The Poivdcr War. 



203 



THE POWDER WAR. 



The war of the nitro-powder manu- 

 facturers is still on. When it will cease 

 no one can foresee. At present the bat- 

 tle is a fierce one, and carried on in no 

 uncertain way. It seems folly, in view 

 of the fact that the number of manu- 

 facturers is so small that harmony can- 

 not be agreed upon. Glance at the list : 

 Dupont's Smokeless, Schultze Hard 

 Grain, Ha'zard, Laflin & Rand, American 

 Smokeless, American E. C, King's 

 Smokeless, and Walsrode. Each is fight- 

 ing for a portion of trade, and each is get- 

 ting a certain amount, although at pres- 

 ent prices the profit is but little, if any. 

 Needless to say the consumption of 

 nitro powder in shot guns is infinitessi- 

 mally small when compared with the 

 black powder output. Even in that 

 compound the writer fancies that but 

 little, if any, profit has been had for 



years. With the nitro powders, either 

 with gun cotton or wood pulp as a base, 

 the struggle appears to be for the wants 

 of the Government in this regard. Can- 

 non and rifle powder contracts are what 

 is wished, and each company watches 

 the other in all details of business as a 

 cat is supposed to watch the rat, and 

 nothing is left undone which may lead 

 to the furnishing Uncle Sam with what 

 he needs in this direction. The hos- 

 tility seems to increase as the battle 

 wages, and at present there is no more 

 signs of a peaceful solution of the dif- 

 ferences than has been seen for a year 

 past. Where each kind of powder has 

 its honest supporters, and where all are 

 good, it does seem as if peace should 

 prevail. The pity of it all is, that the 

 general sportsmen are so little benefit- 

 ted by this antagonism of the manu- 

 facturers. 



WILL BIG TOURNAMENTS LAST ? 



In the matter of big tournaments. 

 The question is at present can the thing 

 last ? Are they making or inducing the 

 shooting men to become more of the 

 sporting man class than sportsmen ? 

 What a vast difference there is in the 

 two appellations ! In the first the 

 money part is ever to the front ; in the 

 last the pleasure. The last few years 

 have seen an immense stride in the di- 

 rection of the first. Thousands of dol- 

 lars are provided for these shooting 

 meetings. Some of the amount is sub- 

 scribed because men love to see good 

 shooting and are willing to pay their 

 part in order to see it. Others give 



generously or otherwise for the adver- 

 tisement to be gotten out of such shoot- 

 ings ; others give to bring into notice 

 the interests of that part of the country 

 where their homes may be, and 5^et 

 others give in order to get back some 

 part of the amount they put in. These 

 various interests have all combined to 

 swell the number of tournaments, and 

 they now come so frequently that the 

 tax is fast becoming an onerous one, to 

 both managers and participators. The 

 rebound is sure to come. Let us hope 

 that when it does come it will not inter- 

 fere with a continuous and honest 

 growth in shooting affairs. 



