The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1918-06-20

The conditions in Europe are totally different.
Land is owned by the aristocracy, and since
feudal times hunting has been n privilege peculiar
TO that class Unless he secures employment as
gamekeeper, the poor man has no chance 10
learn to shoot Nor have the middle classes any
better opportunity. Ammunition is expensive.
The license fee is excessive running as high as
$25 The only good guns are handmade, for the
reason that gunsmiths look only TO the upper
class as purchasers. Hence good, cheap, ma
chine-made rifles are manufactured. Lastly, there
is no open land upon which to shoot.
For all these reasons the workingman of Eu-
rope knows very little about firearms
Man for man, the total number of troops In
the field taken into consideration, our Civil war
was the blOOdiest The operations in
Europe during the present struggle have always
been over wide front. The numbers engaged
have been enormous and the total losses stagger-
ing Yet the wastage of human life has been rel
atively small compared with that of the Union
and Confederate armies. There has been Get
tysburg, no Bloody Angle in the present conflict
Why? Neither the forces under Grant or Lee
attained the perfection of training acquired by
the armies of today with the exception of a few
star corps composed of picked regiments. The
heavy casualties were due to the individual fight
ing ability of the troops to their expert use OF
the rifle.
From the days of the minute men of the RevO-
luton the superiority of the American riheman
has been conceded by all. Morgan's backwoods-
proved their efficiency marksmen in the
War for Independence. The frontiersman
demonstrated it again at New Orleans under
Jackson against Pakenham's trained regulars. At
the Alamo Crockett and Bowie. with little
handful of rihemen. held the hOrdes of Santa Ana
at bay Our history is full of incidents in which
a little band of grim men, their backs TO the wall,
have held off many times their number by sheer
tenacity and deadly rifle execution.
The reason for this is not far to seek. In early
days America was a virgin land peOpled by
madic tribes with an amazing skill at wOodcraft.
These natives had to be Outwtted and OutfOught.
No country in the world, with the possible
ception of British Southeast Africa, had such
a wealth of game as this. The first settlers were
AngloSaxons, the greatest sport-loving people on
earth. With them they brought little but fire.
arms and stout hearts. They had to defend them
selves against the Indians and to live by the
chase. Gradually they learned to raise grain.
fruit and vegetables native to the land of their
adoption But for long time their main source
of supply wild game.
1t resulted that every boy grew up with rife
in his hands. Inevitably these frontiersmen,
faced with opportunity based upon necessity,
developed the keen eye, the steady nerve and the
workmanship that made them the best shots ever
known
With the growth of the country the tide of
civilization rolled westward Clark opened the
great Northwest Pike led the way to the Rock
more remote frontier The greatest trek In the
history of the western hemisphere For
30 years 1t continued. Almost every foot of the
West by toll and hardship, at the cost
of sacrifice from which men and women emerged
strong and self-reliant.
The tradition of the hunt persists with The
man used to trampng the hills for big game
dures hardship and privation for the sake of the
sport He learns to shoot at fast-moving game
under difficulties of distance and visibility. II
follows that when he is taken out to the rifle
range and instructed he learns i'm few lessons
the proper sighting and method of using the mill
tary rifle
These once acquired he is in a class by himself,
for he is used to shooting under the same condi-
lions, though with less danger to himself that OBJ
tain ut the front No amount of practice at the
rife range can fit substitute for his ex-
perience.
1t is this fundamental training which lies back
of target practice that is responsible for the
craftsmanship of the American army The ma
rine corps holds the finest record In the service.
Fully one-third of this organization wears the
craftsmanship emblem. At least one-half of the
marines are first-class riiemen.
To win the expert emblem a marksman must
shoot over the qualifying at all ranges from