The Washington herald., 1908-08-24

now II progress 1t camp Ai1Try- near san
duslzy, Ohio, IN which both State and
national troops. The Marine Corps. the
navy. and the Military and Naval acad-
enies are taking part, marks new epoch
in small arm practice in the United
States. Already the champions of the
world IN Workmanship on land and on
sea with big guns and with small arms.
the defenders Of the American flag are
not content with past achievement. but
are seeking 10 set new marks and 10
make new records
Although some other governments spend
a dozen dollars where the United States
spends one in the encouragement of rife
practice. this country has the satisfaction
OF knowing that in both team and lndi-
viduaI Workmanship its soldiers and sail
ors stand at the head OF every list Al
most every international trophy 10 be
competed for IS now in its keeping The
Palma trophy. open 10 the American.
Canadian. British. and Australian marks
men. was Won by boys who march be
meath the stars and Stripes Al the
OlympIau games the Americans proved
the superiority of their craftsmanship
over the whole world. and came back
laden with the trophies Of their skill.
When II goes 20 hitting the bulTs-eye. the
American is there first, IN spite Of the su-
periOr advantages the other nations give
their marksmen.
But IT is 10 be said that while Congress
has heretofore been somewhat niggardly
in irs treatment Of the organized militia
and in the encouragement OF marksman-
ship. that time IS largely past The pas
sage OF the new militia bill last spring
and the recent laws for the promotion
OF rife practice have had a very happy
effect
The organized militia now has no trou-
BE TO keep itself recruited up TO the fuu
quota and every where rifle practice teams
are spriaging up. Every state in the
Union now has its crack teams. and every
military organization is encouraging good
n1arksmanstip among its men Congress
has become IN earnest about the matter
and has taken many steps 10 help along
the movement TO make good marksme1
out Of the nations defenders Il has Gre
ated the national board for the promotion
Of rife practice. has furnished the State
troops with money which may be spent
for the construction OF rife ranges. has
given the magnificent trophy Of Mars
holding the dogs Of war IN leash. and in
many other WAYS has shown an awakened
interest in developing the fighting quail
tiles Of the men Who have volunteered
10 fight our battles on Land and on sea
The great national matches now being
shot at Camp Perry are the direct result
Of Congressional action These matches
are held under the auspices os the ma
tiousI board for The promotion Of rife
practice, and are open 10 every branch
Of the military and naval service. in
CludinE the organized militia The
matches are open 70 all enlisted men
and officers below the rank Of major
The first prize in the rife team match
is the bronze trophy Of Mars and his
dogs OF war The second prize is the
famous Henry Hilton trophy. and the
third is the Soldier Of Marathon trophy
In the individual rife match there are
about 7o0 entries and thirJy-slx medals
IN the pistol match there are fifteen
medals
Something Of the lack Of knowledge Of
rifle practice at the outbreak Of the Span
ish-American var may be Cleaned from
the statement made by Gen Shafyer- He
stated that when the Seventy-frst New
York Regiment reported To him al Tam
pa. 70 form q part Of his exhibition 10
Cuba. he was Mortified 70 md -har, after
having been IN a camp Of instruction Cox
two months. this regiment contained 80
men who had never fred shot from
their rifles The same was found 10 be
true Cf nearly al the volunteers. who
were carefully Instructed in everything
but Tnarksmanship- England had the same
difficulty n the Boer war. and Lord Rob
errs was Sd impressed with the mistake
that he Immediately eEerted his influence
II having the schools teach uarhsmal-
ship Hundreds Of English schools are
forming rife clubs under his advice.
France IS doing likewise. and the United
States IS slowly following suit
A new device has been invented for
teaching sChOOlbovs Workmanship with
Ol.- danger 20 themselves II is known as
the 'subtarget machine" No aumuui-
riol IS used with this cOutrfvance- The
boy simply aims the gun and pulls the
trigger and a needleliIe rod registers on
miniature target the point where the
bullet would have struck on a regulation
target had the gun been loaded This
machine Is not a toy. but has been
adopted by the navy and many militia
companies while several thousand are in
use II the French army After the
schooIb0vs learn 70 aim IN this way they
are put 20 work with % caliber rifles.
having the same weight and sight as the
regular army TlIleS- ALTeT INDOOR prGC-
tice with these has made them proficient
in the handling OF guns. they are then
taken 70 the range and started into reg
ular rife practice An effort is being
made 10 induce Congress 70 appropriate
$4,000 for the encourREeuenr Of rifle
practice in the high schools OF the United
States. The War Department has rec
commended the passage Of such meas
Ere-
Measured by the standards Of other ua-
lions, there is great need for the encOur-
agement Of rife practice in the United
States We have only forty-seven organ
ized government clubs. with a member
snip Of only about 300. Switzerland with
q population no larger than ours at the
close OF the revolutionary war. has 3-6IS
clubs. with a membership Of l23.080. Eng
land has 90 clubs with a membership of
nearly 51g0. Switzerland spends $4,000
a year on its clubs. and turns out over
10000 trained marksmen annually. The
only work done 10 foster rifle practice
outside OF the military and naval service
IN the United States IS that of the Ma
rioiual Rifle Association With this asso-
CiatiOn there are affiliated twenty-one
State rife associations. ffty-six regi-
ments, twenty-five separate military or
ganizarions. sixty civilian rife clubs. six
college and university shooting clubs. and
fifteen sChooIbOy rifle clUbs-l65 orgauiza-
lions n all
Il may seem strange, but the branch
OF the national defense most likely &c be
called into service at any mOment-the
navy and the Marine Corps-is the poorest