The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-26

1904 the Springfield armory put
 out as fngh as 100 a day and Rock Island
 l25 Within the first year of the change
 34.000 arms were assembled, 1900 opera
 tions being required to assemble an entire
 gun Of 95 parts.
 Because the marksmanship of all sol
 diers in the civil war was declared no-
 toriously bad, the National Rinemans
 association was organized in 1871, and has been the prime cause of the marked
 improvement in that art. A modern rifle
 can now be sighted 5000 yards with q
 range of five miles, a decided improve ment on the one used at the battle of
 New Orleans by the Indian half-breed who lSil1e"t Packenham. The Indiae's rife could not carry 1000 yards. yet he
 killed the officer at q greater distance by elevating his piece and allowing for
 the downward drop of the bullet.
 It is interesting to note what a proni- nent part priests have played in the de- velopment of firearms, captains of peace perfecting instruments of war. It is said
 that missionary to China in the tenth ceptury saw the people use an explosive
 powder in their religious ceremonies to appease one of their gods, who always required an ear-splitting din. Being Of an Investigating turn of mind the mis- sionary placed some of this mixture on a
 large stone. piled smaller ones on it and set 1t off, to see the small stones hurled
 into space and incidentally discover the propelling powers of powder. Berthoid Schwartz, a monk of Frburg. after studying the theories of Roger Bacon, also nlade satisfactory experiments with | sunpowder, and in the sixteenth century a German monk adapted flint and steel to uses in gun. A Scotch clergyman found that illuminate could be used to ignite in f1n ba di,,f steel were dispensed with, and the percus- sion cap was a development of his idea. The evolution of firearms is correlated | with the growth of nations. There is a | tradition that Alexander the Great was | stopped on his great march of conquest | in the east by means of missiles hurled | by fire from city walls The Jews of | Bible days used ballsta and cataputs l for hurling javelns and stones at the | enemy. Mahomet Is said to have known the use of gunpowder and the Arabs used Vt in 609. English soldiers used firearms | at the siege of D Flu, and Chaucer alludes | to them in 1873. In Pepys Diary there are | two references to repeating muskets, and | as early as 1857 the King of Denmark had his body guard armed with Tepeaters. | In the days of John Smith an6 Miles r Standish, the soldier carried heavy l blunderbuss with lighted fuse to set it | off, and often heavy fork to rest 1t on. The flint lock and wheel lock fol. ! lowed, then came guns with percussion | caps all muzzle-loaders. In 1793 an Ems | llshman perfected a revolver that was | turned by hand. and this was later inn
 proved on by Colt, who made the revolu- | tion automatic. Halls breechloader. that was first flint and then percussion cap; I Sharpe's, Spensers and Halls breech- loaders of the fortes; Henrys and Hotch- kiss of the sixties. and Enfields and Springfelds of the sixties and seventies have all marked the progress of Ameri- 1 can gun making. Firearms came later into the sportsman s field than they did in
 the warriors. The fire lock and flint lock were to slow for him, and the wheel lock was first to take the place of spear and orosshow.
 The government has collection of can non and firearms of all periods of Amerl-
 can history. that are ID many chapters of
 military progress A brass cannon at the
 Navy Yard museum, taken by Cortez to
 Mexico and captured by the United States during the Mexican war, shows that breech loading was not unknown in the sixteenth century. There are guns of
 French and Spanish make captured by Decatur from Algiers and Tripoli, English guns from the revolution and the war of lei- anu otuef SpanlSn guns rom the | Spanish American war The most famous gun in this country is Long Tom" a 42-pound cast iron gun made by France for her man-ofwar. Noche, in 17S6. This gun was captured by the British when Noche went to shell the coast of Ireland
 and was sold to the United States. Later it was sold to Haiti and was used by
 that island against France. Soon 1t came back to America and mounted on a man.
 of-war helped hold a British fleet at bay off the Azores in 1874 until Jackson had won the battle of New Orleans. Long Tom went down with the vessel 1t was on, but was later rescued by Portugal and sent as a present to the United States government. to be placed in the Washing ton navy yard for the rest of it's days Tomorrcw-Thc Presidents Birthday