Show i WARS FRONT I HAS CHANGED f > Experience of Thirty Years Ago No Good Now THE NEXT STRUGGLE ADVANTAGES OF A BICYCLE OVER 3 HORSE Advantages of a Horse Over a Bicycle Bi-cycle Submarine Boats Veterans Who Now TaU Glibly of Going Ito I-to War Would Be of No 3Iore Service Tiian the Average Run Recruit The Use of Dom The men of the Blue and Gray whore who-re talking so jubilantly of going to war again hand in hand to whip John Bull would find in event of active hostilities hos-tilities that their experience of thirty years ago would not count for much in this age of scientific slaughter True their bravery has been tested they would not break and run at the first 1 roar of battle and they know the meaning of military discipline But the scores of new scientific engines for dealing wholesale destruction would puzzle them If the war becom < = a reality it will Le as different from the struggle of a generation ago as that war was from the battles of the middle ages Science will make the battle of the future like a came of chess with the opposing generals sitting far away from the scene of actual strife and moving the i great bodies of men under them like I the skilful player moves chessmen General Von Moltke in the Franco I Prussian struggle was the first to play the game of wsr in this way and a wonderful series of successes resulted It would take a large sized book to desoribe the many unique appliances which will be used in the next war In the first place there is the bicycle and right here it should be stated that the bicycle wfcthin the past year or two has been recognized the world over by the great military generals and strategists stra-tegists as of supreme importance In time of war The United States military mili-tary wheelmen representing state militia and regular army soldiers and i fficers the country over has been in existence some time At its first national na-tional convention MajorGeneral Nelson Nel-son A Miles head of the United States army said this of the bicycle We have seen enough to convince I many men that It will be one of the most useful appliances in war I have heard it said that you cannot man oeuvre large bodies of men on bicycles I have heard men make that statement state-ment but there are some men who couldnt manoeuvre large bodies of men on horse foot bicycle or any other way Bicycles can be used by men who believe in the bicycle who have confidence in it and know that It can be used for war purposes It can be used in some places where a horse canot be used The horse can be used in some places where the cicycle cannot he used You cannot swim a river on a bicycle But you man conceal it there for several days fish it up and ride away which you cannot do with a horse There are many uses and means to which you can apply a bicycle where you cannot can-not use a horse and where a man cannot can-not perform the same service on foot I think your association to be a commendable com-mendable one I do not think it will lessen jour Interest in the National Guard more than similar private associations as-sociations of military men have lessened les-sened their interest in the senice WILL PER3HT OF LONG MARCHES In many of the states there are bicycle regiments and companies there are bicycle companies in the regular army and bicycles will become general in all military evolutions When these are In use marches of 100 miles or more will be made in the light of one day Forced ones of double length will easily be made in twentyfour hours The bicycle needs but little oil and is always ready It is also apparent to pro TesslvR military men that with the advent of the bicycle must come the advent of the horseless carriage in the army provision train Another Important bearing of the compact rod motor upon modern warfare war-fare will be the possibility of hauling field cannon without the aid of horses 1 The field piece Is the clumsiest of all instruments of warfare to manage during dur-ing < u retreat For this reason alone cannon are so often deserted In the field to fall into the hands of the netn When good roads make the horseless horse-less conveyance popular Vie will have to propel our cannon at a rapid rate on the march to keep up with the rapid pace of the bicycle cavalry and Infantry and the provisions wagons propelled by the storage battery nap tha gasoline petroleum and other motors MOVABLE = FORTS TOO It looks as if the army mule was doomed to pass away like the car horse Not only will the army wagon and ithe gun carriages be propelled by their own force but great movable fortresses will be brought into use base will be armored like the new varchips and tenanted by a scores or two of sharpshooters and rapidfiring guns They will readily be moved from place to place and be practically practi-cally impregnable A traveling fort could not be destroyed nearly so Quickly as a warship for the reason that there is no water to rush into the former A hundred holes can be shot clear through It and yet It will goon go-on unless the vital machinery be brokenTHE THE SUBMARINE BOAT The submarine torpedoboat will also come into play Naval scientists have been working on this