GUNS AND AMMUNITION. 



215 



ruined. Finally, go over the outside of 

 the barrel and all the metal parts of the 

 gun with a lightly oiled soft clean cloth; 

 place the gun in its case to keep off dust 

 and store it in a cool, dry place. 



A gun should be looked over and oiled 

 lightly inside and out every few weeks an 

 the close season, and thoroughly cleaned 

 and oiled after each time it is used. 



Water can be used instead of the soda 

 solution, but it is not nearly so good. If 

 water is used in a gun barrel, the barrel 

 must be dried immediately and completely 

 or it will rust badly. More than this, water 

 will not soften the residue so quickly as the 

 soda solution will. If the soda solution is 

 used, little rusting would take place even if 

 the barrel were permitted to dry without 

 wiping. The soda solution neutralizes the 

 acid in the residue left by smokeless pow- 

 ders, and thus immediately destroys the 

 rusting and pitting action of that acid. 



Take time to carry out each part of the 

 work thoroughly, and the pleasure and sat- 

 isfaction of using a perfect weapon will be 

 your reward. H. S. Jewett, M. D. 



IT IS UP TO PAGE. 



Here is a letter from I. H. Page, Presi- 

 dent of the Stevens Arms & Tool Co., 

 which will interest all readers of Recrea- 

 tion. Thousands of my readers have writ- 

 ten just as strong letters in expressing their 

 opinions of Recreation as the one which 

 Mr. Page refers to. 



It will interest my readers, therefore, to 

 note that Mr. Page considers all such let- 

 ters the result of bribery. 



Chicopee Falls, Mass., May 20, iqoi. 

 Mr. Chas. O'Byrne, Binghamton, N. Y. 



Dear Sir — We have just received copy of 

 a letter which you sent to J. H. McKibben, 

 Secretary of the Peters Cartridge Co., in 

 regard to advertising in Recreation. 



The tone of this letter seems famil- 

 iar to us and, after reading what you 

 had to say in regard to Stevens rifles, it 

 leads us to suppose that Mr. Shields is pay- 

 ing you to write such articles. If such is 

 the case, we must assure you that it is a 

 poor business to be in. Unless we hear 

 from you to the contrary we shall always 

 believe you did not write that letter with- 

 out being paid for it. 



We enclose you herewith stamped envel- 

 ope, and would like to have you advise us 

 if this is not the case. 



Very truly yours, 

 J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., 

 I. H. Page, Prest. & Tieas. 



To which Mr. O'Byrne replies thus : 

 Binghamton, N. Y., May 22, 1001. 

 J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co., 



Chicopee Falls, Mass. 

 Dear Sir? — Your favor of 20th received. 



You certainly do me an injustice when you 

 assume I received a consideration for writ- 

 ing the letter to Mr. J. H. McKibben,' as 

 the only solicitation for same is contained 

 in the Editor's note on page 379 of May 

 Recreation. 



I also think you wrong Mr. Shields, for 

 while I think he would value honest ex- 

 pressions of opinion, my estimate of his 

 character leads me to believe that he would 

 not adopt the methods you suggest. I am 

 not acquainted with him, he has never 

 given or offered me anything, and let me 

 assure you that such an offer would materi- 

 ally change my opinion of him. The letter 

 was written in a spirit of justice, with the 

 hope that Mr. McKibben would reconsider 

 the matter, as I think he gave it very little 

 previous thought. 



I did not approve of the editor's caption 

 of the troublesome article, nor did I intend 

 to criticise the withdrawal of your ad., as 

 at the present time I know nothing of your 

 reasons for so doing. I merely cited the 

 case to show the value of Recreation as 

 an advertising medium, and think it should 

 receive the support of manufacturers of 

 and dealers in sporting goods if the re- 

 turns justify the outlay, which I presume 

 they do ; otherwise it would not exist. 



Recreation has made me a member of 

 the L. A. S., as it has brought more forcibly 

 to my mind the need of game protection. 

 At the same time it has taught me to enjoy 

 the use of a rifle more, and a week seldom 

 passes that I do not use 25 to 100 cartridges 

 on target practice, and would use many 

 more did not my duties as engineer prevent 

 it. I have never spoken except favorably 

 in regard to your goods, and never shall 

 without reason. 



While I may not agree with all Mr. 

 Shields' ideas, his earnestness commends 

 him to my support, which he will always 

 have as long as he continues his present 

 course. Never before have I criticised the 

 action of any person which did not directly 

 concern me, but there have been times when 

 a word might have done good. Hoping the 

 difference between you and Recreation is 

 not so serious that it can not be satisfacto- 

 rily adjusted, and with best wishes for the 

 success of both, I remain, 



Yours respectfully, 



Chas. O'Byrne. 



Mr. O'Byrne's letter to the Peters Cart- 

 ridge Co., which Mr. Page claims was paid 

 for, was published on page 214 of Septem- 

 ber Recreation. 



I printed on page 70 of July Recrea- 

 tion an offer of $100 to any man who 

 would prove that I had ever paid or offered 

 to pay any man a penny for writing a letter 

 commending Recreation to any advertiser. 

 As soon as that article was put in type I 

 sent a copy of it to Mr. Page, and wrote 



