ined to do effective work, as have the Great Danes and St. Bernards.

CHAPTER XI

WONDERFUL WAR WEAPONS.

THE TERRIBLE RAPID-FIRE GUN--ARMORED AUTOMOBILES AND AUTOMOBILE
ARTILLERY--HOWITZERS--MOUNTED FORTS--ARMORED TRAINS--OBSERVATION
TOWERS--WIRELESS APPARATUS--THE ARMY PANTRY.

It is a long step from the old, smooth bore, flintlock rifle of the
Revolutionary days to the modern magazine gun, with its long-pointed
cartridges; and it is almost as great a step from the crude iron cannons
and smooth bore mortars of the Civil War, with their canister and grape
shot, down to the huge, 42 centimeter guns which have boomed their way
through France and Belgium.

The patriotic citizen who is unfitted for military service no longer
sits at home and aids the armed forces of his country by melting pewter
spoons into bullets, or cutting patches of cloth to serve as wads to
pack down into the muzzle of guns. The powder horn and the bullet mould
are devices of the past. The whole world working in the old-fashioned
way could not have in the course of the "war-of-nations" made sufficient
bullets to supply the forces for a single week.

Those who must sacrifice in the stress of war now turn their silverware
and precious metals into nuggets that may be sold to produce revenue, so
that the armed forces may purchase the machine-made cartridges and
weapons required to fight the enemy.

Modern warfare has developed the climax in armament and the world has
learned more within the last few years about the devilish instruments of
destruction which human ingenuity has devised than was known in all the
ages before. Since Germany and Austria were the first into
action--actually precipitated the great conflict--and as by their years
of preparation they were ready for the emergency, it best serves the
purposes of those who seek enlightenment on the subject of armaments
and weapons to deal with the equipment of the Teuton forces.

Other nations--England, France and the United States in
particular--have, in some directions, surpassed the Germans in
developing efficient weapons, but in the main, when Germany plunged into
the war, she had all around what was conceded to be the best equipment
that science and mechanics could supply.

INFANTRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY.

While stories told of the awful havoc wrought by the German siege guns
in reducing the forts and fortifications in France and Belgium are true,
it is also true that the bul