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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1906)
44 . THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 2, 1906. 'hooters f ifi, Lis fcfe .L tJBr- -V" - '"r - ' - - Mr p -..;,-- ---y'- ; . . Uncle Sam's Great P ; ' - - -IMSk? Military Event This Week I fr - : . : mite :0Mm&M 4 II 1 jrj, , ill-- bPHv iyvZft -sfct I a if if f2' -:L .i"T - ,-v, sgwg ; H a'h mWwM I tJL--- "- 1 ' Uh ttL'i 1 : : to.L first prize last year was Private James J ftJ TrfZt TCJ t S ' ' ' r'"-Jll Durward, Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts If n rr - , c75Lt '1,1 - T , . t W; I 1 ' National Guard. . $ ) (j 7 " - i ' W l V The National pistol match, open to MIWrT,. OA'3 : ( ' "lt t,,rf'-i i the same organisations, will be shot t Vff!Mljri " ' ' . 1 I I j. , ' ';4 I I the day of the National Individual fmul Wit 11 , (Lr -t Jk , t4?J SJtaiTSJJf 'f- I 1 match. . The four competitors making MUffl Iffl 1 k ' v - CAr 0rg?S . 'SSgf Ufe;.. 1114 1 the highest aggregate will receivl , - 2 gold medals and cash prizes of 30, U Hi JJL I - V, I "S . . W7TX- - V " ' 1 I . McIMV iM I tlfV izf - r--r II f '111 A T s -y?jpvr .V - ' ill J) : :.ii:i2Sri ' l ifcr . . -ttStT w f ASHlNtiTON, Aug. 28. (Special Correspondence of fhe Sunday Oregonian.) Uncle Sam Is prepar ing for his great annual shooting match ,"" j to be held at the famous Seagirt, N. J., rifle range on September 4, 6 and 6. One ' team each from the cavalry, artillery, j Navy, Marine Corps, Military Academy, - j Naval Academy and various state Na tional Guards will appear on the first ' two days in authorized uniforms to com " pete In the first event, the national team match. These carefully picked teams of 1 12 men each have for the past several - ! weeks been under systematic training at various peats. j The Government is leaving nothing un done to make the defenders of its flag the mct expert rifle shots In the world. ! Congress some time ago authorized the feasting In bronze of a beautifully sculp ; tured tablet representing Mars, the god of battle, holding in leash the dogs of '" war. This, the "National trophy," which cost tlOOO. will be presented to the team making the highest aggregate total in ' this national team match. In addition, the victorious team receives a cash prize of ISOO. That making the second highest aggregate will receive the Hilton trophy, ' presented by the late Henry Hilton, of ' New York, and $200 in cash, while the third team will receive the bronze Sol r dler of Marathon, presented by the State of New York, and J150 in cash. The , teams ranking fourth, fifth and sixth will be given, respectively, $100, $75 and - $L0. The National trophy was won last year at Seagirt by the team picked by the New York National Guard, the Hil ton trophy by that of the regular lnfan- - try and the Soldier of Marathon by that . of the Ohio National Guard. Out of 6000. . the greatest possible score In this match, the team of the New York National 1 Guard, made 452S last, year. Before entering the match all contest ants will have to present certificates showing that they have performed 75 per cent of their regular military duty, in parades, drills, encampments, etc.. In the past year. This requirement is ex acted in the same spirit as is that of our universities, demanding that athletes competing for honors mii6t have good standing in scholarship. Besides the 12 principals, each team will bring with it a captain, coach, spotter and three alter- nates. .None of the principals or alter ' nates competing for the National trophy last year will be allowed to shoot for it in the coming match. This arrangement prevents any teams from monopolizing " the honors and gives every branch of the ".fighting service a more zealous spirit of competition. Furthermore, four of the members actually firing on any prize winning team will be forbidden to com pete again for three years. The four .to be thu eliminated will be those who have .participated in the greatest num- - ber of competitions for the National . trophy. Thousand-Dollar Purse for Best Shot The second great event will be the Na . tlonal individual match of September 6, . open without entrance fee to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps. Annapolis and West ' Point cadets, the National Guards, the National Rifle Association of America and affiliated clubs. Prizes aggregating over $3X10 offered by voluntary contribu tions and $390 offered by Congress will be awarded in this contest. The first prize will be a gold medal and $1000; the second, third and fourth prizes, gold medals and $400, $200 and $150 respective ly. There will also be silver and bronze medals and cash prizes in a further graduated scale down to $5. awarded the twenty-sixth man. The winner of the j These National matches will be con ducted by the National board of pro motion of rifle practice, of which As sistant Secretary of War Oliver i president. This board is requesting the adjutants-general of the National Guards to take steps toward the for mation of state rifle associations, to be affiliated with the National Rifle Association, and has requested the lat ter organization to prepare by-laws for affiliated clubs. The members of these will be presented annually with medals to be competed for among them and will have the privilege to pur chase from the War Department the army rifle, ammunition and ordnance at cost price. For the season's events