A REPORT ONTHE FEASIBILITY AND ADVISABILITY OF SOME POLICYTO INAUGURATE A SYSTEM OF RIFLE PRACTICETHROUGHOUT THE PUBLIC SCHOOLSOF THE COUNTRY By Gen. GEORGE W. WINGATEOf New York and Gen. AMMON B. CRITCHFIELDOf Ohio PUBLISHED IN ACCORDANCE WITH A RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL BOARDFOR THE PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE WASHINGTONGOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE1907 NOTICE At the annual meeting of the National Board for the Promotion of RiflePractice, held at Washington, D. C. , January 24, 1906, the question ofbuilding up an interest in target practice throughout the schools ofthe country was discussed, and a special committee consisting of Gen. L. M. Oppenheimer, of Texas; Gen. George W. Wingate, of New York, andGen. Ammon B. Critchfield, of Ohio, was appointed to inquire into andreport at the next annual meeting of the board upon-- The feasibility and advisability of some policy to inaugurate a systemof rifle practice throughout the public schools of the country. At the last meeting of the board held at Washington, D. C. , January 25, 1907, the report of this committee was submitted by Generals Wingateand Critchfield, and is published in accordance with the followingresolution of the board, which was unanimously adopted: _Resolved_, That the report of the committee on rifle practice in public schools be approved and the thanks of the board be tendered Generals Wingate and Critchfield for their valuable paper; that the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice recommend to the various educational authorities the desirability of interesting school boys over 13 years of age in the subject of rifle practice. It was _Further resolved_, That this report be printed separately and given the greatest publicity, the matter of distribution and number of copies required therefor to be submitted to the committee on publicity, with power. It is deeply regretted that before the completion of the report GeneralOppenheimer died, and his great help in assisting to promote interestin rifle practice is lost to the country. This report is earnestly commended to the superintendents of publicinstruction throughout the country. ROBERT SHAW OLIVER, _Assistant Secretary of War_, _President National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice_. GROTE HUTCHESON, _Captain, General Staff_, _Member and Recorder, National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice_. Report on the Feasibility and Advisability of some Policy to Inauguratea System of Rifle Practice throughout the Public Schools of theCountry. NEW YORK, _January 21, 1907_. NATIONAL BOARD FOR THE PROMOTION OF RIFLE PRACTICE. GENTLEMEN: In pursuance of the resolution of the board requesting thelate Gen. L. M. Oppenheimer, of Texas (who died since the last meetingof the board, and whose death is deplored), and the undersigned toreport "on the feasibility and advisability of some policy toinaugurate a system of rifle practice throughout the public schools ofthe country, " we respectfully report: For many years attempts have been made to inaugurate a system ofmilitary instruction in the public schools of the country. As a rule, these have not proved successful. In a few private military schoolssituated in the country some target practice is conducted, but thedifficulty of carrying on anything of the kind in the public schoolshas rendered it impracticable. The matter, however, has recently been introduced in the public schoolsof the city of New York, and the success which has been attained therehas demonstrated the feasibility and advisability of introducing riflepractice in the public schools among the boys over the age of 13 years. The schools of the different States are organized upon many differentmethods. The educational authorities not unnaturally are jealous oftheir prerogatives. No outside organization could well introduce a newsubject of instruction in the schools without seriously interferingwith the educational routine. Consequently, however desirable it may bethat the pupils attending these schools should be taught to shoot, suchinstruction can only be secured by the voluntary action of the schoolauthorities and with their hearty cooperation. The result which has been attained by the Public Schools AthleticLeague in introducing shooting in the high schools of the city of NewYork has been so thoroughly tested that the committee are of theopinion that that system should be recommended for adoption. Few appreciate the magnitude of the New York public schools. There are3 training schools, 19 high schools, 490 elementary schools, 2 truantschools, and 1 nautical school; total, 515, with 14, 500 teachers. These schools are scattered all over the 326 square miles which thecity covers. The registered number of pupils enrolled in these schools is about600, 000, which is more than the entire population of St. Louis, thefourth city in the Union. Half of them are boys. The number attendingthe high schools is about 20, 000, a little more than half of whom areboys. The College of the City of New York has about 4, 000 malestudents. The vast territory over which the city has spread, and its congestedstreets have made it impossible for the children (particularly in thepoorer districts), to get any physical exercise, and the physicalcondition of many of