The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-02-18

take risks on the lives of the soldiers and
| sailors going over to Cuba.
! 1t used to be said that ''it takes ton OF
! lead to Kill a man" Under the new regime
4 1t must take more than a ton. With rapid
fire and magazine guns a soldier can ex-
pend ammunition to an extent which was
/ impossible in the old days NJ. Block, the
| Russian militarysexpert, says 80 80
1.-THE Improvement in firearms has eaor-
mously increased the number Of cartridges
which each man can carry into action. In
1877 when we went TO war with Turkey,
our soldiers could only carry eighty-four
cartridges into action. When the caliber OF
the rifle was reduced to 5mm. the number
with which each soldier was furnished rose
TO go. With a bullet of ANN. he will car
ry $780, and when We have rifle of 3mm.
caliber he will be able to take SIS into ac-
ton. and not have to carry any more
weight than that which burdened him when
he carried 81 twenty years ago. At present
he carries 10 of the 7.s2mm.''
NJ Block proves that war is now impcs-
sible. but in spite of all figures it is still
doing business at the same old stand ana
the temple of Janus remains open in the
face of all the schools.
white Flag and Red Cross.
In modern warfare one constantly reads
cross flag fired on" 1t is doubtful Il any
such thing has ever been done deliberately.
But when John Smith is lying wounded be-
tween the lines of fire the two contend.ng
armies are not going to stop the battle
while a Red Cross nurse goes out and
brings John into the hospital. There are
more important things than John to be con
sidered, and If the Red Cross nurse gets in
the way of a bullet he will be hit as surely
hi ttul,s
For analogous reasons a white flag may be
fired on
Suppose that our two armies were
drawn up the one at the Battery and the
other on Staten island, and few men
suddenly rode out toward the Battery.
They would get fired on long before IL
could be discovered that they had white
flag flying. So too shot from another
part of the field may strike down the
bearer of flag OF truce. The shot was
|. not fired at him, but at part of the en-
emys lines. for firing will frequently be
kept up from some distant part of the
line even after the flag is sent out be-
cause word had not reached that part Of
the army that the white flag had left the
lines. In the old days an army in battle
was a compact mass over which the gen.
eral in command could easily watch. In
the Boer war some of the lines have ex-
tended for twenty miles. The difficulty
of the commanding officer communicating
with all the regiments and brigades of
his force can readily be imagined. Field
telegraphy was introduced to overcome
this difficulty. but has been only moder-
ately successful Rapidity of movement
and the human equation have rendered
the field telegraph of far less Importance
than its introducers had expected.
Theorists Are in Error.
Theorists have for years said that the
formation of the hollow square was a
thing of the past vet in his final attack
on the khalifa Gen. Wingate marched his
troops in hollow square and conquered.
Cavalry, a short time ago. was never
more to be used in battle. yet In the
Philippines, Gen. Otis has constantly ask
ed for more cavalry. The marines were
nearly abolished from the navy, yet the
Spanish war increased the corps to an ex-
tent never before known in any country
in proportion to the number of men in
the naval establishment. and created the
rank of brigadier general for its COM
manding officer. War Is 'brain-spat-
tering windpipe- splitting art" but all the
inventions of mankind do not seem to
change the principles upon which battles
are fought and campaigns conducted.
These are laid down by the real military
authorities with mathematical accuracy,
and the only thing accomplished by Inn
provements in the noble art OF killing
men Is the paradoxical result of diminish
ing the slaughter. Napoleon boosted that
he never observed the rules of strategy,
minor or grand in his battles and cam
paigns, yet that greatest of all military
scientists Jomini, proves that the great
Corsican never fought a battle or con-
Quoted campaign except in strict oh
servance of the immutable principles of
strategy.
1t is marvellous. when one considers the
effectiveness of rife and artillery fire a
few years ago, that now warfare still
continues the same old game" In the
days of the Franco Prussian war a shrap-
mel scattered thirty-seven death-deaIing
missiles. Now 1t scatters $40. A shell then
broke into nineteen to thirty pieces; now
IL breaks into 2io. Theoretically, a body OF
10000 men advancing from Bedloe's island
to the Battery would be exposed, under
the fire of a single battery, TO ! $50 rounds
of shot, and the bursting shells from that
battery would scatter 10000 fragments
over mile and half in front of the
guns. According to NJ. Block. 100 sharp
shooters who would be quite invisible at
800 yards. would put battery out of ao-
ton at 900 yards range by picking off
the gunners. But somehow they don't
do e.
Human life Is regarded higher now than
II used to be. Now the loss OF a few hun
dred men Is cost that staggers the
world" while in the last war which Eng
land fought with people wearing pants"
the Crimean war--she left 60 0oo dead as
the pFicp of her share OF the tffefnry OF