The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1916-03-03
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 Abb
soluteIy Established BY the Great
Warfare In Europe.
Rv. GEORGE CLINTON.

ton Of between 10000 and $4,000 men.
It seems likely that congress will pro-
vide that as large 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-
| Gated Hancock's words. John M.
Schofeld, major general of the United
States army, foresaw the coming OF
the sharp need of greatly increased
numbers of field guns il wars were to
be won. He was abused and charged
with 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 Cen
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 it 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
| wellbalanced 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
| tiIlery 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 lull at night. but all
| through the day the cannon roared
along the forty or fifty miles Of front,
| for on a stin day it is possible to hear
the gunhre 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
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
Arc Coast Cities Safe?
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
preparedness legislation this winter
and, by intimation at least, against
any preparedness legislative plans for
any winter to come. These antipre-
paredness advocates, virtually every
one of whom is 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.
1t 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 win 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 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
ia the time that 1t would take bonn
bardment to batter the city to pieces
ana the springing fires to burn It up.