Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-08-29
RIFLE WON'T KILL.
War Experts Devise Weapon
Which Only Wounds.
BULLETS OF HIGH VELOCITY,

Modern Guns Are Rapidly Developing
Into Humane Observation-Disclosures
ing Shells Are Mostly For the Pur-
pose of Disabling Combatants.
The British army is shortly to be
equipped with new type of rifle pos
sessing considerably longer barrel
than the present mode and slightly
decreased bore With this weapon il
will be possible to discharge bullet
with very high velocity and penetrat-
ing power.
Nlnety-nine people out of a hundred
will jump to the conclusion that this
weapon has been designed in order to
increase the wholesale slaughter and
carnage that are generally supposed to
be the inevitable outcome of modern
warfare. AS matter Of fact this is
quite mistaken idea.
Modern weapons of war are rapidly
developing into very humane instru-
mentS as compared with those of a
few years ago. This tendency is not
due to any humanitarian reasons but
solely because it is not policy to create
wholesale slaughter in present day
warfare.
Experts have discovered that to
wound an enemy is far better than
killing him. A number of wounded
soldiers entails responsibility on the
side that they represent, which is
severe handicap in a strenuous war
campaign. Ambulance corps and field
hospitals have to be maintained, and
III big campaigns where casualties are
large the burden of taking care Of the
wounded is no small matter.
That is one great reason why mod
ern weapons tend to put man tenn
porarily out of action and not to kill
him. The terrific speed of q bullet dis
charged from the modern high power
rifle sends it in nine cases out of ten
right through man. 1t puts him out
but seldom kills him.
The wounds made by high speed bull
let's, though severe, heal very rapidly.
What is more, the modern bullet sci.
dom poisons wound, as was the case
with the old type of shot.
Owing to the heat developed by the
high power powder used in the dis
charge the bullet is rendered sterile or
antiseptic and very seldom causes COM
plications by blood poisoning. A proof
that this is the case is supplied by the
recent Balkan war.
A doctor who attended the wounded
Turks stated that out of nearly roc
wounded soldiers only two needed Sc
rious operations for their hurts, TWEEN
ty only required plaster bandages, while
the remainder healed their wounds In
two weeks, largely by means of the
first aid packets which formed part Of
their kit. III
This tendency to disable rather than
to kill is to be found in several direc-
tons.
The shell, which most people consid
er a weapon of terrific death dealing
properties, really wounds more often
than kills. This type of shot in the
first place is meantsto demolish FORTH
cations, entertainments and houses. It
certainly may kill while carrying out
this mission but more often its flying
pieces cause flesh wounds, serious but
not fatal.
In the same way airship bombs and
shells, though at first sight serious
death dealing factors, will prove use
full more for wrecking property, than
taking human life.
To start with, aerial craft engaged
in dropping bombs will have to stay
at a high altitude to. elude the sharp
shooters on earth. Thus falling
bomb from a great height will not be
difficult to avoid. It's fall will be
gagged with more or less accuracy,
certainly with sufficient correctness to
enable those underneath to run clear
of the spot it is falling toward. All
things considered, modern warfare Is
tending to become far less an affair
entailing wholesale slaughter, not be-
cause we are becoming more humane
but merely because recent conflicts
have proved it is policy to wound and
not to kill.