The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-23
RIFLE TEAMS WILL SUFFER.
THAT is THE VIEW EXPRESSED
ABOUT THE STATE SHOOT.

AIacon, Savannah Officers Insist, Ia
Not Equipped with Range Ade-
quate to the Needs for a state
ShOot-Cnpt. j. c. POsteI Discusses
the Selection of Macon Instead OF
Savnnnnh-Savannah He Says, Has
Every Claim to the ShOOt-It Cam
not he satisfactorily Held at Ma
con.
General disappointment. that Savan-
nah's claims were ignored and a de-
cision reached TO hold the state shoot
In Macon, was expressed in Savannah
yesterday Officers and men of the Sa-
vannah military discussed the decision,
and they were not altogether compli
mentary in what they said.
1T is an outrage" said Capt. ]. c.
Posten, president of the Savannah Mil
itary Range Association. Ito ignore
such claims as Savannah has to the
shoot. Macons advantages cannot
compare with Savannahs. They have
no range to speak of there, while the
range at Savannah is perfectly equip
ped, having every appliance for con-
venience and every provision made for
the comfort of the men who may go
into camp. 1t has them already estab-
lished 1t does not have to promise
that they will be furnished.
THE mere question of saving few
hundred dollars should not have en-
tered into the matter. Even if tr ms
portation costs something less to Ma
con than it would to Savannah, there
is the consideration of the benefits to
be derived from the shoot. These seem
to have been lost sight of entirely.
ITO defray the expense of the shoot
SO 600 was appropriated. Now they want
to save a few hundred dollars of this,
even though the shoot could not be
held at Macon on anything like the
scale that would prove as beneficial as
that on which it could be held here.
Macon has only two or three ranges,
with as many targets at each range.
il will take long while to conduct the
shoot, and it cannot be conducted prop
erly. Here there are five ranges of
known distances, with six targets for
each range, and the skirmish, with ten
sets of figures.
Savannah is entitled to considera-'
ton. 1t was the first city in the state
to seek and to win honors in rifle COM
petitions, and these honors it has al
ways held. When a city has done as
much for rifle shooting in Georgia as
Savannah has done, it is not fair that
the state shoot should be taken from
1t and bestowed upon place that has
not an adequate range for the accom-
mediation of the teams.
Macon can furnish no such instruc-
tors for rifle practice as Savannah.
There are experts here. the best marks
men in the state, and they know more
about instructing and training than
do those who will seek to instruct the
teams that gather at Macon.
Il do not think Savannah should
stand and permit rights to De assailed
in this manner. If there was one
thing to which the city was clearly
entitled. 1t was this state shoot. Sa-
vannah should have had 1t. l do not
believe there will be many teams from
this city or this section u enter u con-
test that VIII be held on an Inferior
range"
There are officers in Savannah who
think it strange that Col. George T
CAMS recommendation that tho shoot
be held here was ignored. The she OF
is to take place under his direction,
and it was supposed THAI he would
have the selection OF the place for
holding it. AS a courtesy to The Gcv-
ernor and the adjutant general. he
consulted those officials, but they seem
to have taken the matter into their
own hands