Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-08-27

OF 10 cents per week, 90 cents per month, u. Is
30fse the paper cannot be sent.
wooden ships Of war have had their day :;
iron ships have been partially replaced by
those clad in steel: and the time has come for
another revolution in naval warfare If
EricSS0n's torpedo boat, which is now com
pleted, acts as expected it will be the means
of working this change. For years Europe
has been building immense irOn-clads, and
the ingenuity of her inventors has been taxed
to make the walls of these floating fortresses
1mpenetrabe. The vessels resulting are
heavy, clumsy and unwielty. AS the projec
tile force OF cannon has increased with the
fhickening and siren gthening of armOr, the
lron-elads have not by any means attained in
yulnerability. The principal effect of the heavy
mass of metal under which the vessels stagger,
seems to be to render them unSeaworthy and
unmanageable. They do not wait for the shots
OF the enemy before they go down. The foun-
dering of the English vessel. the Inflated
Vanguard, and the disaster which befel
the GrOsser kurfurst are incidents suggestive
In this connection. There seems to be ten
dency now to adopt steelclad model, of little
weight and great speed, carrying few heavy
guns. But the irOn-ciad still holds its own,
with VfgOr. The DandOlO launched not long
ago Dy the italian government is a twO-turret-
ed vessel OF this class, 1870 horse power, 1860
tons and armed with four guns, each weighing
100 tons. And two ships even larger are now
in course of building at Leghorn. AS the
United States has no navy which is of any con-
sequence under the present conditions of
naval warfare, radical change in these
conditions which shall make the for
midable navies of the European powers
Of
received in this country with satisfaction,
Capt. EricssOn'S invention will, 1t is believed,
effect this revolution. A shark-shaped, iron
clad boat only 80 feet in length, which can
rush through the water at marvellous speed,
can Sink itself, when under fire, so low in the
water that no vital part is exposed, and can
project torpedo, charged with dynamite,
through the water for the first $50 feet at the
rate OF sixty miles an hour, is the new vessel,
the Destroyer. with which we are to defend
our shores. An engine Of peculiar cOnstruc.
tion, with capacity equal to 1000 horse
power will send the Destroyer alongside of its
formidable enemy. A compressed air engine
discharges the torpedo with Irresistible force
against its hull, and down goes the Dandolo
or the Inflexible, as the water rushes into it's
broken side And the process may be repeated
on all the vessels in an invading fleet Mean.
while the SmOke-Stack of the DESTROYER NAV
nave been shattered by the brOadsides of the
deet ard the irOn-framed quarters for the
officers broken into pieces. But the crew of
ten or twelve men are perfectly safe; and the
Destroyer can dispOrt itself among the vessels
Of hostile navy with impunity. The exploits
which the new ship Is expected to perform
remind one of the achievements of the re.
markable submarine vessel which the fertile
Imagination Of Jules Verne sent twenty thou.
sand leagues under the sea. Capt Ericsson
believes that one of his vessels in each i'm.
p0rtant harbOr will be an effective defence
against foreign invasion. If the DESTROYER
really destroys, as expected, the money W hich
we haven't spent On iron cads and coast
Notifications is so much gained.
We are admOnished that the campaign has
opened" in Ohio by the receipt of newspapers
from that state accompanied by supplements
containing four full pages of political speeches
Set in solid nOHpareil. Without their annual
political dOnny brook fair, life Is regarded as a
boon not worth having in the western states.
The London Times gives as reason for the
superiority of the mechanical exhibit of this
country at the Paris exposition, the greater
efficiency OF labor here and the increased cost
and din tully OF hiring it. While such con.
dltion OF society may be conceived to have the
vigorous effort it Is not believed that In the
cases OF majority of our great inventors
necessity is the mother of American invention
or that scarcity OF labor has been the means OF
sharpening their wits. Where wOrkmen
IRE few, machines are most needed but this
fact does not explain the fertility of
american invention. II the experiences
of our inventors be examined singly, it
will, perhaps, be discovered that ma
jority were first struck by the roundabout
method of accomplishing some end, and set
about deviSing a simpler and easier way. In
many cases inventions have resulted from the
attempts of workmen to save their own time
and labor, and the improvements have sprung
from American laZineSs rather than from any
pressing necessity due TO scarcity of laborers.
But whatever the reasons for the pre- emf
nence OF the mechanical genius OF this ceun-
try, there is no doubt of the supa- iority of the
citizens of the United States in the direction
Indicated. 1t is conceded by the Times that
il is not Illustrated for the first time in the
Exhibition at Paris. Eight out of eleven prizes
offered for exceptional merit in agricultural
machinery have fallen to American exhibit
vrs; and, in addition TO these, numerous
awards for labor saving implements in diff A.
ent industries and for other products of the
brains of our inventors will be made.
RumOrS current last winter In California
that the grain crop would be burned as sOon
rs it should be ready to be gathered are being
yerift d. A series of fires in the neighborhOod
OF San Jose has led to the belief that there is
an organized body Of men whose object is to
execute these threats. The farmers are thor
oughly aroused, and incendiaries caught in
the act will fare badly. This burning OF grain
] IS an outbreak Of the same spirit OF wantOn
destruction which has caused threShipg ma
chimes and other agricultural implements to
be fired In states further east.
In connection with the announcement that
twenty five out OF twenty-seven exhibitors of
American paper at the Paris exposition have
received awards, including four out of five of
the gold medals allotted to paper manufacture
and the grand prize for fine writing paper, the
suggestive fact Is pointed out that while in
1873 the United States imported s72s, 80 worth
OF paper and exported only $3T worth in
1869, in 1876 the imports amounted to only
sl8SSO while the exports were $SlO,S64 This
revolution in the paper trade is due to the
superiority of our machinery, the comparative