Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-05-11
may learn TO SHOOT
aovsrnmsut 70 aivs Civilians uAaAes
: TO Become Narksmsa ana Provide
Arms and ANNEXATION 1or Rifle
Club use.

e.
There is one thing which the present
Congress has done for which some day,
-thisrgreat country will offer paeam of
praise, as ii may he the means Of help
ing our republic to more effectively re-
-sist invaders. Amid all the. turmoil and
strife with which the lawmakers have
been engaged aud Of which the. public
bears little but, tariff, repeal Of tolls
Endrswatehfuf waiting, there has been
quietly passed an act which will, pro
mote and encourage marksmauship
among the eitisens ofsthe country. IL
effectively carried out, the results Of
this legislation will once again givssa
meaning to the long iisusedsphrass, in
speaking Of this. country: "AN nation
Of .marksmen.p
Since the Civil War and for some.
time. previous to that conflict, marks
-manship in this country had seriousiy,
declined. No effort was made by. the
federal governments to stimulate ,ritle
instruction among its citizsns and very
little by the states themselves. In fact
bAC QiotOuIuf<Nu tut sDOIl
by making it almost impossible for
citizens to own 4 military rifle and it
denied them the use of government
ranges. This policy however, has in
the last decade been reversed, prinei-
pally through the efforts of the Ma
tional Rifle Association of America. 1t
is now possible for citizens to own and
possess an army rifle Nnd the army and
most state ranges are thrown open to
civilian marksmen. To cap the climax
Congress has now authorized the issue
by the War Department of rifles and
ammunition to properly organized rifle
clubs. Anticipating such action, the
National Rifle Association has for
years been organizing clubs and from q
start Of five clubs in the year 1908,
there are today 1875 active rifle clubs
affiliated with the National Rifle
Association using the service rifle and
ammunition. These clubs have about
5000 members.
The issue of rifles contemplated in
the present act is the rifle formerly
used by the army and p0pularly known
as the "Krag." In the government
arsenals, there has been stored for use
as q reserve in case of war about 300,-
600 of these arms. 1t is proposed to
issue them on the ratio of about one to
every five members of rifle clubs and
to each member of a rifle club there
will be issued annually 120 rounds Of
ammunition. The carrying out of this
purpose and the organization of clubs
has been put in the hands of the Ma
tional Rifle Association of America,
which has offices in the Woodward
Building, Washington, ID. c., and works
in close operation with the National
Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice,
of which Hon. Henry Breckinridge, As
sistant Secretary of War is the Presi-
dent All those who are interested in
the organization of rifle clubs and who
wish to take advantage of this act may
procure rules and regulations under
which the clubs must organize by ad-
dressing the secretary of the NJ r. A.
That the rifle which is to be put in
the hands of these civilians is one OF
great accuracy and reliability can be
depended upon, as it is this rifle which
has won many world championship:
and holds the record of the Palma
Trophy Match made by the American
team in 1907
That this movement to revive the
sport Of rifle shooting in the United
States as a means of strengthening the
| defences of this country will accom-
plish this purpose is quite evident. II
will in way solve the complicated an(
much discussed question of an efficient
national volunteer reserve, as there il
no doubt the full development of tn,
rifle club idea will in few years meal
the organization of thousands of riff,
clubs throughout the country, the mem
bers of which in the grand aggregate