The chronicle=news., 1914-09-23

The adm0nition of Lord Kitchener.
head of the British war office,
about training the recruits for the
nent to fight the Germans. teach
the men to shoot hits the nail on
the head. Lord Kitchener said fur
ther in his dispatch fro France: See
that the new levies know how to
handle their rifles. 1t makes very
little difference whether they know
their right foot from their left If
they know how to shoot"
1t is very evident that the head of
the British armies saw enough on
his inspection of the battle lines in
| France to convince him that straight
shooting was the first lesson Of
good soldier. Reports from the seat
Of war have all agreed that the lack
of this training among the Germans
las greatly reduced casualties of the
allies and has been more or less
tGetriment to the advance of the in
>ading Teutona. What a lesson this
is to the United States where rifle
shooting has been more or less ne
elected not only among the civilian
population bat even in the army it
self where among higher authorities
the opinion prevails. assimilated
lfrom German text books. that indi-
| vidual training in craftsmanship Is
mot essential. Notwithstanding the
| lessons of our own soldiers in the
Revolutionary war and In the Bocr
British conflict
i After years of effort, the National
Rifle Association of America. a pa
triOtic organization. closely allied
with the war department, has Sc
cured the passage by congress of q
measure to issue free to rifle clubs
|rifles and ammunition SO that those
citizens, who in time of war. would
compose the volunteer armies. would
have some knowledge of the care and
use OF the military arm. a knowledge
which as Lord Kitchener has stated
is more important than marching
and drilling Under this act. the
government will issue the rifles
Iwith which the regular army was
formerly equipped. popularly called
the "krag." II is a splendid shoot
ing arm and the equal of any Of the
l;rifles which are now being used by
the troops in the European war.
lNVith each rifle will go 100 rounds of
|.ammunition. This ammunition will
Ibe issued annually to every club
member who will guarantee to use
the same in practice shooting as pre-
scribed by the war department.
Although this law has been In ef-
feet only four months. there has al
Iready been organized In different
Iparts of the country more than 40
Irirle clubs. These clubs all allied
themselves with the National Rifle
Association of America. which or
lganiZation has been delegated by
1.-THE Secretary Of War to carry out the
purposes of the new law. organize
the clubs. supervise the record fir
ling and issue decorations TO those
who make the qualifying score.
| From the headquarters of the Ma
|tional Rifle Association of America
in the Woodward building. Washing
'ton. y. c.. there is being issued tons
of literature on the organization of
clubs. the building of ranges. and
instruction in target firing. 1t is
hoped that the initiating of this new
movement will result In the revival
of the noble sport of rifle shooting
lin this country. sport which has
almost become extinct owing princi-
the lack of ranges. The most Sc
lr'ous problem to be overcome in the
proper promotion of this movement
SO that the government will get ade-
uuate returns is the lack CT ranges
lwhereon members of rifle clubs can
practice. The United States is prac-
tically the only great power In the
world that has not set aside large
tracts OF land for maneuvering. ar
ltillery and small arms practice. AT
the present time, the government
owns only one range and that is To-
Gated in Wisconsin and for several
reasons it is not in commission.
There are small ranges located at or
near most of the army posts, but
such ranges are only used at stated
times of the year for the target
practice of the local garrisons. Prac
tically all the states have state
ranges for the use of the National
Guard. but these ranges are so
hedged about with restrictions and
lack of lands that they are only In
use during the period that the Ma
tional Guard is practfcing. What |
this country needs above all other
things in the military line at the
present time is the acquiring of land
and the construction of rifle ranges |
as near as possible to large centcrs |
of population. The cost of such land
even at this date is almost prohibi-
tory and the longer the government
puts off acquiring the same, the
harder it will be to acquire and the
greater the cost. Efforts have been |