The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1916-03-03
ARTILLERY IS FIRST.
MANY FIELD GUNS WANTED BY
THE EXPERTS FOR THE
LARGER ARMY.
PLENTY OF AMMUNITION. TOO
Importance of This Branch, Foreseen
by General Schofield. Has Been Alb
soIutely Established by the Great
Warfare In Europe.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

warfare In Europe.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.
Westinghouse preparedness legis-
lation goes through, as at present II is
planned 1t is probable the regular
army will be increased by the addi-
ton of between 10000 and $4,000 men.
1t seems likely that congress will pro-
vide that as large a part Of the in
crease as possible shall be put into the
field artillery. for 1t is established
that field guns, that is light artillery,
are the all-in-all of the present war, a
fact that army men say was proved
before the conflict was a month old
Winfield Scott Hancock once said
that the tariff was local issue. and
for saying it was laughed at and voted
into retirement. The developments of
the years. many men hold. have vtndi-
Gated Hancock's words. John M.
Schofield. major general of the United
States army, foresaw the coming OF
the sharp need of greatly increased
numbers Of field guns II wars were to
be won. He was abused and charged
with a desire to help the artillery
branch Of the service at the expense
of sister branches.
There are few regular army officers
today who are unwilling to give Gen.
eral Schofield credit for hard sense
and keen foresight. Field guns are
doing the work in Europe today. and
field guns. at the present time. mean
something more than three-inch rifles
and the smaller weapons by courtesy
called cannon. Siege guns have be-
come field guns. Heavy artillery also
can be moved, laboriously 1t is true.
but nevertheless successfully. from
one point to another. Artillery seems
to be the prime weapon of modern war
fare.
Artillery First Requisite.
Army officers in Washington are
alive to the situation. They want a
well-balanced army. of course, and
they will resent any attempt to cut
down other branches to increase the
artillery, but rather than weaken the
force Of artillery they probably will be
willing that sacrifices in other
branches shall be made. What they
want, however, Is enough field guns,
and enough ammunition to serve them,
to make certain the efficiency of the
field artillery forces.
When your correspondent was at
the front in France, near the Argonne
forest. st. Mihiel and Verdun, and
later in the trenches in Lorraine, he
got some realizing sense of what ar
tillery means in this war, and. more
over. he learned definitely the neces-
sity Of unlimited ammunition for the
guns in service.
The cannonading from both the
siege guns and the seventy-fives of the
French and the seventy-sevens of the
Germans was virtually incessant.
There was a lull at night. but all
through the day the cannon roared
along the forty or fifty miles of front.
for on a still day it is possible to hear
the gunfire for many miles on either
side of the listener.
Every foreign officer who spoke on
the subject at all, dwelt upon the ne
cessity of field pieces. shells and still
more shells" Shrapnel for certain
uses is going out of date, and before
long it may take it's place with the
arrow of the ancients. High explosives
are the proper projectiles for warfare
as it is carried on today, and 1t is cred
table to the American service to be
able to say that Uncle Sans army Of
ficers realized this fact before General
French had succeeded in making his
chief, General Kitchener. yield his pref
erence for the well-nigh useless shrap-
mel
Are Coast Cities Safer
Sharp knowledge may be had of the
Numerically opposed views in Wash
ington on the subject Of preparedness
by comparing some Of the things that
the anti-preparedness folks say with
things said by the champions of prep
aration.
There is an anti-preparedness COM
mittee here which Is putting out many
pleas against the enactment of any
legislation this winter
and, by intimation at least, against
any preparedness legislative plans for
any winter to come. These anti-pre-
paredness advocates, virtually every
one of whom is a pacifist, hold that
we do not need any more ships and
that the army is big enough as it is
and that nothing should be done to
create volunteer force, nor to in
crease the strength of the militia.
II is through the anti-preparedness
committee that one hears that our
coast cities do not need any further
means of defense than they now have,
and that no enemy ever will try to
place our big towns under tribute, nor
to modest the good American people
in any way. On the other hand, the
advocates of a plan to put the United
States into a position to defend itself
against aggression say the condition
of things is such that any foe that can
nuaronuna pttr navy M Low Me-, vo.,-