The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1904-08-16
PLAN ADOPTED BY THE
WAR DEPARTMENT
TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY
Of American Men as
Sharpshooters.

Promotion of Rifle Practice has an
Lounced the plan adopted for the for
nation of National Reserve Of quail
flied ri1emen. No step in military cir
cles within the past decade, at least,
has been fraught with the significance
that attaches to this effort to induce all
male citizens of the United States cap
able of bearing arms to familiarize
themselves with the use of firearms,
and especially the Government weapon
which will be employed in time Of war;
1t is estimated that there are at least
ten million Americans who would be
eligible to draft, of which only a
small percentage know anything about
rifle practice.
| Skill with the best weapon has al
ways turned the scale in favor of the
nation employing the same even with
inferior numbers. The victories of the
English with their broad-cloth arrows
at Poicters and Aglncourt, of the Amer
leans under Jackson at New Orleans,
and the more recent ones of Santiago
and Manila are directly ascribable to
the workmanship of the victors. Com
| sequently, the effort to arouse the in
terest OF the great mass of citizens
Of the Republic in rife and pistol prac-
| tice and to equip them with the knowl-
edge of the use Of firearms that Is
absolutely essential TO the soldier-reg-
ular, volunteer or conscript-is one
which should ard will command the
respectful attention of every one who
has his country's interest at heart.
The National Board has prepared
plan for the National Reserve, the main
points of which are as follows
All members of the National Rife
Association and OF affiliated organiza-
tions are eligible to compete; they must
be citizens between the ages of eighteen
and forty-five; the United States mag
azine rife or a rife viewed and stamped
by the National Rifle Association must
be used, together with the United
States service ammunition or private
makes that come within the rules; all
those who qualify will receive a Ma
tional MaTkman's button.
In introducing this subject the Board
points out that as our permanent mill
tary establishment or regular army
must be small, in event of war with
one or more of the first-class powers Of
the world, we must depend very largely
upon the militia and the volunteers for
our fighting force. With the modern
long.range small arms it is all impor-
tant that the soldier should know how
to shoot and to hit what he shoots at.
If he can not do this the chances are
ten to one that the shot is lost.
by the plan proposed" says the re-
port of the Board, I'VE believe that the
United States will within few years
lrave more than one million of men who
will have for practical purposes on the
line of battle nearly all the require
ments for the most efficient soldiers In
the world. That is, we pro-
pose to educate our young men and
boys over fifteen years of age to be an
army of expert rife shots.
To those who are accustomed to the
use Of firearms we believe one thing Is
evident beyond question, and 1t Is
that a high degree OF skill in rife and
revolver shooting and the confidence
which a knowledge of this skill gives
will make a timid man brave and
brave man more courageous"
The Board proposes to encourage rifle
practice 'in the State militia where
necessary" 'in military and other
schools" and among those individu-
ais who may be called upon to serve in
time of war"
Under the last heading the report OF
the Board points out that 1t is espec-
tally desirable to induce practice by
the younger men, because by far the
larger part of an army in the field will
be made up of very young men, so that
every endeavor should be made to car
ry on more particularly the practice OF
young civilians.
This, it recommends, should be done
by means of shooting galleries and field
ranges, and suggests, in treating OF the
former, that in erecting armories for
the National Guard additional range
facilities can be provided at little addi-
tional cost. AS for our outdoor ranges,
the report says: 1T would appear to
your committee that a most careful
study should be given, and at once, to
the matter of eventually establishing
sufficient range facilities to permit OF
quite general civilian rifle practice,
and for the purpose of this study there
should be assumed an active rife prac-
tice by say 100000 to 100000 individ-
uals, and definite plan should be
formulated which will eventually pro-
vide facilities for the number Of men
above named "