The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-03
n Rine RanEe.

Assistant Quartermaster General | George Ruhlen, who recently inspected Fort Benjamin Harrison Tn Indiana. mas recommended the establishment of | rifle range thereon. He says that on | the Northwestern part of the reserva- | ton there is a. piece of ground capable | of being developed by grading. filling and bridging streams, into e fine target | range with fire line 1.700 yards long. I The Indiana National Guard has ex- | temporized a range with the extreme I Limit of 1000 yards on ground North | of that referred to as available for | post range, and is now improving 1t | by building an artificial butt and clear | ing the range of obstrucftons.
 Medals For the Winners.
 Subscriptions are being received by | the National RifleA Association toward a fund to provide medals for the Ameri- can Rifle Team which recently won the | worlds famous Palma trophy from I teams representing Canada, Australia and England. In this match the American team broke all records by
 their phenomenal shooting. They possible 325 at 800. 900 and 1000 yards. Seven of the eight broke the record for the match and six broke the worlds record of 213 for the distances. The latter record was made at Bisley. Eng land, with match rifles and match
 sights. At 1000 yards Sergeant George Bryant. N. Y. N. G. made fourteen bulls
 out of fifteen shots. his last shot being q four just outside the bull. His total
 score was seventy-four out of seventy
 five points, the worlds record at 1000 yards in match. As the Palma trophy has once more returned to this country
 the next match will be shot on an
 that an international contest can be ar
 ranged for next year to include mum
 Der of European countries, as well as
 England, Canada and possibly
 Australia.
 While the team expenses of the
 American team were paid. it's members
 gave their time for several weeks with
 out compensation and 1t Is hoped a suf- ficient fund will be raised to give them
 suitable souvenirs of their overwhelm-
 ing victory.
 Increase of Pay.
 Believing that the efficacy. of a sol-
 dier on. the firing line in time of war
 depends on his ability to hit what he
 shoots at. the War Department makes
 an addition to the soldiers pay, ac-
 cording to his demonstrated ability as
 a narksman. If they qualify as expert
 riflemen they receive three dollars q
 month: as sharpshooters. two dollars
 a month, and as marksmen. one dollar | a increase they must qualify annually
 In the troops stationed in the United
 States there were last year 990 expert l riflemen, SPAS sharpshcoters. and s,25s l marksmen. Tn addition there were D. s29 first class, 5,350 second-cisss and 4,094 third-class men. comparison of these figures with those of fso' shows that the list of expert riflemer increased from AZ in 1905 to sa0 ir 1906. or more than 100 per cent. Ths number of sharpshooters increased from 2,372 to SPAS, and the list oi mafksmen from 2.427 to 3.255. In ad dition the troops in the Philippines qualified 167 expert riflemen. f,Ssl sharpshooters and 1,1S6 marksmen show a marked increase in qualifica tions over last year.
 A Joint Conference.
 Much interest attaches to con ference to he held in December be tween the Executive Committee of tn National Guard Association and tn
 First Division of the Army Genera Staff. By reason of the joint maneu vers between the army and th
 National Guard. the increased ap propriation for the guard and co-opera ton in rifle practice, the army and, tn guard have been drawn very closely to gether within the past few years. A the coming conference a number O important subjects will be taken ul including the question of the conform ing of the militia to the organization of the army. Following the con ference a meeting of the Nationa Guard Association will be held in Bos ton in January to be followed by
 meeting of the National Board for tn, promotion of Rifle Practice in Wash ington in the same month.