin-
| ciples which held good one hundred years
| ago.
The guns of today are merely develop
| ment of earlier pieces They able to
develop in their shells a greater energy of
| impact at the end of flight, and the range
| posSlbnit1es have been extended. but I'M
! DERIVING all the same rules of service
| and of mounting that We're in vogue in Mel
| sons time.
Great Danger.
The great danger feared by many leading
| officers of the army and navy is the posi-
BILE belief which may seize the people that
| since the last war was so easily won. al
| most any kind of material will suffice Tn
| der an autocratic government it is possi-
| bic, so long as money is available, to accu-
| mulate great quantities of munitions of war
| of all sorts, and embracing the latest de
| veloped patterns In the United States the
| army and navy authorities are absolutely
| dependent upon Congress Money is appro-
| priated for specific purpose snd if Con-
| gress does not see fit to appropriate funds
| for the development of war material the
| country suffers for it when an emergency
| arises.
| The Spanish war found the United States
| in anything but well-prepared condition.
| There was a general lack of supplies all
| along the line. 1t was not sufficient that
| Soo,oNo,vU be appropriated. 1t takes time
| to manufacture powder, to fabricate g11nS
| to build ships, to turn out armor and 20
| forge projectileS. Time cannot be pur-
| chased when a powerful enemy is ham
| mer1ng at ones door. The smokeless pow
der supply for the small regular army was
so low last April that the powder estab-
| ishments Were taxed to their utmost to
| meet the demands. This accounts for the
| inability to supply smokeless powder to the
| regiments armed with the Springfield rifle
| There was not sufficient time available In
| the heat of all the rush for weapOns of
| tried value the ordnance officials were over
| run with inventors of all sorts. The most
/ chimerical schemes were presented for the
| destruction of the enemys ships. Had a
| particular invention ever been tested?
| Never 1t was supposed that the govern
| would al rhar .f..E,s
pick UP the new idea and, in a commercial
| sense, exploit it. Ever since there was any
record, especially in modern warfare,
| cranks have pestered war officials. The ex-
| perience of trained fighters counted for
| naught in the eyes of these inventive indi-
| viduals.. Tell a country boy accustomed to
| hunt quail with first-class shotgun that
the proper weapon to employ is a rifle, and
| he will probably laugh in the face of the
| proposer Experience has taught him that
| the shotgun is the more effective weapon
| OF the two for that particular work
War is the Real Test.
| The only real test Of efficiency for weap-
ons of war is war, and in a time of great
national emergency it is the tried weapons
| that are sought after. New devices sue
| coed in creeping into the army and navy
! in time Of peace. Not infrequentiy power
| full influence assists a promoter and a new
engine of war of doubtful service and value
is seen among the ornaments. The first
| shock of battle proves the value or weak
| ness OF the deyice-generally the latter.
Submarine boats balloons. pneumatic dyn-
amite guns. electric range-tinders. machine
! guns torpedoeS of the automobile and di-
] visible types, shells filled with high ex-
| plosives and various other contrivances
were either in existence in the arma-
| ments of the United States service at the
| outbreak of the war or We're available.
| Nearly all Of the above weapons and aids
| OF warfare were, at least in their present
| form, productions of the past Two decades
q Tlnn sinh, oariraa hoo
| despite all that was claimed for IL. was not
| used. Two fleets destroyed and 4
| nation was conquered without having to
cali 1t into play. The balloon before San
| tiago! Well, ask the troops who suffered
| from the fire it drew upon them what they
| thought of it. Santiago certainly did not
| fall because of any service rendered by
| balloons. The pneumatic dynamite gun ac-
| complished nothing. 1t created great fuss
| but mounted as the three pieces were on
| board the Nesuvius Ga vessel with a bottom
| as round as a barrel and a most unsteady
| PLATFORM. they were unable 10 fire with any
| degree of accuracy The Spaniards did not
yield a jot of ground by reason of any work
| of the dynamite guns.
Range Finders.
Electric rasge finders which, under nomi-
| nal conditions were able TO determine a
| range with a degree Of inaccuracy of only
/ one-h9lf of one per cent, were of little or
no use in the var. The range was general
| ly picked up in the good old-fashioned way
|
! war employed, namely, firing a gun and
| observing the fall of the projectile. AS to
! machine guns, they are already disappear
| ing The light, automatic guns are no
| longer being installed. The automatic
| weapons which feed their cartridges by
! means of a belt were ideal in action SO
| long as they worked well, but no one. could
! tell when a jam might be expected, and a
! Jam meant gun out of action. No more
| automatic guns it is announced will be
| purchased. As to torpedoes, the opportu-
| nifty did not present itself during the war
| to employ them, but a good deal was
| learned concerning the places where they
| should not be carried. In the action of
July a she'll supposed to have been fired
| by the Texas struck the torpedo located in
| the bow tube of the Viscaya, and on ex-
ploding in turn exploded the torpedo. The
| effect was to tear out about fourteen feet
| of the stern of the Spanish cruiser 1t
| taught the ordnance experts of the United
/ States that in future torpedoes if carried
| at all by the large ships-of-war, should be
| placed below the water line and cut of
| the reach of hostile shell. The lirisihle
| torpedo-the weapon that could be directed