The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-03-10
NUMBER OF MILITARY NOVELTIES
HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED.

GunS with Surprising Facility
English Operate Steam Ploxvs and
Armored Trains-Wireless TeIes.
raphy Experiments Conducted
With Some Success.
The course of the war in South Africa
so far and the unreliability of all news
concerning it admit. of course, of no
denn1te conclusions. There has been q
chain of particular and unusual events
winch IN their entirety lend peculiar
interest to the campaign @ts% ssr,.Ea =
Even the preliminary history and the
cause OF the war are of unusual char
acter. Even if the real cause must he
sought in the issue of political power
the immediate cause was furnished by
the endangered capitalistic interests of a
lew persons at whose disposal a great
nation placed its military establishment.
IN the case OF state with compulsory
military service this would hardly have
been possible. but. in case of hired SOL
dlers blood has no particular value. The
trivial exterior cause of the war ex
pialns on the one hand why the sympa-
th1es Of nearly the entire civilized world
are with the one part, while on the other
hand the English colonial empire re-
celves for the first time support from.
everywhere. so that troops from all five
continents are in the field against tha
small Boer army. ~ -
j. fecuilar is the almost insular isolation
OF the one part in the midst of the terri
tory OF the other: also the enormous dis.
tances on land and water which original
~ separated the two armies. Surprising
Is the rap1dlty and safety with which
i-hsiand erected the transport by sea Of
Il
Questionable it is whether England can
master, despite the magnificent prepara-
tlons, the difficulties Of the African
country, and whether the greatest naval
power OF the world will succeed to cen
quer an opponent formerly held in con-
tempt. who has not an inch of seacoast
ana no Warships, and against whom the
prlnc1pal strength, the powerful navy,
can only be indirectly employed.
A peculiar situation has also been Gre
ated by the amalgamation of different
nationalities. The important element Of
population in the English territory
through which the line Of march and at
TACK leads is formed by the tribal friends
CT the Beers who have not become recon-
clied TO English colonial policy, while
numerous Engl1shmen settled in the Beer
REPUBLICS have been forced to take the
Aelu AGAINST their own cOuntrymen TIE
alIalrs CT most nations, which in Eu-
rope are at peace with England, are in
AFRICA IN state of war against each
other: The German volunteers, who are
recruited from Germans settled in Natal,
nave before this been in situation i'm
liar to. that-zof@ the German, eorns 4.,t
Elandslaagte. At all events, the great
NUMBER, and independent organization 81
volunteers on both sides is a peculiar
characteristic of this war.
just as the English army cannot be
calied peoples army nor a militia nor a
real hired army, the Boer army cannot
De called what is ordinarily known as
Lnlnt1a, because a part of it is ready for
Tar IN time of peace because the nucleus
consists OF men who are trained and who
are FAMILIAR with field duty And it is
peculiar that this army has so far deve,-
oped particular tactic consisting of a
cleVer combination of attack and de-
tense, evidently taken from the native
.r'oes.. lnasmuch as this tactic has not
oeen practiced in time of peace bv' the
present generation, it is evidently a sort
OF inherited military instinct The Eng
Hsn army shows a peculiar mixture tf
ola and tried and young and unframed
soiolefs. ana It's officer corps is taken
from the non-commissioned ranks, rot
very uniform. and a somewhat sinila,
condition exists with the Beers. For the
Boer camp. as rule, consists of two
separate parts. the weather beaten farm
erss from the country and the civ Feo.
pie, VINO are mostly English-speakin,
and represent the intelligence. so ito
speak, which is shown throughout
HOMOGENEOUS armies resulting from
compulsory military duty :'-.r -. -
The organization of the English troop,
IS altogether different. from German con-
crvo c{r
ana trains is particularly noteworthy.
Thus the staff Of an army corps, like
that OF Gen. Butler, for instance, has not
less than 17S officers and men, ia
horses and 80 mules. While in Germany
the division of twelve infantry battalions
IS the smallest organization to have a
train. In England the brigade Of four
infantry battalions has one TRANSPORTS
tlon company. one hospital company and
a Held hospital. SO that the sponge" of
the English is three times as large as
that OF the Germans. Hence, one-eightf
of all the English troops in South Africa
or about 5000 out Of 10000, consists Of
non-combatants. and besides these a
train OF LOGO horses, 1900 mules and
numerous draft oxen has to be provided
for js.s :
The advantages OF such a strong train
/ Is to make it possible for the English :,
advance upon Pretoria even after all
railroads have been destroyed. The dis
advantage of a march without train IS
shown by the march of Methuen frl m
the DESTROYED railroad bridge at Hope
town. On the Modder river his trocus
had nothing to eat for twenty-four h ours
and in the evening they had spent all
their ammunition The misery of me
wounded without any train may be m
agined. But the lack Of the co-nrnis *a-y
department is dangerous in the case Of
the English soldier because his service
IS his line of business. ore of the con Il.
lions Of which is the furnishing of reg
ular and good rations If this condition
Is not observed he may s.give notice
out. n
Similar business reasons'' probably
account for the fact that repeae edly
large numbers surrendered to the B.ers
without any apparent reason, while IN
the other hand, the courageous at.aex
even on fortified positions, shows ,.ist
hired soldiers IL led by determined III:
GERS have no lack Of bravery ana ev II,
of enthusiasm
& 1t is Leculiar that one side "na al;
mousiy, refTains i1t n, using tfre .s.E I,
dumdum cartridge, whIct Ia Lf.xea /
decima ting effect against unc;viIizes ao
ponents. Inasmuch as the emf, ~.
fantry in India is provided with this
ammunition 1t follows thar the Indian
brigade shipped to South Africa Lad &.
be provided with ammunition Of an cider
date.
8 However, the English infantry uses
hollow pointed bullet, that is, a Inissi
which has hole about nine MILNE .e4
deep at the point, which causes a Hat
tening and consequently mucn :lere
dangerous wound than the tsau.ila.se
even bullet Of the Mauser rifle. Gem
plants from both sides about the /; =. of.
dunndun bullets are erroneous and ex
planned by the fact that the bullets i
all modern rifles at a distance Of B q
meters. where the veIc eff - y. s..:s.si.el
Is stiA yefysgreal. lave "a e.. 81, e
effect and therefore uaintentienalIy
cause such cruel INIT ia finras