The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1906-06-16
NATIONAL RIFLE
MATCH IN AUTUMN
The War Department Wants
Every State Represented
at Sea Girt In September
EXPERT MARxsMEN NEEDED


ING POINTED oUT-A NEW DE
PARTURE IN SHOOTING ]
MATCHES.
WASHINTON, Jnue Is, 1906:-The
War Department is making arrange
ments for the next national rife match,
which is to be held at Sea Girt, n. j.,
beginning September 4. Unusual efforts
are being made to secure the attendance
of team from each State in the Union
as well as from Porto Rico, Hawaii and
the Philippines. 1t is improbable that
there will be any team from the Phillip
pines, however, although at one time it
ctically been completed for the attend
ance of a team from our Asiatic terri
tory, but it was believed that the ex-
pense of bringing team from the Phil
lippines to Sea Girt and their return
would be so much as to lead to unfavor-
able criticism. The War Department,
however, is hopeful that every State in
the United States will be represented by
team at Sea Girt and has addressed
letters to the adjutant generals of New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mas
sachusetts, Connecticut. Maine, New
Hampshire and Rhode Island urging
them to make provision for the atten-
dance o a team from their States. Ac-
curate rifle shooting is calculated by ex-
pecrts of the department to count as S12
points out of ten in estimating the eff
cheney of a soldier on the line of battle,
and holds that while the teams from the
above named States may not win the
| prizes the members would be brought in
| to contract with the finest military rifle
shots in the world and thus be enabled to
| gather information and ideas relative to
| shooting which it would be impossible to
| obtain under any other circumstances.
| Such inormation would be carried back
| to their homes to be disseminated to
other members of the National Guard of
| these States. This would undoubtedly
| cause many others to take an interest in
| rife practise and directly promote a
| greater. interest in such practise and in
cidentally in all other matters relating to
the National Guard.
Commencing on this matter, member
| of the National Board for the Promotion
| of Rifle Practise, which has charge of
the national matches, said: AT the
breaking out of the Spanish American
army were as a class, the finest body of
| military rife shots in the world, and
when an enemy showed his head or body
| at a distance of 400 or 500 yards. and
even much further, he was generally put
| out of action. On the other hand, our
| men charged over open ground to the
| Spanish rifle pits with comparatively few
| casualties, because the Spaniards had
never been taught to shoot. This fine
| shooting on the part of the regular army
| was due, mainly, to the competitions,
| the officers and men had attended. Gen
orally one man from each company
| would attend a competition; he might
not win medal, but he learned great
| deal and returned with the inormation to
| his company so that in short time the
members of the company knew all he
| could tell them. This continued for a
| number of years, and the result produced
| as before slater, was the finest lot of mil
itary rifle shots in the world. 1t is be-
| lieyed that these points about rifle shoot
| ing would be disseminated even better in
| the National Guard than in the regular
army, for the reason that the members OF
the National Guard, as a rule, live for a
number of years in the same locality
whereas in the army most of the soldiers
leave, after one enlistment. Having
made study of military rife shooting
for many years, and having watched its
1 growth in our country with a great deal
of interest, am convinced that the
things learned by officers and men in
shooting competitions have done ar more
than anything else in bringing our army
and National Guard in the States which
have paid a great deal of attention to
this matter, to the high degree of prof
cheney which hey have attained.
1T is advisable that ehch State and
territory which decides to be represented
at the national match should hold a pre-
liminary competition two or three
months in advance that the best shots