El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-01

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CPRNGFIELD. Mass. June l.,
- have come to New England {,
show you our newest machine foi
fighting the Germans. I do not NEAR
the biz guns Of the navy. some OF
which fire shells weighing two-third.
Of a ton, sending them u miles at a
shot. I do not mean the mighty stee'
tanks upon wheels, which go crash
ing over the country, beating down
walls and houses and sowing death as
the farmer s0ws wheat such weapons
are few and they are felt only now
and then in great battles.
The machines I shall write OF are
numbered by the tens Of thousands
and some OF them run I'd into the mil
lions. one or more OF them is IN the
hands Of almost every soldier Iney
form the Vvea D0us Of our boys in the
trenches, and they mean victory or
defeat when they 80 over the TOP.
These machines are the new rifles, the
Browning automatic pistol ana the
new machine guns Each VIII furnish
story well worth the telling: IN THIS
letter I shall deal with the rifle.
Almost every soldier carries rife
1t IS his chief weapon Of offence and
defence, and upon its effectiveness
largely depends his victory over or
defeat by his enemy. II the gun Is
such that he can get in two shots TO
his enemy's one he can do twice as
much damage The fact that u can
not lam or miss fire may mean life or
death, and the same is true as 70 the
accuracy Of the flight OF the bullet on
its way 10 the mark and the force ana
shock with which Il strikes.
In al OF these respects the Ameri-
can rifles now being made are SUI
perior 20 the guns OF any other nation
fighting in Europe L1ey are the most
efficient man-killing rifles ever put
into the hands Of soldiers and their
efficiency is estimated by military eL-
perts TO be greater than that OF any
other gun yet invented
The Germans are armed with the
latest type Mauser. and the same IS
true Of the Turks ana a large part OF
The Austriauss although some OF Lne
latter are stil using the Mannlicner
The French have been using the Lebel
rifle, with q long. slender bayonet as
sharp as the point OF a needle ana Lnc
British have the Enfield, with
sword-like bay0net considerably
shorter than that Of the Germans. our
rifles are the new Springfield made
at the arsenal here, and the United
states rifle, model 1917 which We
are turning out by the tens OF thou
sands a week at the great Winchester
n J. The latter IS a modified En-
field Il is the British Enfield 70
which have been added certain special
features OF the new Springfield and
1thers, which make Il Tar more etfec-
dive than the Enfield used by the
British In this letter I shall speak
y it as the American Enfield
gpriuEfieIda win in Shooting Contests.
The American Enfield and the
Springfield have Interchangeable parts
and they use the same cartridges Be-
FORE the war in Europe began the
Springfield had won the prize In many
shooting contests over the guns o. 10
Inherent nations, defeating team after
-eam armed with other rifles includ-
.ng the 1Iaussr- Il won in the Oiym-
sic shoots Of 1908 and 1912, and in the
after year carried of the worlds
record over all other military rifles at
from 500 20 1000 yards That record
stiu stands.
has been claimed that the Mauser
'ullet has q greater velocity than that
u the Springfield or American Enfield
3ut this. as I shall show later g. due
o % its sigar shaped bullet, whose tail
5ffers less resistance TO the air, but
go affects the bullet that It waobles
~ turns over near the end Of its
light.
Indeed. the experts Of our ordnance
bureau at WashingtO believe that
1ur rifles are 40 per cent more etti-
n this is so cur soldiers can shoot I
-hree shots TO the enemy's two, and
every 200 Americans VIII equal goo /
Germans If we have l.O00.CO0 men
in the field our guns VIII make them I
euual 20 ls3ll-Elus as lar rs klllluB
power is concerned. and this means
hat we shall need just that many
ess troops and shall save their trans
1ortarion and upzeep in France As
business Proposition alone - means
he saving OF several billion dollars a
year in the cost Of the war, and more
han that considering the Difficult
les OF transportation 60 France
Costs 5000 . Year for Each Soldier
on a peace basis IL is estimated that
costs $1,000 a year to maintain a sol
Lier and on q war basis. such as we
nave in Europe the cost must be more
han five times that amount or $4,000.
By our guns We can add 100000
men 90 every million we have using
lilies. the annual saving VIII be 5O0,-
no times $4,000 making a fetal saw
nE Of s2.500 100000 per annum for
svery million rifle shooters whom we
send over the water.
We are now making more than So
300 OF these new guns every week
The Sprin E1ield. which is manufac-
-ured n the United States arsenal
1ere- has increased Its production
within the past year from 200 to 1000
lilies per day. and the American En-
ield, which is 1lluCfa ctured I'm orr
-lctorieE which made the British En-
Ield. is being turned oct I'm six or
seven times as great quantities.
AltoEether we now have more Than
900 GOO Sprilgfi eds and American
N11ields. and by the first OF July next
re shall have 1900. 900 American En-
ields and 700. 600 new SnrinEfields in
he hands Of tire army We are stead I
ny increa sing our machinery OF pro
'uction- and are now making bout
four times as many guns as the Brit
iSh did a wear after they entered the
war and twice as many as they we're
producing two years after the war
began. II is eEuected that fhe monthly
production VIII soon be 100000
This means that we could equin IN
army OF 1.00G.000 men with rifles
within the suace OF three months and
when e is remembered that only 80
ner cent ~ the troous use rifles. the
number Of men mirht he doubled and
ge could stiu supnlv them. We have
r1e plant ~ View Haven which. WITH