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THE SUNDAY CALL. ##n Opinion Re(d by Officers ROM Major-General Shafter downward through the scale of of- Fflcers stationed in San Francisco but one opinion is expressed: “The sword is truly a back number in the field.” General Shafter, like all niilitary men, is a martinet when it comee to following army rules and regulations. So long as swords are retained in the regular uniform he will continue to wear his sword and trimmings. But let the order come from Washington to discard them and he will be one of the first to cast aside the useless paraphernalia. Captain Benjamin C. Morse, warm adherent of the practical idea advanced and acted upon by General Roberts. “Swords are truly useless,” said Captain Morse, “and I think you will find few officers in the army or navy who will not agree with me. In warfare, hand to hand, the weapon is a nuisance, and in times of peace, while it may be ornamental, it is certainly not useful.” “What of duels?” “Well, it might be useful there, but unfortunately (f) ducls are no longer the fashion.” > General Shafter’s chief aid, is a HE knell of the sword has sounded. That accessory to a uniform that marks the distinction between a private and an officer is no longer to be worn, save perhaps on state occasions. The order a few months ago issued by commander in chief of the in South Africa, has already been followed by American and other commanders. This opposition to the wearing of the sword is no new thing. When the war in Africa first broke out the officers were told to discard their swords, epaulets, etc.. but they refused to do so. OwIng to this act of vanity in one of the first engage- mente seven hundred officers were killed, while there were only ten thousand men in the fleld. 230 Finally the officers’ destruction was going on at such a wholesale rate that the War Office in England wired to the commander in Africa that the first officer refusing to obey orders should be placed under arrest. And—curfous to relate— rather than discard the emblem of thelr authority many officers submitted to ar- rest. The sword has been abolished in the field by our officers, who consider it a useless incumbrance. During the war in China and in the Philippines not only tho sword was discarded, but the epaulets aiso, and the officers even tore the stripes from thelr trousers so that a line of of- ficers could not be distingulshed from a line of privates. Oy the revolver was carrled, As a rule both officers and men were in khak! in the Phillppines, and in_ this plain brown material an officer shows up no different from a private. v CAPT. B'CHMORSE =j—=— The sword is the emblem of authority. There is a surprising difference at this with 30-inch blade; sabre As such many officers express regret that it has been abolished for field wear. on state occasions and in the fleld. -] GENERAL { wiLLiAM | R SHAFTER i I gold and glitter is reserved for formal military functions; in the field all tinsel is_left behind. Interviews with prominent and repre- gentative army offi s in San Francisco all express one opinion—the sword is truly 2 back number in the field. Major General V R tain Beniamin C. Colonel Willlam H. asst surgeon general, chief surgeon: Colonel Frank M. Coxe, ‘assistant paymast eral, and Major A. C. Girard, cammanding United States general hos- ital, Presidio—all these have one answer: he sword is useless; therefore let it go. Yet 'tis a pity, too, a thousand pities, that the sword had to die. It gives such ‘an air” 16 the most ordinary looking of- flcer, What is an officer without his sword in the eyes of the susceptible, brass-button loving bud! Fancy D'Artagnan and Athos, Porthos and Aramis, without their swords! How would they ever have served Anne of Aus- trin 8o well without thelr swords to help them gain back her diamonds for her from Buckingham? ‘What would the hero of “When Knight- hood Was In Flower” have been without 215 sword? And what would have been vanhoe's attraction minus the sword that helped him win victory from his ene- mies? Think of Richard Yea-and-Ni in armor without a sword! But the sword belongs to the days of chivalry, and, as Alexander Barrett said fn Munsey a short time ago, “it is about to Join the battleax and the javelin in obscurity,” The sword of Bunker Hill will live in memory, because somebody put It inte a poem, but our grandfather's sword will .now 'have a mate in the sword of the young army officer of to- day. They will both help swell a collec- le‘l of swords to hang on some library wall, y Le sword est mort: Vive le revolver. And what is the sword that is to be relegated to the curiosity? Webster calls it “an offensive weapon, having a long, strong and usually sharp-pointed blade, either straight and sharp upon both edges, for thrusting, or somewhat curved and sharp on the convex edge, for cut- ting at a blow.” Among the different styles of swords are the anclent Saxon sceax, old form English larger rapier, with 36-inch blades; Eastern cimiter, cut and thrust sword, or cavalry ith between the military dress broadsword, 40-inch blade; claymore or - gt = The Scotch broadsword, with basket hilt, 40 FRANK M. inch blade: falchion, nmavy cutlass, and the harakirl or Japanese disemboweler. Several San Franciscans have fine collec- tions of swords. Colonel A. G. Hawes, George®Newhall and Chauncey M. St. John are among those who can discuss learnedly on the subj nd fllustrate the points of dif- ference in the various blades. Before the sixteenth c. ushered in a certain desr ement it was the proper thing for men to hack each other to pieces without any show of courtesy, but about t ime men began to learn that one can kill and be polite at the same time The Greeks, Romans and Norsemen had swords of metal, the Romans making theirs of copper, the Greeks of-bronze and the Norsemen of iron. Short, thick blades were often the only kind known. T8, realtay classes had the handles of fhelr weapons richly jeweled. The broadsword, battleax and mace were in use during the first crusade, and it was not until the seventeenth century that the beautitul, light French rapier came into general use for cavaliers. These raplers had points as sharp as needles, and it 1s easy to understand how dangerous they became In the hands of expert fencers. In “The Tallsman™ one reads of the work done by the crescent-shaped “cim- iter” wielded by the graceful, agile in- fidels. The Mohammedans were so skillful in the use of thelr moon-shaped weapons that they could cut off the head of their enemy without removing the head from fhe body of ref The rapler, above referred to, was a discovery of a Toledo peasant, who, after various experiments, designed the blade that the Duke of Granada afterward made famous. This was In the sixteenth cem. tury. The rapler was such an im; the old broadsword that of course it as onee attained popularity. No more was strength the test in a combat: skill be. came the standard by which success was gauged. s It is a popular fallacy th: blades ars the best in'the worta. Tasdo matter of fact, this is temperad blades ate those of Bngiary oot ose of France, with Germany not thS’T:g e Fencing Is a graceful and health ercise and it is not Iikely that swul!fl‘ll-lpl.sx\; will ever go out of favor even though swords are abolished by the o5 ¥ army in the Provement on WASHING? MoNROE JALKYON LNCORN GRANT FARRReul Dtwhy -