Evening star., 1917-11-11

a six-inch sighting bull with a two-inch
scoring bull at fifty yards. Hyde of Com
pany H qualified as rifcmau last week
and Cohen of Company L attained the
mark Of sharpshooter.
Baltimore while lacking such a COM
prehensive organization as the Home De
fense League Rifles OF Washington. has
an efficient and enthusiastic Institution in
the Maryland League for National De-
fense, which has membership of over
1000.
The teaching of boys to shoot accu-
rately is urged by Gen. George w. Win.
gate, formerly president OF the National
Rifle Association. In a statement Gen.
Wingate says:
The success of the Public Schools Ath-
letic League in teaching the High School
boys OF New York city to become marks
men is significant of what can be accom-
plished ard what should he done. The
league trains the boys in ordinary rooms
and without ammunition. by using one or
more "sub-target gun machines and a
what is called ''assimilated firing where.
in the case OF machine. rod attached
to it, and in the case OF a rife, a rod
placed in the rife barrel, are propelled by
the blow OF the firing pin. SO as to make
dent in card aimed at. which is placed
a short distance from the muzZie of the
rife. Those who become proficient are
practiced in rifle galleries. 1nterclass,
interschool and championship matches are
also carried on both on the machines and
in the rifle galleries, the effect of which is
to stimulate interest in the shooting. The
result is that when the boys are annually
taken to the state rife range at Pecks-
kill and allowed to shoot with the serv-
ice rife and ammunition at 200 and 300
Yards, they are found-with little coach
ing in respect to the adjustment OF their
rife sights-to shoot as well, and often
better, than the ordinary national guards
man.
! through this system some 5000 lads
are being annually trained to become
! effective shots at trif1ing cost. Slmi-
lar practice has been introduced In
MANY of the preparatory schools and
! colleges. 1t should, however. be Extend
| ed throughout the country so that all
| of our people from fourteen to forty
will become as skillful shots as are the
citizens of Switzerland. whose rlf1emen
while the tide of war has surged
around her borders for the last three
years-have preserved her from the
| fate of Belgium. without even pulling a
trigger.
established a series of simultaneous in
door matches. in which teams from high
schools and colleges all over the coun-
try annually compete, but these are
but a handful compared with the num-
Der of clubs that should be created.
| The fact that the ordnauce depart
| ment of the Army is not able any
! longer to issue rifles need not interfere
with the movement. a new rifle club
/ can unite in purchasing a few .22-cali-
ber rifies-as much as possible like the
service rifle--which can be easily OBJ
! tanned for a moderate price. AS the
| members of the club become interested
and skillful. they will procure their
| own.
| In establishing range. it should be
borne in mind that it should be ac-
| cessible, that it should be open in the
night time SO that those who are en-
gagged in business in the day will have
a chance to practice. and that the
shooting should be made interesting, as
| continued shooting at 4 bulls eye is
| found by many to be monotonous. For
the latter purpose moving targets, sim
ulating natural objects as much as pos
sible. and particularly game, which can
| be constructed with very slight ex-
pense. should be provided.
| Every one, particularly youths
| should learn to fit themselves to defend
their country by becoming expert rifle.
men. In doing this they will also find
it to be an interesting sport. which de-
velops nerve and concentration and af-
fords lots of fun"