at Seagirt the State of New Jersey is supplying contestants with tents, cots, blankets and camp stools. The Government's policy is to encour age skill with the rifle broadcast through out the country, through the National Rifle Association and these affiliated or ganizations, with the view of building up a Nation of sharpshooters, who, as vol unteers, would he the real bone and sinew of the Army. At the same time the War Department is exercising every means within its power to encourage ex pertness with the rifle among the sol diers and National Guardsmen. The ordi nary private entering the service at $13 per month now receives $14 as soon as qualifying as a marksman, $15 when earning his sharpshooter's badge and $16 per month when qualifying as a rifle man. This sliding scale, depending entire ly on work at the rifle range, has proven to be a wonderful impetus to good marks manship in our military establishment. Science is being ingeniously enlisted to further educate the fighting man's eye, nerve and muscle to accuracy with the small arm. as well as with the heaVy weapon. v Training Eye to Judge Distance. At Army posts large poles have lately been erected 100 yards apart, with short stakes interspersed at 25-yard intervals between. Soldiers are. now required to pace off these distances, counting their steps, until they learn haw many of their paces cover 1000 yards or fractions thereof. At the same time they uncon sciously become familiar with the ap pearance of these distances when laid out before them in unmarked landscape. Af terward some mark distant more or less than 100 yards is pointed out by an officer and thsoldier is required to compare it with the 100-yard unit, the estimate being noted down on a record sheet. Fin ally the man receiving this new eye training is told to correct his figures by pacing off the unknown stretch. . The mark is moved to various distances, the soldier being required to make a new esti mate each time and correct his figures, as before, when they are materially er roneous. In this way the eye of each man is being trained to accurate judgment of distances. It is surprising how far the untrained eye falls short in this respect yet how readily, except in a few in stances, it can be educated. Of course, accuracy in the judgment of distance is a prime prerequisite to good marksman ship, since the sight of the rifle must be suited to the number, of yards lying be tween the weapon and the object to be shot. As a further aid to julgment of dis tances both officers and enlisted men are being educated in the following facts, gleaned from the scientific experiments:. How to Tell How Far Off a Man Is. At 30 yards the white of a man's eyes is still plainly visible. Up to 80 yards the eyes themselves continue distinctly visi ble. At 100 yards all parts of the body are seen, slight movements are perceptible and the minute details of the uniform can be distinguished. At 200 yards the out lines of the face become confused and rows of brass buttons look like stripes. At 400 yards the face is a mere dot, but all movements of the legs and arms are still distinct. At 600 yards details of an individual human form can no longer be distinguished, although the files of a squad of men can be counted If the light be strong. At 800 yards the men in such a group cannot always be counted, nor can their individual movements be distin guished. At 1000 yards a line of men re sembles a broad belt; the direction of their movements can, hqwever, be deter mined. At 1200 yards men afoot can be distinguished from men on horseback. At 2000 yards a mounted man will usually appear a mere speck or spot. The soldier is net posted in the field while men detailed as markers are sent in various distances and placed In differ ent positions, while he is questioned as to how far away they are and Just why he thinks so. Some optical illusions and delusions also figure in this interesting training. The soldier is taught that objects seem near er when in a bright light, when different in color from the background, when viewed over water, snow or any other uni form surface without intervening objects, such as a wheat field or in the clear at mosphere of high altitudes. He learrie also that objects seem more distant than otherwise when he is looking over a de pression in the ground,' when a poor light or fog intervenes, when only a small part of the object can be seen, or when the eye Is looking from low toward higher ground. Estimation of distance by sound also enters into the course. It Is explained that sound travels at the rate of about 1100 feet, or 366 yards, per second. A dis tant gun being fired, the soldier must count the number of seconds or parts of seconds between flash and report. Mul tiplying these by 366 he obtains, approx imately, the distance of the gun in yards. This method will, of course, be of great assistance on a battlefield, where it will correct the estimate of distance to a hos tile battery. Under the new regulations failure to attain a certain average in es timation of distance lowers a soldier's shooting qualification one grade. Thus a man having previously qualified as a sharpshooter, but who later falls below the proficiency in distance discrimination prescribed for his class, must be rated as a mere marksman in the annual report of his post. Effect of Weather on Marksmanship. Meteorological conditions have a great effect upon accuracy of fire. In accurate shooting