April 18, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
605 
National Board for Promotion of 
Rifle Practice. 
Washington, D. C., April 15.—The action of the Senate 
in striking out the amendment to the army appropriation 
bill, which would have prevented officers of the Army, 
Navy and National Guard from participating in the 
national rifle and revolver matches at Camp Perry, O., 
this summer, is highly gratifying to the War Department, 
which had received a flood of protests from all sides 
against this proposition. Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver, As¬ 
sistant Secretary of War, and President of the National 
Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice, presented the 
views of the War Department to the Senate Committee 
on Military Affairs, and has also addressed a letter to 
Chairman Hull, of the House Committee. It is not 
thought likely the House will insist on the amendment. 
In presenting the matter, Gen. Oliver said that President 
Roosevelt himself had asked him to call the attention of 
the committee especially to this provision, and to ask 
that it be stricken out. He quoted Gen. Bird W. 
Spencer, the famous New Jersey expert in rifle shooting, 
for many jeara president of the National Rifle Associa¬ 
tion, as saying that it would practically destroy the effect 
of the national matches, in the establishment of which 
Gen. Spencer and his colleagues took such an active 
part. Gen. Oliver said: “In case this amendment be¬ 
comes a law, it will almost, if not entirely, defeat the 
excellent purpose for which the first law upon the sub¬ 
ject of the national trophy was enacted in 1903. The 
reason for the enactment of the law was to encourage 
excellence in marksmanship with rifles and pistols In 
the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and National Guard. 
In this most important of all duties, the officers are 
the instructors of the enlisted men; and this they are 
not competent to be unless they thoroughly understand 
themselves all the details of military rifle and revolver 
shooting. They attend the national competitions, some 
of them from States or Territories which have not even 
a rifle range. These officers and enlisted men mix with 
the finest rifle and revolver shots in the world and 
absorb much valuable information and no little equally 
valuable enthusiasm on rifle and revolver shooting. They 
return to their organizations and tell all they know, 
which is readily absorbed and disseminated throughout 
the entire military force of the State or Territory. This 
has been going on with the militia for the past four 
years, and during that short period the improvement 
and interest in military marksmanship have been re¬ 
markable. In 1884 competitions were inaugurated in the 
army, where officers and enlisted men shot together for 
prizes; this soon developed many officers and enlisted 
men who were expert rifle shots, and it created in the 
Army much enthusiasm. As a result, when the Spanish 
War came on, our Regular Army was the finest body of 
expert rifle shots in the world. Those who started the 
National trophy are working upon a small scale to ac¬ 
complish the same thing for the National Guard. It 
certainly needs no argument to prove that an educated 
officer in his military duties is of far more value to the 
Government than an educated enlisted man, for the 
reason that the officers can be sent to instruct other 
officers and enlisted men. It would really be for the 
best interest of the United States to have the teams sent 
to the national matches composed entirely of commis¬ 
sioned officers. On account, however, of other consid¬ 
erations, it has been found advisable to have a fair 
proportion of enlisted men in each team.” 
The schoolboys of Washington are looking forward to 
the Easter week tournament, which will be the first held 
in this city where schoolboys will shoot with military 
rifles. The movement for schoolboy practice is spreading 
rapidly throughout the country, having been greatly stim¬ 
ulated by the success which it has met in New York 
City, where it is conducted under the auspices of the 
Public Schools Athletic .League. Washington has no 
such influential or wealthy organization, but the National 
Capital Rifle and Revolver Club, which is an organiza¬ 
tion composed of civilan and military men in about equal 
numbers, undertook the task, and all indications point to 
a most successful tournament. The schoolboys fell in 
line, and for some weeks the officers of the High School 
Cadets, which is a crack corps, have been receiving in¬ 
struction and imparting it to their companies. During 
Easter week there will be individual matches for the 
junior marksman’s medal, given by the National, Rifle 
Association; company, batalhon and school team matches, 
ending with special matches for the officers. The War 
Department, and especially the National Board for the 
Promotion of Rifle Practice, is heartily seconding the 
movement. Gen. Wm. P. Hall and Capt. F. N. Slayden, 
of the Board, will be in attendance, and General Oliver, 
President of the Board and Assistant Secretary of War, 
will present the medals and prizes. The National Rifle 
Association will be represented by Lieut. Albert S. Jones, 
its secretary, who did so much toward making the New 
York tournament a success. Capt. Sheridan Ferree, of 
this city, the well-known expert pistol shot, president of 
the club, will be the executive officer, assisted by Col. 
E. J. Dimmick, who is known to all leading riflemen. 
In addition to providing the marksmen, the cadets will 
also furnish officers for range officers, scorers, markers, 
etc., and will thus obtain not only instruction in shooting, 
hut in the actual conduct of real military rifle matches. 
Each of the ammunition companies and several of the 
arms companies will have their experts in attendance, and 
the tournament is expected to attract wide attention. The 
War Department has loaned a number of the new Spring- 
fields, fitted with ,22cal. barrels, but other .22 military 
rifles may be used. The matches will last the entire 
week. 
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