them has in consequence not only become belownormal, but instead of spending their energies in play, as they do inthe country, the boys are led to join "gangs" and to become criminals. This lamentable condition of affairs led to the formation of the PublicSchools Athletic League for the purpose of promoting wholesome athleticexercises among the children attending the public schools of that city. The league is made up from officers and directors of the board ofeducation, superintendents, principals and teachers, prominentathletes, gentlemen interested in philanthropic work, and leadingbusiness men. It was organized December 4, 1903, and its progress hasbeen so great that during the year 1906 there were over 150, 000 entriesin the games which it carried on, which numbered over 600. In the early part of 1905 it decided to institute rifle practice amongthe boys of the high schools of the city, which schools are attended byboys from fourteen to nineteen years of age, by installing in as manyof the high schools as possible a "subtarget gun machine. " This is aningenious apparatus, by which an ordinary Krag army rifle is attachedto a rod upon an upright standard, placed to the right of the firer, insuch a way that while the gun is movable, the rod follows the movementsof the barrel of the rifle, and is at all times parallel with the lineof the sights. The shooter cocks the rifle and aims at a target a foot high on theother side of the room, and when his aim is satisfactory, pulls thetrigger. When this is done an electrical connection is made whichshoots forward the rod which is on the standard, so that its pointpunches a hole in a miniature target like a visiting card, which isplaced in front of it, which hole is mathematically on the samerelative place on the card target as would have been made in the targetat which the shooter was aiming if he had a bullet in his rifle. Itconsequently gives the same experience in holding and "pull off" as ishad in actual shooting. The machine possesses the additional advantage that the instructorstanding on one side of the shooter can see by the movements of thepoint of the rod on the miniature target exactly how the aim is beingtaken on the large target and is able to correct all errors in holdingand pulling off as they are made, something which has hitherto beensupposed to be impossible. The apparatus makes no noise. There is nodanger of its hurting anybody. It can be used very rapidly, and thereis no expense involved in its operation. The results obtained from itsuse are so valuable that several of the New York National Guardregiments consider the machine equal in value to their rifle galleries. The league succeeded in interesting a number of prominent gentlemenwith the importance of teaching the youth of the country the use of themilitary rifle, so that they presented a sufficient number of thesemachines to enable the league to install one of them in each of ten ofthe high schools at a cost of $265 each. The schools which are thusequipped are as follows: Mr. S. R. Guggenheim, the treasurer of the league, gave one to each ofthe following schools: The High School of Commerce and the De Witt Clinton High School(Manhattan), Morris High School (Bronx), Boys' High School (Brooklyn), Curtis High School (Staten Island), and the Bryant High School(Queens). Col. Leslie C. Bruce presented one to the Stuyvesant High School(Manhattan), Mr. Warren Cruikshank gave one to Erasmus Hall High School(Flatbush), Col. Robert B. Woodward gave one to the Manual TrainingHigh School (Brooklyn) in memory of his brother, the late Maj. Gen. John B. Woodward, and Hon. Bird S. Coler and Mr. Horace J. Morse unitedin giving one to the Commercial High School (Brooklyn). Another, presented by Mr. J. A. Haskell, will shortly be installed in one of theother high schools. The City College expects to have one during thespring. In pursuance of the policy adopted by the league in regard to itsathletic games, it caused a "marksmanship committee" to be appointed in1905, consisting of the coaches of the different schools having gunmachines, to organize and control the shooting under regulationsadopted by the high schools games committee and approved by the centralgames committee of the league. This committee has been found of great value in carrying on the workand creating interest in shooting in their different schools. In 1905 Mr. Henry Payne Whitney presented to the league a beautifulbronze bas-relief, being a reproduction of Darnley's "Battle ofLexington, " for annual competition by teams from the different schoolshaving these machines, the winning school to keep it for the year. In 1905 four gun machines were in use, namely, by the De Witt ClintonHigh School, High School of Commerce, Morris High School, and the Boys'High School. In June, 1905, a competition was held between these schools, eachschool shooting in its own building under the inspection of the"marksmanship committee. " The following were the scores for teams of 8, 10 shots standing, highest possible score 400: De Witt Clinton High School 377 High School of Commerce 363 Morris High School 345 Boys' High School 344 The winning team averaged 47-3/8 out of 50. Two boys made perfect scores. Each member of the winning team was given a bronze badge modeled fromthe Whitney trophy. The result of this match greatly stimulated interest in the