problem for years and It Is believed that each one of the great naitions has a submarine boat capable of doing efficient work Such a possession would be treasured as a secret of great value and every possible means adopted to prevent other nations from learning the details de-tails of its construction The fact that M Goubet a French inventor has after four years of work completed a submarine boat which has been satisfactorily tested is proof that this deadly vessel will figure in the next war The qualities which distinguish a submarine vessel and without which it would be useless are habitableness security rapidity of immersion and emergence stability immobility at a given depth a ready response to the rudder and the possibility of the crew being able to manoeuvre from the interior in-terior of the boat For the first necessity and in fact the most essential of allviz habitableness habit-ableness the crew of the Goubet is provided with air by means of compressed com-pressed oxygen which is carried on the vessel in steel tubes exhausted under a normal pressure In these conditions a crew composed of three men could exist in the interior of a submerged vessel for fifteen hours without suffering any inconvenience resulting from foul or rarefied air SAFETY ASSURED Its safety has been assured by extra ballast Should an unforseen accident occur to the machinery the ballast thrown overboard would right the boat and it would rise to the surface like a piece of cork The weight of the Goubet is so calculated that armed loaded and carrying its crew it will easily float leaving but a small portion of its upper shell and its airtight dome visible which latter is used as a lookout as it glides through the water To submerge the boat it is sufficient to augment its density and the boat is furnished with interior reservoirs for this purpose A certain amount of water is introduced by means of a suction and force pump and this quantity can be augmented or diminished f dimin-ished at will To sink the boat the suction pump draws in enough water for the purpose while to bring the boat to the surface the force pump is put in requisition The Goubet can sink or rise in a vertical position The principal obstacle so far to the propelling of a submarine vessel has been its want of stability In fact the equilibrium of a boat once sunk has always r al-ways seemed to be at the mercy of the 1 slightest displacement in its interior Should the ballast slip to the bow or stern the boat is apt to take a more or less marked inclination which makes it Impossible for a man to remain re-main in It with safety Owing to its mechanical construction the Goubet rises or descends without inclining to the bow or stern and its oscillations never displace its horizontal position more than five or six centimetres The motive power given to the Gou bet is furnished by Schauschiffs electric elec-tric battery A small amount of power I only Is needed when the boat is completely com-pletely submerged The whole secret I of managing the Goubet lies in the I variations of Its specific weight once submerged its weight Is exactly equal I to the weight of the volume of water which It displaces that is to I say its weight is nothing It acts In like I water as a piece of cotton acts In i the air tossed here and there at the mercy of the slightest impulsion This I explains why with one or twohorse power a swiftness of seven or eight knots may be given to this mass of bronze whose weight surpasses ten tons This is also why in coming in contact with an obstacle It rebounds like a rubber ball and does not lose its shaipe Two torpedoes are fastened under the copper wings which are attached to the hull These torpedoes can be I discharged by a very clever contrivance contriv-ance by the person seated in the interior I in-terior It is also proposed to attach a steel rod to the vessel working a i pair of large shears with which to cut the wires of the enemys torpedoes In shape the Goubet Is round in the middle and conical at both ends It is lighted interlorily by a number of portholes In the hull which are airtight I air-tight by means of panes of heavy glass thirty milimetres in thickness As weighs but ten tons it can easily be transported on a railroad truck or between decks of a nanofwar or packet boat RAPID FIRE GUNS An idea of the deadly powers of one of the new rapidfire guns can be gained from the fact that the new Hotchiriss machine gun fires ten shots a second or 600 shots a minute or 36 000 shots an hour Unlike most other machine guns this new weapon has but one barrel and I all the bullets pass through It and all the explosions take place in the same powder chamber At first thought it I would seem impossible to operate such a gun without causing the chamber I and barrel to heat in a very short time to such a degree as to render further tiring impossible but this I trouble has been overcome by an in genius yet extremely simple arrangement arrange-ment the essential features of which are that the barrel is permanently fixed in the breach and that none of the moving parts is subjected to the heat developed by the power gas In Franco the