The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-10-01

4
| Six weeks more to frosti
| Careful, little hinter,
In your clover shack
Watch out lest Old Winter
! Happen on your tracki
If by any fate he.
Catching at clue,
| Finds out what Katy
-Frani s Dempster 30 g gRerman in Success.
Magazine.
pendicities today?'' Nav I'm tired OF
these organ recitals."-Cornen Widow.
Made Deaf by Guns.
| Gun deafness is becoming a menace
| in the navy, according to DR.. Gilbert
| Totten McMaster, of THIS CITY, who has
| given the subject a personal investi-
| cation. The sharp ring of the six
FOUNDER now being generally used in
| target practice on the American war
ships, he says, will put out of the SER
vice many fine officers and men with
ruptured tympanun1s.
The air vibrations, repeated at short
intervals and with increasing intensity,
render all chance of repair of the It's
sues of the ears next to impossible, he
says, and thus bring on absolute deaf
ness. During target practice, now go
ing on in all the fleets, the small cali
Der guns are mostly used-3-pounders,
12-pounders, 3-inch and 6-inch.
It is ordnance of this class whose
quick, sharp ring sets up in the ears
of the men after four or five rounds
have been exploded. The big guns
are not risked in practice, as their linn
it of accuracy is S3 rounds; SO they
must be saved for real action. Their
accuracy is destroyed as soon as they
begin to erode at the muzzle from the
high temperature of the gases, calcul-
ated at the moment or explosion at
1000 degrees Fahrenheit. At this
temperature the steel rubs off a little,
no matter how hard and finely tenn
pered it is.
Officers of the navy have complain
ed to DR.. McMaster that the 6-pound-
er, in particular, has a sharp, ear
splitting ring, which is repeated dur
ing target work to such an extent the
guns seem to be alive, so rapidly are
they served and fired. The men and
officers are in the field or the blast. :"
Not only rupture of the tympanun,
but traumatic myringitis results.
These injuries may often be avoided,
he says, by keeping the mouth open,
so as to let the air conclusion pass
through the eustachian tube. He
calls attention to a fact not hitherto
made known here, namefy, that re-
cent examination of so naval men by
the British admiralty showed they had
benn made deaf by gun practice The
admiralty board has advised the use
of an ear plug. Another device, the
"blast SCREEN" is also being tried in
the English navy. 1t is made of steel
and rubber, II feet deep, and is said
the 4-inch guns. Naval experts say
it does not really preserve the hearing,
but gives the enemy bigger target to
shoot at. One of these "blast screens
is now being used on the British bat
tleship Inf1exible, it is said. The ear
plug, while it stops the vibration of
air from cannon discharge, does not
prevent the men from hearing orders.
But the seamen and officers do not
like It, because they like to be con-
sidered hard as nails.''-New Haven
dispatch to the New York World
Revenue Cutter Work.
The revenue cutter service of the
brated the 10th anniversary of its es-
tablishment. All over the world. in
whatever port the vessels were lying,
they were in full Dress with the flags
and bunting flying. Officers and crews,
in all the glory of full uniform, were
mustered on the main deck. and the
rehearsed to them the his
tory of the service.
1t is a history so interesting and so
honorable that the country may we'll
enlisted men. Created primarily to as
sist the treasury department in the
collection of the customs duties and the
of the tariff laws, especial |
scope has greatly widened with the
passing years. Smuggling by vessels |
has been practically destroyed, and |
there is probably no other country with |
a high tariff that suffers so little from !
this source as does the United States.
The revenue cutter service now sends |
its vessels around the world, wherever
flies the American flag. 1t patrols the |
sealino grounds of Alaska as well as |
the shores of Florida, and its flag floats |
in many ports from Baltimore to Ma
Mia. Before the outbreak of the Span
lsh war one of its duties was to inter-
cept the flibusters which were carry
Ing arms to the Cuban insurgents, and |
it had many lively brush with the
swift little tugs that stole out from the
coast on this interesting but illegal
mission. A constant watch must be
kept on vessels under suspicion of car
rying arms to the insurgents in the
various rebellions that keep the coun-
tries of Central and South America in
such continual turmoil, and the cutters
have nipped in the bud many a young
revolution.
But a more practical and important
service that the revenue cutters render
to navigation is in aid to ships in dis
-ress, ships disabled by storms or &C.
,idents. The brave little cutters form
4 life saving service on the high seas,
and have saved many a vessel from
shipwreck and brought her safely into
port Another task it performs is In
he destruction of derelicts that lie in |
he path Of steamships and and consti-
ute one of the greatest dangers to
navigation. Recently the government |
has built special vessel for this pur-
bose, and the dere1ict destroyer Seneca
S said to be the only vessels of its
Kind in the world.-Baltimore Sun.