Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-07-04
PHOTOGRAPHY IN WAR.
BY Means of the Camera, Exact Re-
productions of Surrounding
Country May BE Secured.

In the past two years photography
has assumed an Importance on the
battlefield never before imagined and
the camera in different forms will be-
come a necessary adjunct of every
well-organized war department, says
Golfers Weekly. When nostilities
broke out between this country and
Spain the camera was used mostly as
an instrument for newspaper and
magazine work, and every CORE
spondent carried one with him. 1t
was raised from a mere plaything to
an instrument of inestimable value to
the army officers. The darin- CORE
spondents who passed through the
lines of the enemy, or ventured close
enough to them to snap pictures of
the pickets, furnished the officers
with details and surroundings which
greatly facilitated future maneuvers.
1t was found hat the camera was a
more faithful ard reliable scout than
the keenest and bravest of the pro-
fessional spies.
When the English army went to
South Africa they carried with them
professional army photographers.
These were provided with compound
telephotographic lenses which en-
abled the operator to bring a distant
picture much nearer than by ordinary
photography. The ~"telephoto attach
menf" was first applied to pho
tographing mountain passes by ex-
plorers, and by means of it distant,
inaccessible peaks could be repro
duced as though they were ct close
range. The application of this in
vention to the war cameras marked
a revolution in modern scouting and
observation. From balloons two or
three thousand feet in the air exact
reproductions of the surrounding
country could be made on a scale suf-
fciently large to enable the officers
to make good use of the knowledge.
The English army under Lord Rob
erts prepared charts of the enemy's
position and of the topography of the
mountainous country better than if
scouts had penetrated through the
lines of the Beers and made rough di-
agrams. 1t completely revolutionized
past methods of studying the coun-
try, which at any time might become
a bloody battlefield.
Through the Filipino war the cam. |
r proved of more actual service
than yer before, and it was con
stant1y developed as an instrument
of daily service to the officers. The |
modern electric signals and te1egra-
ply hardly assumed more Importance |
in the Philippines than the camera.
But for that matter electrical and
Photographic development go hand in
hand, and the two have been COM
bined in many ways. Rapid electrical
photography has been used by our Of
fetal army photographers in both the
Philippines and in China. Photogra-
ply under water has also proved of
service to our navy. When the Ore
gon was grounded on the rock in the
far eastern waters, a photograph I'M
der the water was taken to show the
exact location of the rock and the ma
ture of the wound to the external
shell of the boat. It also revealed the
exact nature of her position, so that
it could be decided whether it would
be advisable to haul her off by the
The pictures thus taken of the
battleship will prove of im~perishable
value to the navy department and will
serve as a concrete study of marine
Every war correspondent and most
carry a Gamers with them
now, but the official photographer of
each expedition is the man who is
held responsible for a reproduction of
everything of vvalue. When the pres
ent difficulties in and about the Phil
end, the war department. at
Washington viii have many thousand
pictures to file away and pre-
serve. These photographs will even.
tually appear in the official war re.
ports of the whole campaign.
Rather Indefinite,
Being asked his age, a coIored citi-