is noted especially on bright, hot days, when local cur rents, produced by the differently heated, ground, cause unaccountable deflections. When portions of the range are In the shade, and therefore cooler, the adjacent air, being of greater density, offers increased resist ance to bullets, and " inaccuracy of shooting wiir result. When the light is alternately bright and shaded by passing clouds bad records may be looked for. The most favorable weather for accurate practice is that offered when the sky is overcast, the light being of a dull gray, evenly dif fused, and the air over the entire range being of a uniform temperature and free from local eddies. Calculations of the distances beyond which firing at various objects be comes ineffective have also been made to a nicety. The fire of the average soldier will not tell when directed upon a single man lying at a distance greater than 500 yards, upon a man kneeling beyond 600 yards, upon one standing beyond 700 yards, or upon a squad lying beyond 1000 yards. But columns of companies or small com pact bodies of artillery orcavalry can be fired into by one soldier If 1500 to 1800 yards away. Standard of Accuracy. "A standard of accuracy" has also been established. Every soldier not physically defective is expected to ef fectively hit individual objects up to 600 yards. The more expert will ex tend these limits to 1000 or 1200 yards, and the collected fire of a well practiced company should. It is esti mated, be effective against masses of men 1500 yards away. Army horses are being put through a preliminary training to accustom them to pistol shots. Blank cartridges re being fired near them each day witle they are being groomed on tne picket line, and all forms of targets are shown them, until they cease to shy at suflx sounds and sights. The mounted men are drilled in rapid aim ivhlle their horses are In motion. Ther are taught to fire at silhouette target, ar ranged about the riding track!. A course in pistol practice, still more advanced, comprises shooting at Swing ing disks of leather, five inciies t-n diameter, so suspended near th riding track that they are kept In motion by the blasts of the pistols. For each, army post a shooting gal- lery. 53 or 60 feet long, is being pro vided. Each is so arranged that there is a strong light upon the target. The light at the firing point will be over head, from the rear or from both sides, but never from one side only, as this last arrangement has been found to brighten only one side of the front sight and cause inaccuracies hitherto mysterious. Experiments have proved that windows between the firing point and target give cross lights and shadows which interfere with accuracy. The range of these galleries will be 50 feet, at which distance the marks made by bullets are readily discerned. JOHN ELFRETH W ATKINS. Nuisance of Vile Speech Should Be Suppressed It is hardly possible for any man or woman of refined feelings' to walk at any time on any of the crowded streets of most cities without being forced to listen to profane or indecent language. Blasphemous and obscene epithets are now constantly uttered by many young men as they go about the streets, in utter disregard of the offense they give to decent people, or the. sadly-corrupting example they set to the younger children who are permitted the liberty of the streets. What shall be done to put a stop to this defilement? In our opinion the time has come when city authorities should make an earnest effort to suppress the nuisance of vile speech In public places. To induce them to take the necessary action all those who are conscious of the evil -and are offended by it, should bring their influ ence to bear upon the Mayor of the city, the Chief of Police and the Judge of the Police Court to compel decency in this matter. If every citizen, and es pecially the women, who are involuntary listeners to the vile conversation that is now habitual with so many young men, would write letters to the Mayor of the city and the Commissioner of Police, in forming them of the extent of the an noyance and demanding protection from it, they would not only benefit themselves but would render a public service. The Chief of Police should call his whole force before him and instruct them to be as careful in represing improper talk on the streets as they- are in dealing with any other kind of indecent conduct. The careless offender should be warned, and a repetition of the offence should cause the foul-mouthed person to. be arrested and summarily punished in court. The very first thing the head of the Police Department should cb would be to im press upon the policemen themselves the necessity of decorous speech. There can be no real "cleaning up" until the sense of what is needed becomes general. The fathers and mothers who are now tolerat ing the use of coarse and rough language by their young sons must be awakened to the necessity of exacting more civ ility and regard for the rights of others by their children, and employers may properly discriminate against the habit ual users of profane and indecent lan gurge. Hartford Times. - i A Sign for the Heated. A little store in Columbus avenue has this alluring sign painted on Its windows, "Come on In! The water's fine!" In smaller letters underneath Is thl line: "Our soda water, of course." Setting Himself Right. The lady Why don't you wash th dirt off your face, little boy? The boy Dat isn't dirt. It's pie.