Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-11-21

City; Gumbel Bldg, Kansas City, Mo.
"lnasmuch as We have done it
unto one Of the least Of these, ye
have done It unto me-"
SHOOTERS GETTING FEWER.
Speaker Champ Clark in an address
in Lumberton, Mississippi last week,
declared that if every nation OF the
war combined against the United
States. they could never get as Tar
from the Eastern coast as the ONO
river He said that men would spring
up from every where to fight for the
union. and that these Americans IN the
United States would fight better than
any other fighters the world has ever
known.
Speaker Clark is basing his remarks
on past performances. 1t is fact that
the volunteer soldier in the wars that
this country has fought, was the ideal
soldier. He was hardy, intelligent, re-
sourceful and brave and he could
shoot straight.
But there is no question that there
would be great difference, at the time
of enlistment, between thousand men
who would volunteer for service today
in any of the middle western states,
and a thousand men who, in those
same states, volunteered for service in
the sixties. Fifty years ago a great
deal larger percentage of our male pop
ulation knew how to shoot than knows
how today. Fifty years ago this coun-
try did not have great big population
in the cities like it has today. There
are hundreds of thousands OF men OF
military age in this country who do not
know even how to load a gun and who
never shot one in their lives.
It fs very probable that at least
eighty per cent of the men who volun-
teered for service in the Mississippi
valley states in the sixties were famil-
lar with the use of the shotgun or rifle
or both. It is just as probable that to-
day the percentage of those familiar
with fire arms would be twenty per
cent. and those knowing absolutely
nothing about them, eighty per cent.
While, we realize that this may be
looked upon by great many as unim-
portant, the facts are that it is very
serious matter. The records show that
in the great European war now in
progress that 1t is the individual man
with the rifle that after all does the
work. 1t has been demonstrated that
forts cannot be built that will stand up
against the modern siege guns. The
battles are now being won by machine
guns and rifles. The artillery is not
nearly 50 effective against turned up
earth as It is against cement and steel
forts. The battles are finally decided
by infantry fire and bayonet charges.
Fifty years ago, especially In the
middle west, almost everybody, some
time during the year, went hunting.
There were very few large cities and
no one had to go very far to find some
game of some kind the greater part of
the year. The towns were small and it
was only matter of a few minutes
walk to get far enough in the country
to find something to shoot at. Now,
one has to go miles and miles from a
city of any size in order to find any
shooting. As the cities grew and game
became less plentiful, men who loved
to shoot, formed gun clubs and rifle
clubs They we're mainly composed of
men who had, as young men and boys,
hunted great deal, and their desire to
shoot resulted in the formation of
these shooting clubs Fifteen, twenty
and up to ten years ago, almost every
little town in the country and all of the
big ones had shooting clubs. But dur
ing the last ten years these clubs have
died out until now there are very few
shooting clubs In any state. Twenty
years ago Ottumwa had a gun club of
about twenty-five active shooters and a
rife club of nearly half that number.
It also had it's militia company Today
it has no gun club or rifle club and
probably no greater amount of shoot
ing is done by it's militia company than
was being done at that time.
We realize that there is an impress
sion that anyone can pick up gun and
learn to shoot in ten minutes. But the
facts are absolutely against such a
theory. There are thousands of men
who are as patriotic as any other citi-
zen, yet could not learn to shoot gun
in ten years 80 as to hit anything.
It is said that at the battle of New
Orleans the percentage of killed and
wounded among the British, in proper
ton to the number of American troops
fighting them, was the greatest of any
battle of which there is a record Gen.
Jacksons force in that battle was COM
posed of Kentucky and Tennessee rifle
men. The most of them had, when they
enlisted, brought with them the rifles
that they used for hunting. When those
men went hunting, it was not pleas
ure trip. They hunted to get meat on
which to live and they knew how to
shoot The British troops advanced
up to where they came within range
of those rifles and that is as far as they
ever got. General Jackson won that
battle, because his soldiers knew how
to shoot rifle.
For the last ten years Lord Roberts
made speeches and wrote articles End
addressed parliament and wrote letters
and preached easingly to the Eng
lish people and English government to
provide a systematic plan by which,
under ansarnnantal diractinn and or