Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-10-12

= IN
because 1t does not permit of any ac.
curacy In fire on the other hnnd.
even the American army has abandon.
ed the idea of having n force of crnek
Shots and now merely aims AT Il good
general average. Too much has per-
maps been made of the precision Of
the modern rifles. Each rifle develops
eccentrlcitlcs from day TO day. and
in battle there is no way to ascertain
the errors or to get an accurate range,
especially in damp country where
the bullets raise no dust. Yet a well
placed rifle fire does tell. and this is
the only thing that saved the British
forces from annlhilation at Mons. The
old Boer trick Of naming certain
number of sharp shooters to fire at
Will In an endeavor To pick off officers
while the remainder sent in vollcys
proved a disastrous surprise to the
Germans. The old saying that II takes
IA ton of lead to Kill man is still
true. II is estimated there is one hit
In every $500 shots as accuracy Of
instrument Is overcome by the greater
distance Of fire.
Part Played by cavalry.
II is still too early to learn the part
cavalry Is now playing American
army Officers are divided into two
schools on the subject Of cavalry, those
who believe cavalry should play ITS
historic part I'm battle. and those who
regard cavalry as effective only in
scouting in acting as mounted lnfan-
try when 1t Is necessary to rush men
TO weak point. there to dismount
and advance on foot, and lastly In
following up a rout. Artillery fire and
barbed wire entangiements have so
far caused great slaughter of horses
The United States war college had
enough faith In cavalry however, 10
plan n division of II at the time inter
vention in Mexico was threatened.
Machine guns figure largely In the
reports. but they are still believed to
be OF real advantage only In sweeping
streets and open roads, since their
fire is scattered and they have ten
dency TO iamh. They appear to do their
greatest damage IN pot shooting
Mission OF Airships.
Popular Imagination IL greatly stir
red by reports of airships, But these
are not feared by soldiers, except In
cases where they are able to signal to
the enemy the range to their artillery
Even in scouting they fly several
miles high. so high to be unable to
detect anything more than the move
ments Of large masses of men. proyid-
ing the atmosphere conditions are ia
vorable. Deployed troops would be
hard to distinguish. The amount of
explosives the machines are able to
carry is. In the military phrase, con-
temptihle
The real lesson the war SO far
teaches, finds the critic. is the inn
mense advantage Of military prepare
ton Germany overlooked nothing
Her forces were seasoned. and proN-
sioning and transport peFfect II
France Belgium and Russia had been
as poorly prepared as England, Ger
many would have won the war In
month.
British Regulars Excellent.
Brtains regular army Is excellent
so far as It goes but il forms only
one section Of tho line of the allies.
Some Of the best Of the tcrritorlals,
who correspond to the American ma
tional guard. have been sent to the
front, while the rest are used to re-
lieve the regulars In Gibraltar, India
and other foreign stations Lord
Kitchener himself Gays that the new
volunteer army will not be ready for
use until spring. 1t would be murder
to send raw troops against veterans.
Whether Britain will have to come
to conscrlpton Is questionable but
the announcement by the premier that
she would not was greeted in parlia-
ment by cheers Popular opinion IS
strong against CONSUMPTION, even IN
the form OF compulsory national
guard, which ii takes in New Zealand
But il some sort Of forced training had
existed. even Of kind not to take
men away from productive toll, Lord
Kitchener's task would be greatly
cased The war office says frankly
that owing to this lack OF preparation
the war is sure to be long and costly.