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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1915)
7r WASHINGTON, D. C. For a good many years the War Department has been, asking: itself a question will the college student make & good sol dier? Armed conflict has became an un popular pastime in tlie United States, so the War Department has never been able to answer adequately Its own question. On the other hand, the de partment will investigate next Fall to see if the college student makes a good markesman. Its decision to Rive the college stu dent of the United States an army serv ice rifle, with plenty of cartridges to bang away at a target, was brought about by the urging of the National Itifle Association of America, which Is working oenstantly to make every man In the country familiar with the weap on which ho might have to use if the country went to war. And, next Fall, for the first time in the history of national rifle matches. . the college students of the country w'ill compete with the Army, Navy and or ganized militia. ' The big national match, held under the auspices and control of the War Department, will be held at the Army's big rifle range at Jacksonville, Fla. "While ibis much too early to predict how many college students will enter. It can be stated that Tale. Harvard. Princeton and other big universities, as well as practically aJl college and schools with military establishments and discipline, will enter teams in the match. President "Wilson said not so long SO that he would like to see every serviceable male in the United States familiar with the army rifle, and As sistant Secretary of "War Breckinridge holds V the same idea and speaks about it more frequently than does any one el6e in the War Department. Last January the National board for the promotion of rifle practice, which Is an organization headed by . Mr. Breckinridge and composed of regular and militia officers from the Army and the country at large, met at Wash ington to lay down rules for the regu lation of the National match at Jack sonville, which opens October 18 next. The match will be open to teams ot. 18 men, one selected from each branch of the Army, one from the Navy, one from the Marine Corps, one each from Annapolis and "West Point, and a team from each of the organized land and naval militia establishments of the states and territories, including the District of Columbia. Also there will be teams from the various colleges and universities, which is the chief feature of the present match. The Jacksonville range is about eight miles south of that city, on the St. Johns River. During every tourna ( ment mobilisation, special local trains are run from Jacksonville to the range. When the contestants arrive at the camp, they will bring with them camp, kitchen and table equipment, just as thoogh they were off for a camping party in the woods, although the camp quartermaster will have on hand food supplies for the whole camp, which will be sold at cost. V Onco settled in camp and, creature an ,:. ,-, comforts provided for. the contestants next turn their attention to the mat ter of preliminary practice, which opens several days in advance of the real match. It is the intention of the War Department to permit the contest, ants to shoot any way they prefer in this preliminary practice, but once the real match gets under way the rules become very strict. Both slow and rapid-fire are made compulsory by the regulations in .the match proper. Slow-fire will be at dis tances of 300, 600 and 1000 yards, while rapid-fire will be at shorter distances, namely, '200 and 300 yards. In the rapid-fire shooting 10 shots must 'be taken at each range, and 13 will be allowing in the slow firing. - The arm to be used will be the United States service rifle, .which will be is Bued to the contestants along with sufficient ammunition by the ordnance department of the Army. The trigger pull must be three pounds, at least, and each team captain must certify that his team is using only the rifles issued by the ordnance department. The War Department had some trou ble meeting the rifle demands of the college men. who are the new factor in this year's competition; so it. was decided to permit all colleges not al ready equipped with the Army service rifle, model 1903, to use the 1898 model magazine rifle. The matter of supplying the con testants with ammunition is a big Job in itself. There will be. at a rough guess, nearly 100 teams competing in the match, and each of the teams is entitled to 15.000 rounds of ammuni tion for preliminary practice at home and 3600 rounds more for preliminary practice and actual competition on the range. For the purpose of awarding prizes at the conclusion of the national rifle match, the national board for the pro-" motion of rifle practice has decided to group the contestants into ' three classes. Class A will be composed of the first 15 teams, according to the standing of 1913. Class B will be com posed of the second 15 teams, and class C will be remaining teams which com peted in 1913, and all others which may be added. This will mean that the col. lege men must start in class C. The winner of