Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-04-07

1nlOFudIlOu TOC0uLIy udS D00u lOIIu-
coming in Washington concerning the
of the artillery arm of
the service, and it is certain if pre-
paredness measures are enacted into
law that the increase in the artillery
will be much greater proportionately
than the increase in any other branch
of the service.
THE engagement quickly resolved
itself into an artillery duel The
words quoted appear IN scores of dis
patches from the scenes of the con-
fiict in Europe. 1t is an artillery
read by Americans probably five times
where the other words, regiment or
battalion, are read once.
There are batteries of horse artil-
lery batteries OF light field artillery,
mountain batteries, siege batteries,
and sea coast batteries, although the
last named may be eliminated from
discussion because thus far, save for
some operations in the far East, and
a short engagement on the Belgian
coast, they have cut little figure in
the fighting.
The great arm of the artillery serv-
ice is the light battery, for in it lies
the chief artillery strength of the
armies. The field guns of the Ameri-
can army as formed into batteries and
as equipped for conflict are virtually
on the same basis as the light artil-
lery of the other armies of the world.
When the field details Of the Ameri-
can artillery are known, the compost
ton of batteries, the allotment of am
munition, the complement of can
noneers, caissons and other adjuncts,
it is possible to get definite informa-
ton of the conditions in the armies
now fighting in Europe.
In virtually all the armies of the
world there are four guns to a bat
terry, a change from the days of the
muzzle-loading fieldpiece, when there
were six and occasionally eight guns
to each battery. The breechloader,
with its method of taking up the re-
coil and with the ease of it's manipula-
ton, burns up ammunition at the rate
of twenty-five shots a minute. This
is something to be thought on. It
means that shell with it's dread
charge of lyddite or other high explo-
sives leaves the muzzle of each piece
every two and half seconds or there
abouts.
They are firing today from the field
artillery twenty-five shots in the time
that it took to fire one in the old days,
but the havoc today is not twenty-five
times as great, because soldiers have
been taught and forced to take to
cover
A United States standard light bat.
| terry of field artillery, and it will stand
as a type, at war strength has total
of five commissioned officers and III
! enlisted men. There are 60 drivers
and SIS cannoneers, four gunner cor.
porals and IS caissons, one store wag-
on and timber and four field wagons
a total of liz draft wagons, As saddle
horses and 16 mules, making 172 ami
mails.
The ammunition is the thing There
are in the caisson body 20 rounds and
in the timber chest 36 rounds, while il
the emergency tubes" on each gur
there are four rounds. So that in eact
| gun section there are 106 rounds ol
fixed" or made ammunition in the
caisson, 36 rounds in the gun timber
and four rounds in the ammunition
tubes on the gun carriage. In each O.
the four caisson sections there are 21;
rounds.
Thus with field battery of light ar
tillery there are 1,432 rounds on the fir
ing line and on wheels close by unde
cover. That figures out 358 shots to
rife. With the ammunition train Their
are, or should be, four wagons eacl
with 106 rounds, and at the advanc
supply depot 1856 rounds, or 464 shot
a rifle, raising the ammunition suppl,
on the firing line, in the combat trail
close at hand, in the ammunition trail
on the road and at the advanced sur
ply depot, to 92S rounds gun.
No one knows definitely as yet jus
what the military preparedness bill a
it finally passes congress will provid
for the artillery arm of the service. A
things seem today, there is an appear
ance of an increased strength in tn
ranks of the antipreparedness men
bers. If appearances are not deceitfu
it seems likely therefore that a con
promise finally effected between tn
house and senate members will max
| for
in the appropriations for the supply 4
men, weapons and ammunition.
Booklet on Park System.
The department Of the interior
Franklin K. Lane, secretary, has jus
issued booklet entitled Glimpse
of our National Parks" In a lei
ter which has been issued wit
the publication and written by Stephe
T. Mather, assistant to the secretar
| of the interior, it is said plainly tha
the booklet has a more immediat
: mission that it was thought to have.
) In fact, the department of the int
, rior has done something rather III
( usual in printing and distributing thi
booklet on the national parks l
: plain words, the department tells tn
> people something about the purpos
/ and the mission of the work
/ The government issues a good man
!, publications, but not many of thel
3 seem to have their roots SO deepl
grounded in the soil of sentiment a
e this one which has just come frol
: what might be called the literar
:. workshop of the department Of the il
l. terror. Because sentiment has bee
mentioned, it must not be suppose
that one is trying to say that the boo
o lacks in the practical. The depar
a ment has ben trying to visualize til
= national parks for the American pc
LII I,sn I'd