The Monticellonian., 1916-03-02
ARTILLERY |S 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.

lation goes through, as at present it is planned, it is probable the regular army will be increased by the addl- tion of between 10000 and 50,000 men. It 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 it is established that field guns, that is light artillery, are the all-in-all of the present war. fact that army men say was proved before the conflict was month old.
 Winfield Scott Hancock once said that the tariff was a local issue, and for saying it was laughed at and voted into retirement. The developments of the years, many men hold, have vindi- cated Haneoek's words. John M. Schofield. major general of the United States army, feresaw the coming of the sharp need of greatly increased numbers of field guns if wars were to be won. He was abused and charged with a desire to help the artillery of sister branches.
 There are few regular army officers today who are unwilling to give Gen. eral Schofleld 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 neees- sity of unlimited ammunition for the guns in service.
 The cannonading from both the siege guns and the seventy-fves 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 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 its place with the arrow of the ancients. High explosives are the proper projectiles for warfare as 1t Is carried on today, and 1t Is cred itable to the American service to be able to say that Uncle Sam's army of ficers realized this fact before General French had succeeded in making his rh af Kftohnnnr vi erence for the well-nigh useless shrap- nel
 Are Coast Cities Safe?
 Sharp knowledge may be had of the diametrically 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 preparedness 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 a volunteer force, nor to in- crease the strength of the militia
 It Is through the 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 molest 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 overcome our navy can lay New York under tribute in two hours, or in ruins in the time that it would take a bom- bardment to batter the city to pieces and the springing fires to burn it up.
 Ammunition for Two Hours.
 It is said this condition of things is attested by facts which congress has had in it's possession for years and
 TAKEN FROM EXCHANGES