Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08

further by the American army surgeon
than by the English. In the last mobili-
zatioh OF the American army there were
only two cases Of typhoid fever among
2f,0o0 men. one teamster who avoided
the propnylactlc, and the other a man
VINO hao developed typhoid before he had
been Vaccinated. This is a record with
out parallel in the medical history of any
army. 80 thoroughly has the theory OF
sanitation been mastered that there are
now less than one-thirteenth as many
ADMISSIONS to the navy and army hos
pltals on account of malaria as there
were thirteen years ago
Although some other governments
Spend large sums in the encouragement
of rifle practice. the American people
nave the satisfaction of knowing that IN
both team and individual craftsmanship
their soldiers and stailGrS stand at the
mead or every list. Almost every inter
national trophy to be competed for is ROW
in their keeping.
A new device has been invented for
teaching schoOlboys craftsmanship with
out danger to themselves. 1t is known
as the subtarget machine. No ammuni-
ton is used with it; the boy simply aims
the gun and pulls Tie trigger, and a
needle-like rod registers on Il minute
target the point where the bullet would
nave struck on regulation target mad
the gun been loaded. This machine Is
not toy. but has been adopted by many
are in use in the French army. After
the schOolDoys are taught to take ac-
curate aim in this way they are put TO
work with .22-caliber rifles having the
same weight and sight as the regulation
army rifle. After indoor practice with
these has made the schoolboys proficient
In the handling of guns they are then
taken to the rifle ranges and started in
regular practice. 1t has been calculated
by army statisticiana that for every man
in, ho 10 Inv
from 5000 to 300 shots fired.
The ordnance bureau of the War De-
partment has charge of the work of pro-
viding the army with all it's munitions of
war from the big 14-inch coast defense
guns down to the cartridges for an army
rife The heaviest guns weigh as much
as a railroad engine and shoot projec
tile weighing much ten ordinary
men.
The machine guns can fire eight rifle
bullets in second. No battleship can re-
sist the concentrated fire of modern coast
defense guns. 1t has become only a
question of craftsmanship. and the
American coast defenders have solved
marksmen in the world They are now
provided with sixty-foot moving targets
and the troops at Fort Hancock, n. j.,
some months ago scored four shots in
less than a minute with a battery of two
guns. All four shots struck in rectan-
gle of 81 by 53 feet The target was
four miles away and was travelling five
and one-half miles an hour With such
firing as this it would be impossible for
any foreign feet to pass through the
narrows below New York.
The big guns are mounted on disap-
pearing carriages. The gun is loaded
and is then aimed according to directions
given by the fire-control station. in the
making of which minute knowledge of
physics and geometry is required, and the
gun is raised into position. When it is
fired the recoi throws it back and down
into the pit again. There it is loaded
once more. driven up into position again
and fired. Two Of these guns are placed
in a single pit and together they can
keep a shot in the air nearly all the time,
their combined capacity being a shot
every fifteen seconds.
In addition to the long. coast defense
guns there is liberal supply OF NOR
tars, which shoot l6-inch proieetiles.
They have scored high seventy hits
ont of a hundred. These mortars are at
all times out of sight of the enemy, and
are not fired directly at the object they
seek to destroy, but their tremendous