The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-07-18

The SCHOOL or FIRE
BY Frederic J. Haskin.

I8 BY Frederi
|, saessassarrs,ets
You can take man OF the street
and make either an infantryman or
II cavalryman out OF him In six months;
\ but to make q good artilleryman Is
often the work of years.
\ Almost every state In the union has
Il a fairly good militia infantry, and
] some of them have good cavalry, but
Il good militia batteries are extremely
l rare. For one thing, they are hard
\ to produce, as noted above. and for
H another the states can make little use
Eof them for state police duties, and
thence have no motive for supporting
l them other than the purely patriotic
one OF providing for national de-
Tense.
A In consideration OF these facts, the
government has established Scnool
4 of Fire, which consists in camp at
A Tobyhanna, Pa, for northern organ
H izations, and one at Annaston, Ala,
J for southern militia, where our citt-
lien gunners are trained by regular
i army artillery officers. Each battery
lis given ten days at the school. They
4 are days OF genuine military life In
camp and bivouac. Here the militia
recruit from some big city. whose
military experience has consisted in
bgoing through the standing gun drill
in an armory. rides his timber over
! the mountain roads, wheels his battery
into line, hears the smashing report
of service ammunition, sees the fur
of bursting shrapnel; here, in word,
| he tastes of the zest and excitement,
and also the discipline and the ardu-
Gus labor of real military service. II
there is red blood and spark of the
martial spirit within him, he responds
to the experience with enthusiasm.
| Militia batteries have not only in
creased greatly in efficiency since the
establishment of the School Of Fire,
but they have increased in strength
and numbers. The chance to wheel a
field battery into position and tear up
target with real shrapnel appeals
strongly to the young men OF Amer
lea.
Difficult Problem.
The problem to be solved by the
officers and instructors Of the School
of Fire is q difficult one. The fed
eral government has no power over
the state militia. It may merely adj
wise and instruct. Hence militia bat
teries of the United States are what
ever the various states have cared 70
make them. Yet, as the European
war has shown, in case of war, field
artillery would be a most important
branch of the service.
The state militia batteries. as they
stand today varying from organizations
that are better than the average reg
ular battery to those that are re-
cruited to less than half strength, do
not own single horse, and have not
an officer capable of directing elective
fire This condition is the natural
result of the divided control, as each
state may do what it pleases with it's
batteries. The success Of battery
depends largely upon the personal In
terest, enthusiasm and personality OF
l. its officers. Thus, one of the best
light batteries in the United States is
T! in the young and comparatively unde-
veloped state of New Mexico. Charles
de Bermond, of Roswell, is the cap
| tain OF this organization. He was
once Swiss artillery captain. In
New Mexico he owns a large ranch.
Most of the men of his battery are
| cowboys on his ranch. He supplies
the horses that draw the guns. A born
soldier, he spends all of his spare time
| in drilling and perfecting his organ
| ization. AS result, there is prob
I dOly uOt d U6ILSI DdttSAJ IL SAC
States army than the light battery at
Roswell.
| Utah Has Battery.
Utah also has a battery that will
compare favorably with any in the
regular army. 1t saw service during
the Philippine instruction, and has
been kept intact ever snce, with the
same personnel. It's men are exper-
i fenced and are inspired by q sense
of pride and loyalty to their organ
! ization.
i The batteries that do not come up
ito this high standard are too numer-
Gus to mention. The work Of the
School OF Fire is to crowd into ten
days enough training to teach these
batteries the rudiments of their bus
iness, and enough inspiration to en-
courage them to train themselves.
| Lack of enthusiasm, however. is by
no means the difficulty in training
militia batteries at home; It is lack
of officers and horses that holds them
i back. At the School of Fire the military
batteries are instructed by officers OF
the regular army. and they use the
educated horses Of the service batter
les. Two batteries of the regular army
are taken to the camp and established
/ in permanent quarters. The militia
1 batteries camp beside these in paral-
blel line. Both the commissioned and
inon-commissicned officers of the reg
| ular batteries assist the amateur gun
ners to learn their business.
! In addition to the regular encamp-