44 . THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 2, 1906.
'hooters
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p -..;,-- ---y'- ; . . Uncle Sam's Great P
; ' - - -IMSk? Military Event This Week I
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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
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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.