shooting. It also attracted public attention. During the fall of 1905, and the spring of 1906, the league was able toequip the remainder of the other six high schools with the machine. In 1906 it employed Capt. G. W. Corwin, inspector of rifle practice inthe Seventy-first Regiment, New York National Guard, and one of thebest shots in the National Guard, as a general instructor, who serveduntil after the Creedmoor competition. He selected in each school a teacher who was interested in the subject(usually the athletic instructor) as superintendent of shooting, and ineach class four boys as sergeant-instructors. The superintendent andthese boys were carefully instructed by Captain Corwin in the theoryand practice of shooting, so as to make them competent instructors. The system adopted varied in the different schools. Most of thempreferred to use school hours for the purpose. In these schools, usually when each class was sent to the gymnasium for physicalexercise, squads of boys in rotation were detached to practice theirfiring under the immediate direction of a sergeant-instructor, and thegeneral direction of the superintendent of shooting, the whole beingcarefully supervised by Captain Corwin. Some schools preferred to have their shooting after school hours, inwhich case, however, it was carried on under the same generalprinciple. Captain Corwin was of the opinion that the former method was the mostsatisfactory, although the Morris High School, which won the Whitneytrophy in 1906, adopted the latter method. The league established a marksmanship badge, to be awarded, as in theNational Guard and in the Army, to each boy who annually showedsatisfactory proficiency in shooting. The qualifying score firstadopted for this badge was 40 out of a possible 50 "off-hand. " It wasfound almost immediately that the boys were shooting so well that itwas necessary to raise the standard, which was therefore increased to42 and later to 43. The following is a list of the number of boys who qualified as marksmenin their respective schools during the year 1906: Boys' High School 45 Bryant High School 18 Commercial High School 6 Curtis High School 24 De Witt Clinton High School 23 Morris High School 16 Erasmus Hall High School 15 Manual Training High School 23 High School of Commerce 19 Stuyvesant High School 8 Total 197 The qualifying score has now been raised to 44. The Brooklyn Eagle assumed the expense of manufacturing and presentingthese badges, which consisted of a Maltese cross having crossed rifles, the seal of the league, which is the "Winged Victory, " in the center, the whole being suspended from a bar with the word "Marksman" on it, and the date. During the spring of 1906 a large number of interscholasticcompetitions were held. These were found valuable, not only inbroadening the boys' ideas in respect to shooting, but in helping theirnerve in competitions. On June 1 and 2 the annual interscholastic competition for the Whitneytrophy was held. Instead of having each team shoot in its own school itwas decided to have them shoot together at the Seventy-first RegimentArmory as neutral ground, under the supervision of Captain Corwin asrange officer. The following were the scores, the conditions being thesame as above stated: Morris High School. Instructor E. M. Williams 359 Curtis High School. Instructor O. M. Curtis 356 High School of Commerce. Instructor Charles Jamison 355 De Witt Clinton. Instructor Emanuel Haug 354 Manual Training High School. Instructor Ernest G. Muller 350 Bryant High School. Instructor George W. Norton 349 Erasmus Hall High School. Instructor J. M. Tilden 348 Stuyvesant High School. Instructor M. F. Goodrich 348 Boys' High School. Instructor W. H. Andrews 340 The two best scores were not as high as were made in 1905, largelyowing to the strain of shooting in actual competition and among strangesurroundings. But the average was better and the scores were closer. The Savage Arms Company presented a rifle to each of the six schoolswhose team made the highest score in this match. For the purpose of impressing upon the boys and the public that thosewho could make a good score on the subtarget gun machine could shootaccurately in the field, the league arranged for a match between teamsof five from all high schools and colleges, to be held at Creedmoor, July 26, 1906, to be shot 100 yards standing; 400 yards lying, fiveshots at each distance. It also arranged for two days' previouspractice by the teams and also by all other boys who had won itsmarksman's badge, and paid the transportation and ammunition for theparticipants. It provided Captain Corwin as instructor, who wasassisted by a number of volunteers from the National Guard. About 150boys in all availed themselves of this opportunity. None of the boyshad ever previously fired a cartridge. Some of them were consequently alittle nervous, in addition to being embarrassed in shooting in thepresence of so many military men. After a few shots, however, they gotover their nervousness. In the first practice the average score was about 60 out of 100. Thesecond score averaged 80. Mr. J. A. Haskell, president of the Du Pont Powder Company, and amember of the national board, induced that company to present forannual competition in the match, a handsome bronze trophy. Mr. Simon Uhlmann presented a bronze figure of a rifleman, as secondannual