The extent to which their employment is permissible will be greatly dependent upon the character of the road. But in no case can the cyclist courier entirely displace the courier on horseback; each must be ready for use, and the one employed that seems best suited to the particular circumstances. On country roads, choked with troops or trains, and without side or foot paths, the cyclist would make comparatively slow progress and the horseman would probably be preferable. The same would also be true in carrying messages across country for short distances, as during the progress of an engagement. In very urgent cases the same despatch might well be entrusted to both horse and cycle messenger.

On the other hand where journeys of considerable length are to be undertaken, covering distances of from 12 to 20 miles or more, the bicyclist would generally have the advantage; and in longer distances he would gain proportionally. This is due to the fact that while the horse may be urged for short distances to a greater speed than the cyclist can make, and moreover is less embarrassed by obstacles met in the road, on the other hand the endurance of the cyclist far surpasses that of the horse, as does likewise the average speed which he can make in covering long distances.

The superiority of the cycle for courier work, where long distances are to be covered, is perhaps best shown in the races between the cities of Berlin and Vienna, arranged conjointly by the Emperors of Germany and Austria. An equal number of German and Austrian officers were specially picked, and mounted on the finest steeds to be obtained. The race tested to its utmost the endurance of both man and beast. 19 horses perished of fatigue on the way; as many more died shortly after the conclusion of the race; and all that were ridden were practically ruined. The winner made the distance in 72 hours, or almost exactly three days. The others were considerably longer, and very few completed the trip under four days.

In a wheel race instituted some time later, the same course was covered in 36 hours, or in half the time required for the winning cavalryman; and the wheelmen participating were by no means exhausted.

In my opinion cyclist couriers could be employed to great advantage within a permanent fortification.

Take for instance a seaboard fort, where the control of the various batteries-which may be separated by considerable distances, is under the direction of the Commandant. Here good

roads should be available, and all the conditions should be favorable for the employment of the bicycle. The Commandant, entrusting his orders (verbal or written) to the bicycle messenger, may depend upon their being accurately delivered in short order. Of course it is to be presumed that electrical communication will be maintained wherever important; but this may be overworked or break down entirely at a critical period. The telephone has not yet been proved altogether reliable, for military use, under service conditions; and in many instances the courier would be both quicker and more trustworthy than the telegraph in the delivery of a message.

Closely connected with the subject of military couriers is that of military signaling. We have already noticed two bicycles equipped for the use of the Signal Corps. One, a "Columbia" tandem, was provided with suitable flags, and carried a complete set of arms and equipments for its two riders. The other was equipped with an attachment for automatically unreeling and laying the cable of the field telegraph or telephone, and for rapidly taking up the same. In view of the progress that is being made in the use of a fine naked wire in field telephony (see Journal U. S. Artillery, Vol. II, p. 99; Report Chief Signal Officer, 1895, p. 6, etc.) it would seem that this application of the bicycle would be of the greatest importance in establishing telephonic communication between the outposts, headquarters, and the various units of an army in the field. Would not the motor cycle, similar to the one previously described (Journal U. S. Artillery, Vol. V, p. 247, et seq.) be of great value for this purpose, enabling a larger load to be carried, a heavier and stronger bicycle to be used, and the machine to be driven over roads impracticable for the common safety? Such a motor bicycle, it would appear, might well take the place of the "outpost cart" (see report Chief Signal Officer, 1895) in carrying capacity, while the fact that it is narrow and that its two wheels "track," would allow it to pass by trains, troops, and other obstructions in the road more readily than the "cart," and at the same time permit its use in narrow footpaths and trails where the latter could not be taken at all. The small amount of coal oil required (one gallon per 100 miles, or thereabouts) could be readily carried, or obtained almost anywhere in the country traversed.

The bicycle is as well adapted for carrying the heliograph, in countries where that instrument would be of value, and the flash

Journal 9.

lantern, as it is for carrying flags; and for all such light work seems to fulfill in many respects most admirably the needs of the signal department. It can, however, only be applied to convey light loads, and will never replace the regular field telegraph wagon and its equipment for establishing permanent and substantial military telegraph lines; while its use is still further limited to a country in which the communications, if not the best, are at least fairly good.

2. For the service of security and information."

For this service cavalry has always been deemed in general best suited; and it is universally admitted that if modern fire arms have resulted in reducing the importance of cavalry on the actual battlefield, strategical and logistic considerations have tremendously increased its importance elsewhere, so that a large force of cavalry is to-day, for an army, a greater necessity than ever before. On the other hand the limited time afforded for preparation, in modern war, the immense armies now placed in the field, with the consequent enormous demand for draft animals for the artillery, trains and other purposes, make it more difficult than ever to equip and mount anything like an adequate proportional cavalry force; while the continual loss of horses due to various causes, and the necessity of providing for their subsistence, have still farther increased the difficulties inherent in the situation. Not only will the service of security and information demand all the cavalry that can be put in the field, but a much larger force than this will be called for, so that the cavalry will have to be supplemented by large numbers of other troops. But unmounted infantry lack the necessary mobility to co-operate with cavalry to advantage; to mount infantry is, as we have shown, for lack of animals out of the question; and its conveyance in special wagons designed for the purpose, as sometimes recommended, will be generally impracticable; but to mount infantry on bicycles seems to us to be, not only the one alternative left, but entirely feasible under ordinary conditions.

