Military Science

It seenis to be the general opinión among United States army ofiicers that the developmeut of military scieuce in the immediate future will be in the direction of simplified fortificatious, greater ntilization of the bicycle and the extended use of 5ome fonn of automatic gun. The modern anuy eugiueer sees little use in raising great mounds of earth suoh as used to be done when hasty iiud even permanent works were needed. The, bigger the earthwork the greater the mark for the eneniy's guns. A hole in the grouud has been the theoretical formula for fort bnilding, and now that we possess fleldpiecea with disappearing carriagea it can be praotically carried out. A guu that is capable of rising out of an innocent looking hole, pouring forth great volleys of death dealing bullets and then sinking out of siglit, leaving hardly a trace of its presence and certainly nothing to firo at, is formidable enough to invest the new theory with all ncedful logic. It would be to au enemy what tlie hollow road near Waterloo was to the cuirassiers of Napoleon. The rifle of the futuro will be the auiomatic rifle. This is the conclusión of military men not only of this, but of othor cotmtries, General Wille, a Germán army expert on the subject of firearrns, says decisively that it will ultiniately bo the rifle in general use by the armies of the world. lts particular point of merit is its capacity for doing away with tlie mechanical operation of loading. In effect it does its own loading, leaving the soldier free to attend to the business of flring, thus concentrating hia attention on his opponent and rendering his aim surer. As poiuted ont by General Wille, the force of the recoil of the automatic gun is employed for charging and closing the breeeh, and the flrer has only to let off the shot in order again to load the weapon, so that the number of shots disoharged withont an effort is precisely the same as the total contents of the magazine. The ouly comparatively weak part of the automatic gun lies in its spriugs, but, as they have been fonnd lifter tests marte iu Austria to rithstand thewearand tear of from 10,000 to 14,000 dischar:res, this does not count for