the class A first prize will divide up among its members $450 in cash and each member of the team will get a bronze medal. The second prize will be 8350, the third 8300 and the fourth 8250, with bronze medals for each. The winner of class B will receive the Hamilton trophy, 8350 in cash, and a bronze medal for each member. The second prize will be 8250, ' third 8225 and fourth 8200, with bronze medals for all hands. Class C's winner will get a trophy, 8300 in cash and bronze medals. The second prize in this class is 8200, third 8175 and fourth 8150. All this looks as though the War De. partment would permit the best sharp shooters In each team to keep coming back, year after year, and carting off the prizes, but the War Department has provided for suqh a contingency. There is no "best sharpshooter in the Army." They are all supposed to be the "best sharpshooters" and. the de TTI13 SUNDAY 5s i 14. . v r It' I .1 T7 , fit- 3 ::lrl( i,;r"re" -rrt-rrra 4 "3w s partment has provided that at leaat six members of each' team must be men who have never particioated ;n a National match before. In tins way the contesting teams at future , matoties will always contain a new element and every., one, in the organization will eventually get a chance to qualify for National honors. Kach team will consist of 12 contest ants, three alternates, a captain, scorer and "spotter," the latter assisting in the scoring. The War Department will be repre sented at the match by an executive officer, wlio will have absolute charge of all arrangements and .whose judg ment on practically all matters will be final. The executive officer will have several assistants, an adjutant, a quar termaster, a. statistical ofilcer. range officers, a surgeon, an assistant to the adjutant and an assistant to the quar termaster. The quartermaster will have charge of all stores and supplies and will issue them as needed. . The statistical offi cers will assign the contestants to tar gets and fix the order of firing. This is usually done by choosing lots. These officers will verify the scores kept, grade them in order of excellence and prepare the results for official an nouncement. . The range officers will supervise the marking and scoring. They will have charge of the "spotters" who are as signed to the target pits and 'whose work is one of the Interesting features of the match. The scorers are placed on the firing line, at the required dis tance from the target. As soon as a shot is fired at a par ticular target the "spotter" at that tar get places a disk over the bullet hole which is thus made visible, with the use of glasses, to the scorer at the fir lng line. The regulation of the spot- ters," however, is not the only duty ditions of the camp, and in case a con of the range officers. They must see testant desires, to withdraw from the that the regulations are properly competition, due to illness, the surgeon obeyed, and examine at any time the. must issue a certificate to that effect rifles used by contestants. if the contestant's condition warrants. The range officers are also respond- When' the match begins, each team' ble for the accuracy of the score cards, captain must send a representative to and, after certifying to their accuracy.' the pits, who will call to the attention they turn over the cards to the statls- of the range officer in iis pit any ir tical officer, and his assistants. Such regularities in scoring and the like, officers are usually experienced marks-' The firing" line aud the target pits are- OTtEGOTTTAX. POIiTXAND. I"" I mi j: f 5 a Ufa .It i. - ' T" y- o Screen af Peer a. PA o men, and must be thoroughly familiar with their duties. The surgeon, who is always on hand, is not placed there to patch up bullet wounds, caused by the possible care lessness of the contestants, although such. would come under his care. But he is responsible for the sanitary cen MAT 23. 1915. 5 r1 1 ' 4 r.: VA ; f-JJ - f ' ! i 1 J r f it ft JSC- , i ';-v I i v' tAryfn j-j iTie Jdi Satshcf. connected by telephone, and as soon as the competition begins, the pits are no tified by telephone. The officer on the firing line gives the order to load,, and in the meantime, a red flag is raised at the target pits. . ' As soon as the firing line is ready, the target men again are notified by telephone and the .contestants make ready to shoot. The red flag, at the pits is. waved and lowered , and five minutes later, in the case of rapid-firing, the targets appear. The targets remain exposed for one minute and a half, then disappear The moment the target rises above the edge of the pit the riflemen kreei pyJdenly and pump ten shots into e.ich target. ' The ten shots must' tye' tls- A W" V.