Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1898 — WHY THE LATINS CAN’T SHOOT. [ARTICLE]

WHY THE LATINS CAN’T SHOOT.

One Theorist Declares It Is Because Their Ejres Are Dark. Some physiological theorist has undertaken to prove that the reason that the Spanish and continental peoples generally cannot shoot well Is because they have dark eyes, and points to the fact that the prize winners at rifle contests, both in England and In this country, are apt to have eyes of gray or blue or some other light shade. However, it takes a good many Instances to prove a case like this, and It Is probable that the eye is of less consequence than what Is behind it. For example, the Spaniards could see our ships perfectly well; the truth was that their big guns were not pointed at what they saw. It might be said, too, that on land the Spanish have shown that they are by no means despicable marksmen. Certainly the men who stood in front of their rifles at El Caney have not a word to say against them. And yet it was not strictly first-class work with the rifle, or our men would never have been able to carry the intrenchments against all the rules of warfare. If the Spanish had shot with their Mausers as our fathers shot at Bunker Hill and New Orleans with their flint-locks, we should have been beaten back. It Is clear that In the future war on land as well as sea will depend on the “man behind the gun.” Military discipline can be imparted In a few months or in a year or two at most, but that Instinctive hardiness with the gun, that ability to judge distances and to shoot to kill, which is so different a thing from mere mechanical discharge of a given number of shots according to rule, can be acquired only by habitual training from youth. Hitherto we have been a frontier nation, and shooting has been practiced more by. the people at large than by any other civilized people, except the Swiss and Boers. England is a land of expert shooters, but the lower classes, from which the private soldiers are recruited, have comparatively little opportunity to shoot, on account of the restriction of gun and game license laws. It may be that in the future we shall find It necessary to devise some means to stimulate rifle practice, in order to keep up to our traditional standard. It Is obvious that other things being equal a nation of marksmen must be Invincible, especially in a defensive war, and a widely diffused skill with the rifle is truly a “cheap defense of nations.”—Springfield Republican.