Indeed, military cyclists seem to be especially well adapted to this service. Operating well in advance of the main army, the roads will be unencumbered, nor will they as a rule be cut up by heavy transportation over them. The cyclists will therefore possess much greater mobility on this account. Moreover, the screen will ordinarily be subdivided into many component parts -detachments and patrols ranging from a single man up to a battalion-and this is just the condition for the most favorable use of cyclists as combatants, since it gives them more "elbow

room," makes compactnes of movement of less importance, and therefore allows, within limits, more opening out and the changing of the rate of march to accomodate the varying condition of the road as to grade and surface. Such bodies of cyclists, manoeuvering habitually in advance of the cavalry portion of the screen, or even entirely independently of it, may maintain communication with each other by special couriers using lateral roads, and should offer a most effectual mask behind which the main body can be maneuvered in perfect security.

The principles governing their movement are the same as with other troops in this kind of work.

Groups of from 15 to 25 cyclists, it is safe to say, could defend themselves against any mounted cavalry likely to be encountered, and would have the advantage, in that the latter would offer the larger and better target. A stray bullet would be more likely to disable a horse than it would be to disable a bicycle. Good positions for cyclists would usually be found along the bank of a stream, guarding a bridge, or upon the summit of a hill or swell of ground. Here, if pushed back, the grade assists their retreat, while if successful it equally facilitates their advance in pursuit.

On the retreat the tactics of the bicyclists would seem to be similar that is, to take up positions upon every swell for resistance, causing the advancing force to dismount and deploy, until, when the pressure becomes too great, they leap into the saddle and quickly disappear only to take up a similar position on the very next summit.

Colonel Saville, in an article in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution (Vol. 32, p. 739) makes particular note of this circumstance in recounting the employment of the wheel in some of the English field maneuvers. The account is interesting, and we quote from it as follows:

"On the following day the cyclists were told off in two bodies to act against each other offensively and defensively along the road between Salisbury and Winchester. One body, representing a rear guard took up defensive positions where the ground. offered favorable opportunities and awaited attack. It soon became apparent that a marked advantage rested with the defenders having cycles if opposed only by cyclists. Good defensive positions, generally at the top of a long slope and invariably with a downward slope close in rear, were selected by the rearguard commander; the assailants reconnoitered these positions with their advanced scouts, who always avoided falling into

ambushes, and when the main body came under fire, it dismounted, assumed the attack formation, and advanced. The defenders never allowed the attacking party to close, but retired to their machines as soon as the position became unsafe, mounted and were quickly out of sight. The same tactics were repeated at the next favorable spot. The assailants were never able to pursue quickly, for they had to go back over the ground they had skirmished across to fetch their machines, and then either ride slowly or push up the long slope again.

Attention will probably now be turned to means towards lessening the disadvantage I have mentioned. In the first place if the cyclists were co-operating with cavalry the difficulty would be almost entirely removed, for the cavalry would take up the retreat at once and the cyclists could easily come up in time to force without delay the next position taken up by the retreating party. Or, if some means were found of coupling bicycles together, some men could be left to push them on nearer to the fighting line at the conclusion of the action. Or, if the men are mounted on multicycles carrying ten or twelve riders, two men could push each unloaded machine forward. I have very little doubt that some remedy will soon be found, and in criticising the present weak points it is only fair to remember that military cycling is still now quite in its infancy and in the experimental stage."

The multi-cycle (previously illustrated and described),* the manufacture of which seems to have been inspired by this experience, has long been considered impracticable; but the reasons adduced by Colonel Saville do, however, seem to point out that the tandem is the proper military bicycle for troops constituting the advanced cavalry screen. Its employment would be somewhat as follows: as soon as the development of the enemy's fire makes it necessary to deploy and skirmish against his position, the troops dismount, leaving one cyclist with every two tandems, who corresponds exactly to a horse holder. And just as the horse-holder would advance with the horses after the enemy had been dislodged, so the "wheelholders" would bring up the cycles, riding one and leading the other. Thus the delay incident to the dismounted cyclists returning for their wheels, which Colonel Saville finds so objectionable, would have no place.

To execute this maneuver with single wheels, there would be available but 50% of the whole force for the fighting line-which would probably usually prove too small a number; but the See" Journal U. S. Artillery," Vol. VI, No. 3.