-xl iNatiorvjai tme October Students WiflGorrvpeterRrst : Witty Arnvv Hi i bV7 1 i charged befor.e the target sinks or all unflred shots will be counted as misses. The same procedure Is observed when the men are firing at all ranges, ex cept that at 200 yards, rapid fire, the men kneel, while they lie prono at 3U0 yards. Thus the game of teaching collegians to shoot wlil go forward merrily, along with the regulars and the militiamen, who can be expected to put on some airs by reason of previous experience in national rifle matches. Neverthe less, it is Just a step along the road that the expert rlHeman must travel, and if college men who want to shout ,find the road a little rough, they may be comforted by the thought that the War Department is doing everything possible to make it smooth. The main difficulty to be met with in teaching college men to shoot is the absence f the spectacular In rifle matches. As a usual thing there Is no gallery of "sweet young things" to cheer on the successful marksmen, and while a college will make all sorts of an outlay for a baseball or a football team, there is very little money spent by such institutions on rifle teams. The French Republic appropriates large sums of money every year for the support of rifle training in the public schools, and In Italy it is Impossible for a college student to get a degree unless he has passed an examination in marksmanship. Canada has also made rifle instruc tion a part of .the . curriculum in the public schools and Australia has over 40.000 school boys who have been or ganized Into cadet corps and furnished with rifles and ammunition by the gov ernment. The government of New Zea land has built small rifle ranges in connection with all Its public schools and furnishes .instructors as well as rifles and ammunition for the pupils. Switzerland and Hungary both are encouraging the idea, Switzerland be ing especially careful to train its boys, beginning at the age of 16. Greece has laws making rifle practice obligatory on all university students. The great trouble with marksman ship in the United States, according to officials of the National Riflo Associa tion, is the general failure of land grant colleges, which draw a Govern ment subsidy, to live up to the spirit of their appropriations. These institutions are supposed U. install military instruction, and they do so. but their failure to live up to the spirit of the law Is shown in the re ports of the army officers who inspect these military establishments. The ap propriations for three colleges in par ticular le shown In the reports to verify such a statement. Each institution, drawing 875.000 a year, spent 82100, 8250 and 8150 a year, respectively, on their military establishments. The training of the college man as a marksman has a twofold purpose as its foundation. Not only will a well trained, finely developed student corps be a rock of Gibraltar in case of war, but, it is argued, rifle training is an other force in college life which will wean the student away from the petty natcrves lXL Nctf?Orqaii zed 1 11 I A'. vices and cultivate It la inanbood and character. The flowing bowl is very hard on "bull's-eyes,"- and cigarettes, perhaps, are worse. No one can hope to be a good marksman under such conditions, and now that Congress has authorized the War Department to issue free serv ice rifles and ammunition to rifle clubs affiliated with the National Rifle Asso ciation, it is believed the art of fine shooting will bo received with fresh enthusiasm at the big colleges of the country. With preparations practically com plete, tho War Department Is impa tiently waiting until ' next October, when the results of the big Jackson ville meet are partially expected to answer its question of whether or not the college student will make an ef ficient rifleman. Building of the Canal (CONTINUED FltOm FAGE 3.) of office, to perform certain duties specified by the Spooner act. but the awakening came too late to overthrow the power whl:h it was claimed I had usurped, for the Panama Canal act had ratified and confirmed all executive orders previously Issued, so that the one of January 6, 1D08. had been en acted into law. Falling lu this, the press spread the news that there was friction in tho Commission, that the Commissioners had been Instructed by President Roosevelt that they were to carry out my orders without question or be re lieved; and that, since there was a change In administration at Washing ton, this condition would be remedied. This was a press sensation of short duration, however, for the management continued to the end of the construc tion period without modification. Now that the canal is in operation. 1 doubt if this result could have been accomplished in any other way than by & single responsible head. This President Roosevelt realized the lirst time I met him, and I have subsequent ly felt that to this order and to the support given to me in carrying It out are due' the results that have been attained. (Copyright, 1915. by Charles Scribner's Sons. All rights reserved.) In next week's installment of his own story of the building of the Panama Canal, General Goethais will tell how he reorganized the canal force after President Roosevelt, by executive or der, had placed all responsibility for the construction of the canal In his hands. It was this reorganized force that built the canal, and therefore. General Goethais account of this force and his reasons for organizing it as he did. are vital to H clear understand ing of the manner In which the canal was built. Some Story Tellers. Exchange. Some titory tellers are too hard to discourage. . . (J