The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-12-16
IMPROVEMENT IN
MARKSMANSH|P
Report of Adjutant General
Shows Improvement Among
Contestants in Practice

Washington. Dec. 16.-In the an
nual report of the adjutant general
of the army, General r. c. Ainsworth
devotes some space to small arms
firing. He states that continued i'm
provement is shown in rifle firing by
the increase in the number of quail
fications in the higher grades of
craftsmanship. He cites the practice
season of 1908, during which 2,379 eX-
pert rihemen, 1907 sharpshooters
and 4.2O4 marksmen qualified, as
against 1881 expert ritiemen. 5,555
sharpshooters and 4,l2S marksmen in
1907. This means a great deal to the
army as under the regulations as
amended February 3, 1909. enlisted
men qualifying as expert riflemen.
sharpshooters and marksmen are en-
titled to additional pay of SIS So and
50 a month, respectively from date
of qualification to the end of the en-
listment in which they qualify. pro-
vided that during that time they do
not attain higher classification and
that they continue to be members of
an organization armed with the rife
or are transferred for conven-
ience to some crgartsaassssHnot SO
armed"
From the above it is seen that the
government is giving substantial rec
ognition to craftsmanship in the reg
ular army. The regular army at
present consists of about 10000 men,
many of whom, of course, are not
armed With the rife and therefore
cannot draw the increased pay. There
are 1880 men in the table quoted
who are drawing increased pay as
the result of proficiency with the rifle.
The. total amount received by them
in the course of year is $524.6SS or
S43,724 per month. OF this $11.S95
goes to the 1919 experts; s2S,421 is
paid to the 1865 sharpshooters while
the 4,2O4 marksmen receive $S,4OS per
month. all in addition to the regular
monthly pay. Taking the army at
1900 men, more than 20 per cent of
the enlisted strength is receiving ad-
ditional compensation for excellence
in craftsmanship.
Dhring 1909 the troops in the de-
partment of the east and the depart
ment of the gulf joined in what was
known as the Atlantic competitions
which were held at Fort Niagara, n.
Y: those in the departments of the
Dakota, lakes and Missouri, partici-
pated in the northern competitions at
Fort Sheridan, ILL.,: on the Pacific
coast the departments of California
and Columbia held their competitions
at Monterey, Cal. and the depart
ments of Colorado and of Texas coln-
bined in the southwestern competi-
tions held at Leon Springs. Tex. AZ
ter the department competitions. the
army competitions were held at Fort
Sheridan as the result of which the
army rife team for the national tro-
ply match was selected. This team
was defeated by the United States
navy team by 40 points the navy maxi
ing 1901 and the army infantry team
3,f52.
In the division competitions medals
were awarded to a considerable num-
her of competitors, including 113 en-
lihted men and twenty-eight commits
siened officers for proficiency with
the rife and fifty-eight enlisted men
and thirty-eight commissioned Off
GERS for proficiency with the pistol.
Altogether the number of competitors
in the army competitions were as
follows: Rife-5S5 enlisted men; "a
commissioned officers; and % din
tinguished marksmen: Pistol-2S3 en-
listed men: 73 commissioned officers;
and % distinguished pistol shots.
The small arms firing regulations
have been revised and published as
''The Provisional Small Arms Firing
Manual" This manual is to take ef-
feet January I, 1910 and is to super
sede the present small arms firing
regulations.