Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-08

M a
W\Y sued to civilians the Krag
" " rifle, retired as obsolete by
the advent of the Springfield, the seed
of a practical preparedness. which Is
now being harvested thousand toio.
was sown.
At the time the Issuance of the rifles
was sanctioned by Congress, which
placed within reach of every aole-ood-
led citizen a service rifle and 40 car
tridges for practice every year. many
cynfcs asked: What good Will 1t DO!
What will the government receive IN
return"
America has been a participant in the
world war only three months. Yet al
ready is the answer apparent In these
facts.
Through the Issuance OF the obsolete
krag, there are now In the United states
more than 100, 900 men, many Of military
age, who are more proficient with the
service arm than is the average recruit
at the end of six months training. Many
of them are not only maTksmen. but quail
fed sharpshooters and expert rlfemen.
fully equipped to step out as practicai
fighting men, learned in the art OF
straight shooting, or. what is far more
important from a military standpoint,
equipped to become instructors In any
schools of musketry the War Department
may estabiish.
A similar situation existed in England
in August. 1914. A few months after the
war practically every civilian rifenlan IN
the empire was doing Bit OF far more
valua bic service than what he could nave
accomplished as a private in the ranks,
for England Immediately awaited herself
of the many civilian ranges, Installed
thereon corps of instructors drawn from
civilian ranks and with this machinery be-
gan at once to graduate trained MARKS
men into her foreign trenches.
But while this fact alone is of the ut
most importance, the rifle club members
of the country, while waiting for the gov
eminent to outline the part they will I'LL
timately play in the great conflict, nave
not been idle.
Home guards" have sprung into
being over night as result of the eff
forts of rifle clubs. Corps of expert
enced marksmen have volunteered as
guards to public buildings throughout
the country. notably at the United
States Department of the Interior at
Washington.
Recruiting drives and patriotic raj
lies have been engineered. and ranges
and clubhouses have been offered to
the army to be used not only for the
training of potential soldiers, but Tor
recruiting purposes as we'll
In other localities. as soon as war
was declared, rifle clubs have UNDER
taken to train not only in shooting. but
in military tactics all citizens liable
to consumption and all who would come
under home guard requirements, or
those of line of last defense.
The activities of rife clubs have oeen
many and varied. and each possesses to
a greater or less extent national mill
tary value. Yet all this is aside from
the thousands of experienced rihemen
who either have actually enlisted in
one of the regular establishments or
who have offered their services as IN
structors.
For many years rifle shooting has
ranked as one of the prominent sports
of the country. but within the past
decade 1t has hourished at its height.
The National Rifle Association of Amer
lea, an affiliation of the 1000 and more
civilian rifle clubs and the medium
>. through which the national board for
the promotion of rife practice of the
War Department works, represents the
shooting game in SO far as the civilian
and much of the match shooting of the
military are concerned. The IN. r. A"
as it is known in rif1eman's parlance,
has for its one aim the encouragement
of rife practice. The membership of
the clubs composing the association
now totals more than 100000.
1t is through this organization alone
that the government sanctions the use
Of its old rifles. Since 1914 the gov