The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-09
Advertiser Bureau,

Washington, April '.
 First in evidence since the lnausula tion when he came many thousdhu r,Iios to he present at the demonstra- flo on the fourth of March, which ln- ducted Theodore Roosevelt as loui wears more commander ot the army and navy of the United states 1en eral Joseph Wheeler, having hasteheu into town. shortly before upon mat +ar of business, would not be denied seeing the President when he was ahout to take. his train for his long tourney to the south and west. NOT would President Roosevelt be deprived of the evident pleasure he felt Tn greet inp again his old commander at Las Ouisimas and San Juan Hlli' " heh sacrat service attendants and policemen sought to hold back the little general president Roosevelt rescued him ana conducted him along with the party until they boarded their train.
 General Wheeler remained Tn Wash- ineton on business he has with the uIo, Danartment. which is quite in teresting. ,r,,o
 From what the General said to The Advertiser correspondent today he has recently covered many thousands or miles in business excursions in MeXl- co and the United States. Indeed eX- tremelv doubtful it is if any veteran ,nernber of the Travellers Protective Association ever went over as much Of the earth's surface in a given time as the little general. Bird never flew more regardless of distance nor wasted as little time reaching destination.
 General Wheeler is now brought to Washington through his interest in a wonderful weapon of warfare. He IS now engaged in the business of manu- featuring and selling cannon of great range and marvellous rapidity and de- structiyeness of fire. He Is one of the mainstays of the McClean Ordnance ana Arms Company, now Of Cleveland O'' which is manufacturing one and three nounder guns. which the government has begun to test and which the m dications are, 1t will adopt. The com many has for the present manufac- turing plant at Cleveland. O., and mas so far turned out only for test one nounder rapid-fire guns for the artil- lery arm.
 Eats Up Ammunition.
 The main difficulty of this wonder fuI niece of ordnance has been to hold if down. to something less than an in ordinate appetite for ammunition. so rapidly does it eat up ball and powder as it feeds destruction to everything Tn front of it. Of course there was in- volved the problem of being able to carry enough ammunition for ordinary needful purposes and not at the same time endanger the facilities for trans parting the ordnance The company's exnerts are now working upon the nroblem of range and reduction of rapidity of fire with the view of elim- mating the main trouble and in order to reach economy in expenditure of sbot and powder. The one-pounder eun started out, for instance, firing 200 shells a minute, and that was discover ed to be a defect on account of its enormous consumption of costly ann munition. an objection which General Wheeler is confident will soon be ef- Actually removed.
 'yVe shall have no trouble selling our cannon" said General Wheeler. to- day. "Our own government gives fsjr chance and test to inventors of ordrance. and we are entirely confi- dent of the merits of our arm. Other governments are after 1t, and we are onIv now dependent upon an increase of manufacturing facilities to meet the demand. Had the Spaniards been armed with our one-pounder gun even when we started to land in Cuba, they could have sunk every one of our boats and we never could have reached shore in the face of the fire of such guns. In a great assault upon works manned by these guns it would be ut