gun has been fired rapidly for three hours during which I time 100000 cartridges were discharged 1 without any inconvenience because of expanded parts I The total weight of a gun that will I fire thirtycalibre cartridges is twenty pounds It can be mounted on any I type of naVal or military carriage or for use by cavalry One man can handle it readily but the services Of another is required to supply ammunition ammuni-tion The mechanism of the piece Is extremely ex-tremely simple Exclusive of the sights but including barrel shoulder piece etc there are only thirtyeight separate parts and only four springs the main spring the sear spring the extractor and the pawl spring All the parts are made to fit together without the use of screws and no tools are necessary to completely dismount or to assemble the gun excepting a small monkey wrench It can readily be seen by this that one man at a gun of this kind I could annihilate in a few minutes a regiment regi-ment armed with the weapons of thirty years aero SHARPSHOOTERS IMPORTANCE With the improvement in ammunitions ammuni-tions and rifles the sharpshooter would figure most prominently In the I next war and it is satisfactory to know that Uucle Sams marksmen are the finest in the world The 25000 soldiers in the regular army have just been furnished with the new calibre rifle made at the national factory at Springfield Spring-field It is effective at a distance of a mile and the lead bullet clad in a steel coat leaves the muzzle at a speed of nearly half a mile a second The idea of the uptodate rifle is to throw a small and very hard projectile projec-tile with enormously increased velocity to a much greater distance with greater precision than formerly Just here comes in an odd point The weapon is an improvement in the direction of humanity The bullet travels so fast that apparently the body does not attempt to resist it and it passes through the flesh or bone I without inflicting much of a shock making a small clean hole and not breaking up the tissues It goes through the thinner bones as the shoulderblades the ribs and breastbone breast-bone without smashing effect An opportunity op-portunity for firstrate test was afforded af-forded by the recent Chitral campaign in India Wounded natives with tlnv holes drilled clear through them were out and about within twentyfour I hours not suffering any serious inconvenience I incon-venience Such was actually the case with a majority of the Swatis who were hurt in various engagements This might be understood more easily if only the flesh had been injured but bones were perforated and yet the men were not disabled Sharpshooters armed with the modern mod-ern style of rifle will play a great part in future warfare The discharge of the new weapon is almost noiseless and smokeless powder being used there will be nothing to betray the location of a concealed rifleman who pours a continuous fire with murderous murder-ous accuracy into the ranks of the enemy The commander in the field will see his officers and men fall around him without knowing whence the blow Is struck Two or three skilled marksmen will be able to pick off every man at a battery of artillery so as to render the guns of no use The new rifle fires five shots from the magazine as fast as the trigger can be pulled and quick as a wink another set of five cartridges is substituted for the empty shells The cartridges are fastened together in sets of five with paper strips BALLOONS AND AIRSHIPS The balloon will also figure in the next war and perhaps airships France has an airship which is carefully care-fully guarded No one is allowed to see it and no drawings have been made of it It is said to + be a cigar shaped envelope within which is the gas and a small bag which is to be pumped full of air An electrto motor drives in the rear a screw propeller It is said that the airship Is able to make a speed of at least twentyfive I miles an hour Uncle Sam has just completed the building of a big balloon near Denver capable of carrying several officers and fitted with telegraph and telephone machines A drag rope will always connect tho balloon with the ground and by means of the wires the officers in the air will communicate with those below In conjunction with the balloon bcy cles are to be used and on a coil of the wheel the wire is run and paid out as the machine progresses Thus when the balloon has started up the officer on the wheel races for the tent of the general and the telephone wire ia carried along and let out till the tent is reached This wire makes direct di-rect communication between the officers of-ficers on the field and the man in the air who + fom his station has a Complete com-plete view of the enemy and can thus give Important information to his superiors Germany has an army of trained bloodhounds for use In event of war They carry ammunition and des patches and are taught to seek the wounded after a battle The ancients used fierce dogs in their wars and they invariably terrorized the opposing troops It is not proba > ble that Uncle Sam will make use of dogs in event of war as their efficiency is regarded with much doubt |