Omaha daily bee., 1889-11-05
A TALK WITH zALINSKI.
The High Explosive Celebrity Sub
mits to the Pumping Process.
PREDICTING A EUROPEAN WAR.
IL VIII Not Come Immediately, But
the Population viii BE Con-
sidcrably Reduced
When 1t Does.
CAPTAIN Za,,nski in Paris.
lCopwtoht 1889 bu .amcs Gordon b

tCOpUftuht Ihtp Du .uFncS JnrtOu BcHnctf.I
PARIS, Nov. 4-lNew York Herald Cable
Special TO The BEE. Captain r.. L.
Zaiinski, Americas high explosive celebrity,
is studying things, military and otherwise,
In Paris.
The captain received the Herald CORE
spondent this evening at the Hotel Byron
He Is looking as well as possible and says
he is enjoying every moment Of his European
experience. He is travelling under orders to
obtain such information as may be obtain
able. regarding certain military questions
He has already visited England, Holland,
Belgium, Denmark and Germany and may
10 into Italy. Coming to his pet theme,
Zalinski said:
IL ain convinced that European war is
Inevitable, but not in the immediate future
One consideration alone is sufficient to main
tain peace for at least two years, viz: The
fact that the continental nations will need
that amount of time to Offset their arms with
a new style of rifle, and, possibly. with modi.
fcations Of their artillery, and to meet this
requirement smobeess powder is neces-
sary In both cases. In this connection / may
add that war. instead Of being hastened by
the frequent improvements in its appliances,
is actually retarded by them, because when
ever anything of military Importance is dis
covered the nations are apt to wait before
risking conflict until they have
tested and applied to their own use
such discoveries as are constantly being
made. The war may thus be postponed in
definitely, but, postpone IL as they may, the
crisis must come. When the war does come
it will be terrible have just witnessed the
German mannuvrcs at Hanover, ana l as
sure you that had those two army corps done
In earnest what they made a pretense Of do
ing, of the $4,000 who went into that ten
days action there would not be 10, 900 ready
for service to-day. The rest would have
peen placed hors de combat--dead or
wounded. To such degree have the modern
improvements in life-destroying machinery
added to the horrors of war"
"What are apt to be the new features, cap
tain, of coming wars",
zone will be the smokeless powder, about
which so much ado has been made, but | am
not altogether certain as to tho future of
this invention. In the first nlace 1t is more
than questionable whether it is within power
to preserve its qualities long enough to make
the adoption warrantable, and supposing
that the difficulty can bes overcome, there is
an objection to its general use in the fact
that the man9uvres of the attacking troops
would no longer be masked, thus placing
them at serious disadvantage. In conse-
quence the armies might have to carry two
kinds of powder, and this would,
of course, be. great encum-
berance. The small bore rifle
is another new thing. The European armies
carry rifles to-day with a bore about half
the diameter Of those used in our late war.
and is 722, or inillimeters. This results in
an appreciable saving in the size and weight
of the ammunition, 80 that soldier who
could formerly carry so rounds can to-day
carry 100 or 40 pounds"
ais there any prospect Of using high ex-
plosive cartridges In rlfles2"
''WhaJ would be the advantagel a rife
ball kills or disabes surely enough as it is.
We don't want 10 blow our enemies bodies
into fragments. In fact we would rather
wound their men than kill, because every
wounded man incapacitates at least two
others, who have to look after him, whereas
dead man only needs burying and even
that Is sometimes omitted"