Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-09

II
cher II. 1898, at the post onice, Oe.un ~
Va, Iowa, under the Act VI use w.
March 3. 1879.
Mr1sxn representatives: Cone. Lor-
Arnen y woot1man, Advertising Blos.'
C1,icako: 225 Fifth Ave, New dork
city: SOC Victor Bldg, Kansas CITY
no.
4 NATIONS vlRiLlTY.
fha treat struggle in which we are
enx.sed and the dangers which
threaten us land it is impossible to
overstate these dangers) should iead
cur people into serious thought. me
farming Of our army has brought OUT
two facts that are alarming. One IS
that large percentage OF our young
men are not able to pass the physical
TIT. and the other is that scarcely any
Of them know anything at all about
how to shoot, handle or take care OF q
gun.
This lack Of knowledge Of firearms
Is deplorable-it is bad for the coun-
Try. It causes the making Of an ef-
fective army to be big undertaking
and long one. OF course we know
that some one will Immediately cry
y III horror that we are advocating in
u .uction in the use Of firearms so that
those who learn may be able to kill
people. We simply say that life and
government are, conditions and not
theories, and at just this stage OF the
situation we will not waste time argu-
ing with the theorist. The world has
always had war; it has war now and
1t always will have war, and the nation
that neglects to maintain familiarity
with the weapons of war, is inviting
its own disaster.
At the close OF the Boer war Lord
Roberts was greatly impressed by the
fact that handful of unframed and
undisciplined Beers - because they
were wonderful riflemen-had been
able to Withstand greatly superior
number of British troops
The British we're drilled to do ev-
erything but shoot in way that would
hit what they were shooting at. Lord
Roberts prophesied that England
would soon be at war, and he urged
and pleaded that gun and rife clubs
should be formed and shooting en-
couraged in every practical way. He
begged for a law enforcing military
training in the use Of firearms.
Great Britain failed to heed the
warning and regarded him as crazy
old man" an attitude for which she
has since repented with blood and
tears.
We are now calling out over mill,
lion men, and may have to call more
than double that number. We can
within a few months uniform and
equip these and teach them consider
able drill and some discipline. But to-
teach them to shoot will take lot Of
time which can i'll be spared. and
shooting, as Lord Roberts said, lis
seven-tenths of soldiers business"
It will be recalled that when Lord
Kitchener was organizing the first
levy of volunteers England sent to the
front, for, which the need was most
urgent but which required from six
to nine months to equip and train, he
issued this order: Never mind hoy.
they drill or whether they know their
right foot from their left-teach them
to shoot, and DO it quickly" But it
was long job to do it
No man can learn to shoot in day
or week or month. 1t takes some
study and long time to make man
q good shot with rife or shot gun.
The man who is familiar with the shot
gun soon can become an average shot
with rife. He knows how to judge
the shorter distance, knows how to
avoid the recoil and has general
idea Of the mechanism. Therefore,
the man who hunts and shoots at the
traps is logical man to call on when
the use of the rife is necessary. But
the so-called reform movement has
worked upon our legislatures until
they are doing all they can to stop all
kinds of shooting. For many years
gun clubs held annual shoots at which
live pigeons were shot at and killed.
These pigeons Invariably were sold
In this part of the country the
pigeons killed at tournaments were
packed with ice in barrels and sold to
commission houses in Chicago where
they were dressed and sold to the no.
tells. Almost ali will admit that
pigeons are good food, and all will
agree that they ought to be killed be-
fore being eaten, but some people told
the legislatures of several states that
shooting pigeons was cruel, so statutes
were enacted prohibiting the shooting
Of live birds at the traps. Thus, in
most states pigeon shooting has been
wiped on the list of things that attract
men to shooting.
Our last legislature rassei a Law
prohibiting the shooting of quail l.
Iowa for five years. This does not
help the quail any, for the most of
them that are not caught by the trap
pers will starve in the first heavy
snow and sleet anyway. During the
past twenty-five years the open season
ION quail has been from three months
Ito six weeks, yet there are more quail
lin southern Iowa now than ever be-
.store. So evidently the hunter has not
KILLED all Of them. But the hunter has
had few days outing that has built
xlim up physically and kept him ia
}failiar with guns and ammunition. He
as had few days pleasure in tramp
Tag around over mother earth. and en-.
I,oyed getting OF the cement pave,
Eients and tile floors, and felt his blood