Show MAGAZINE RIFLES The question recently treated in these columns of supplying the army with repeating re-peating or magazine rifles is beginning to attract attention in the eastern States and will doubtless assume such proportions propor-tions as may yet demand the attention of Congress and the War Department The conservative New York Time in nminntitinnr rm the present nnHnnl rot war in Europe has the following The war clouds are gathering again in Europe The situation becomes perilous less from any insurmountable difficulty in the Bulgarian problem than from the suspicion sus-picion that Russia wants war while France under the guidance of Boulanger is perhaps turning her mind toward it During the year Germany Austria and France have taken an important step in providing their troops with magazine arms and now all three countries are busily converting their rifles into repeaters The French war au thorities seem also to have a new machine I gun and talk of a secret high explosive with which shells are to be filled The Russians Rus-sians are believed to be experimenting with an explosive to supersede ordinary gunpowder gun-powder The possession of improved destructive de-structive weapons is an incentive to hurry ing forward war wherever it is thought to be sooner or later inevitable We duller with the Times in the last sentence of its article believing that the possession of improved destructive weapons tends to make war an act only 1 of I the last alternative for a nation will think several times before engaging in a war wherein they know they will meet their equals and perhaps superiors The history of the wars among the Powers of Europe all prove that such wars have been waged only when the aggressor felt he was the superior force hence it follows that if each feels the other is better prepared arbitration will I ensue and bloodshed avoided In theca the-ca e of the United States as time rolls on and finds the I presumptuous republics to the southward of them fully armed I with the latest improved arms on land and sea and with a thorough thor-ough knowledge of their uses it is absolutely necess r j necessary o meet their shows of bravado common with themby an armament which they know is equal if not siinnrior to theirs nm1 in n that manner only can they be kept in check When one considers the enormous enor-mous cost of building and equipping a navy and arming and transporting an army of sufficient force to subdue one of the South American republics and the fact that the previous possession of first class power by both would obviate the necessity of doing either the wonder I comes that those in authority do not attend to the better arming of the land and naval forces of the country The only naval engagement worthy the name in the late war was that between the Kearsage and Alabama and that would have been reversed if the Alabamas ammunition had been good for she sent a shell into the rudder post of the Kear sarge in the early stages of the encounter which had it exploded would have sunk her instantly One ironclad frigate of any of the foreign navies could vanquish all the navy the country owns and in the same manner one battalion of veteran troops with magazine guns could drive three of our crack battalions with single I I breechloaders An uprising in any part of the country being of sufficient importance I im-portance to demand Government atten I tion would find the rebels armed with magazine guns while the troops would bo forced against t them with the old arm Any sensible man can fnreson thi result There is a prejudice in certain j military circles against taking away the j timehonored musket and bayonet as it j would detract from the appearance of a j force under arms and it is of record that j a minority report of a commission of of V I ficers to test magazine j guns among i other things objected to them because i they were not bright but the real soldier I under fire never loved a bright gun I barrel and the enormous advantage gained in several ways should decide I the authorities to move in the matter j and make our small standing army in I fact what it is in name only the best I equipped in the world i j |