prize. The following is the score of the competitors in this match; highestpossible score 250: De Witt Clinton High School (Manhattan) 220 Boys' High School (Brooklyn) 215 St. John's Military School (Manlius, N. Y. ) 211 Commercial High School (Brooklyn) 201 Curtis High School (Staten Island) 201 St. John's Second Team 183 Manual Training High School (Brooklyn) 181 Stuyvesant High School (Manhattan) 174 The winning team averaged 44 out of a possible 50, although the day wasa difficult one for shooting. The School of Applied Science of Columbia University asked to beallowed to enter a team in this match, and offered to allow the highschool boys a handicap of 25 points. This was objected to on the groundthat they were grown men, who had opportunities for practice which wereout of the reach of the boys, and who were not in the same class. Theywere, however, allowed to shoot under protest for the purpose of seeinghow their scores would compare with those of the boys. The score which they made was 218, which is less than that of the DeWitt Clinton team, which could have beaten them without any handicap. This shooting shows the value of the practice with the subtargetmachine, as the teams from both Columbia University and St. John'sMilitary School had been practiced in actual rifle shooting, and yetwere inferior in marksmanship to the high-school boys, who had onlyused the machine. A match was put on the programme of the New Jersey Rifle Association, September, 1906, at Sea Girt, in which a number of the boys entered. The pressure upon the target accommodation in consequence of thenational matches was, however, so great that it could not be held atthe date appointed, and the boys could not remain. The high schools which are equipped with this subtarget gun machinehave organized rifle clubs, and are holding interscholastic contests inthe armories of the different regiments of the National Guard, shootingwith . 22-caliber ammunition, and are displaying great proficiency. The movement has the hearty support of President Roosevelt, who hasaccepted the office of honorary vice-president of the league, and alsohas announced his intention of writing to the boy who attains thegreatest skill in the rifle matches during the year a personal letterof congratulation and commendation. At the present time there are over 7, 000 young men being instructed inthese high schools in shooting with a military rifle, the gun usedbeing the regular Krag army rifle as issued by the War Department. Great interest in the matter has been taken by both teachers and boys. Many of these have now become so proficient, that the services of apaid instructor have been dispensed with. It would, of course, be muchbetter if a regular officer could be procured for such a purpose. Butthe finances of the league will not permit it to continue to incur theexpense of paying the salary of such an instructor. It is believed thatif a young and active regular officer could be detailed to act in thiscapacity he would be of the greatest service, and could, besideshelping the shooting, give the boys some idea of military movements anddiscipline, which would be of great value. In fact an officer in thisposition would accomplish greater results for the country than isobtained by any of those who are detailed as instructors in many of thesmall colleges. The supply of regular officers is, however, insufficient for the needs of the Army, and it has so far beenimpossible to have one detailed for this purpose. The league is now preparing a manual of instruction to be used in thedifferent schools. In addition to containing instructions for the useof the subtarget gun machine it will give a general idea of what isnecessary to know in order to shoot accurately. Those who have had charge of the instruction of these boys areunanimous in the opinion that they acquire knowledge of rifle shootingin about one-quarter of the time that is found necessary in the case ofgrown men. It is hardly necessary to state that the experience of our recent warshas pointed out that while there is no difficulty in case of war ingetting all the volunteers that the country requires and they can begiven a reasonable amount of drill in a few weeks, it takes a long timeto teach them to shoot, and that unless they can shoot accurately theyare of little value as soldiers. If, however, the young men who aregraduating from our high schools in the different States should beskilled riflemen the country can rest content with a small standingarmy, knowing that in case of war it can put into the field at shortnotice a force of volunteers whose skill in rifle shooting will enablethem to be fully the equal of any army which may be brought againstthem. The system is, therefore, a great factor for national peace. The committee would therefore recommend: 1. That the largest possible publicity should be given to the methodsthat have been found to be so successful in the New York high schools. 2. That the educational officials of the different States should beurged to introduce instruction in rifle shooting in their schools amongthe boys of 13 years of age and upward, conforming to the New Yorkmethods as far as their situation will permit. 3. That this would be helped by the organization of a public schoolsathletic league in each educational center. GEO. W. WINGATE, A. B. CRITCHFIELD, _Committee_.