Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-02-04

which the Germans have since been
obliged to copy and use as far as their
inferior quality Of light artillery will
permit. While the Germans now use
the barrage fire on every possible oc-
casion in an effort to check a., infan-
try attack, they have not yet succeeded
in perfecting it to the degree attained
by the French who protect their infar-
try in an attack by solid curtain of
shell fire that moves forward in per-
feet union with the foot soldiers.
DEVELOP NEW SHELL.
The French were also the first to
equip their Soixante -quinze shells.
with prolonged nose and delayed
fuse which prevents the shell from ex-
ploding until it has entered deep into
the ground. This sort of shell was
rendered necessary by the present-day
system OF trench warfare and dug
outs.
AS soon as the Germans discovered
this new invention by the French to-
gether with it's effectiveness, they at
once began to make the same modifi-,
cation in their II and 105 shells. The
result for the Germans were SO et-
fective that since July l, 1916, they
have substituted all of their "univers-
al shells filled with explosives, No.
96 and No. a. with the new French
type of ground piercing shells with
delayed explosion.
1t was the French light artillery that
also discovered the ''ricochet' or re-
bounding shells, that explode on the
rebound. Their effectiveness proved
so great that they, too, were copied
by the Germans.
LOCATING ENEMY BATTERY.
1t was the French who invented the
system of locating precisely an enemy
battery by the sound waves from it's
discharge. This has rendered the
French immense service in enabling
the French batteries to get the exact
range The Germans succeeded in
learning this secret from the French
and 1t is now in full use by them.
Previous to the present war, Germany
had given the utmost attention to the
dress equipment of her armies and it
was supposed to be perfected in every
detail to the highest point of practical
ity. Yet, since then, Germany has been
obliged to discard the half-lcngth
boots, which her experts had decided
upon as the best for military purposes,
and adopt the shoe or "brodequin"
which the French had found superior.
NEW HELMET ADOPTED
In July 1915, France adopted for her
entire army the steel helmet that has
reduced the head wounds in her army
% per cent. Since then. not only most
of the allied armies have done the
same, but even Germany also has been
obliged to adopt this discovery. While
the German army is now equipped
throughout with steel helmets, the
Germans have not yet succeeded in
devisinG one either as effective or as
artistic as that of the French.
While it was the Germans, who, in
violation Of the international agree
ments of The Hague, originated the
use of asphyXiating gases, it was the
French who discovered and perfected
the masks with which to offset them,
masks which Germany has since
copied
Other French inventions and discov-
cries have been copied by the German
to such an extent that French
men not only insist that the
French armies have demonstrated in
every way their superiority over the
Germans, but that French genius,
forced into the military channels that
German genius had labored in volun-
tarily for the last half century, has es-
tabished its superiority.
~
The floss OF a rubber vine growing
in the Bahamas has. been woven in