Evening star., 1917-09-30
WITH THE
RIFLE CLUBS

Gunnery Sergt Ollie n. schrivsr. q. q
NJ. c.: Walter r. Stokes. Roscoe Dayton
and H. S. Ste.nkonig represented eAe
District OF Columbia In the United
States Revolver Associations shoot
which ended last night. The shoot is
held by states and any section can pisaE
as many men as wanted to repre0eae
the state. G. E. Cook. former holdse, 81
the Leech and Wimbledon cups and eAs
of the crack shots Of the WashingtsA
Rife Club. acted as captain Of the AAsy--
land team. shooting . total OF SeS n
tho two matches-revolvsr and pistol
Schriver won the District champisA-
ship with a mark OF 457.
All the states in the Union are rspFo-
sented in the shoot. the object OF which
Is to determine the sectional cham
pions. The local men shot on tho out
door range owned by G. e. Cook on his
farm at Sandy Spring, Md. 8. L Scott
acted as timekeeper. IL being required
to shoot fifty shots in one hour over the
hfty-yard course.
Arms and the Man, the ofdciai pub
lication of the National Rifle Associa-
tion. in q recent issue comments on the
report that allied officers are coming
here to train United States soldiers In
musketry. Arms and the Man sayss
The news that the War Departmeoe
is bringing over ally onicers sugyeets
paid to training the members OF the
National Army in handling the service
rifle. These indeed should be welcome
tidings. since having the National Army
| trained by. our allies is second only to
training them ourselves. The sad part
of the whole business is that the pres
ent plan of the War Department to use
ally officers in developing a corps of
s,o1a acfN lnn1 4fNy, tAR
is not a man in the United States fit TO
| train our Army to shoot and that the
government was forced to send abroad
| for instructors. Manifestly such an
| the thousands of men who have worked
hard to perfect themselves In rife prao-
| tice for Just such an emergency. There
| is no reason why the ally officers should
! States. They undoubtedly possess
knowledge of the peculiar kind OF
| craftsmanship demanded on the Euro
pean battlefields and which could only
have been born of days and nights
spent in the shell-swept trenches. The
| War Department now has at its dispos-
al many thousands of civilian rifemsn.
either exempt from or fncapacitated for
active field service, who are willing
| and anxious to aid the nation and who
| have been thoroughly trained az ex-
pert marksmen. plus the score or moro
ally officers equipped with the ability
or knowledge to teach these men the
| refinements' ami special requirements
| of trench craftsmanship.
THE government of the United States
has spent some little money In train
ing the civilians to shoot Why doesn't
the War Department mako possible .
return of this expenditure? The rifle
| men OF the country have already en-
| listed Those who remain are either
men Of families or are physically dis
| qualified for field duty"
| match between the rife clubs sk
| the Department of Agriculture was be-
| gun last week on the service rife range
| unier the Eastern market at 7th and
c streets southeast. Capt. F. Kiefsr
Of the forest service regiment shot the
first record target. with an 81. in prone
rapid fire on a one-fnch bull. with .
three-inch black sighting bull. The
! course fred was ten shots prone. kneel-
| ing. squatting and sitting rapid nrs.
Capt. Kiefer shot the course early be-
cause he leaves soon for overseas duty.
| Those making over 80 per cent In the
past week were: