The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-06-15
AIR SHIPS.

S. Maxim, of the firm of Maxim d
Nordenfeldt, electricians and inventors.
ia to the front with a new flying ma
chine, and the humorists are leaving
him and his invention severely alone.
MI. Maxim is a Connecticut Yankee.
1t goes without saying that he is in
tensely practical. His record is already
one to be proud of. He has invented a
machine gun that has revolutionized
modern warfare. Automatically it loads
and fires 1900 shots by machinery set in
motion by the recoil OF explosion. A
man of his caliber takes nothing for
granted. Every step in the process OF
his invention, it is safe to say. has been
carefully reasoned out. and every posi-
BILE difficulty foreseen and obviated.
When such a man declares that he be-
lieyes he has invented a machine that will
completely change our present system
Of warfare and work an entire revolu-
ton in our present methods Of commer-
cial transportation, we are bound to re-
ceive his assertion with respect and hold
success as possible till failure has been
definitely proved.
It would seem that the inventor has
devoted several years of his life to the
attainment of his object. Size, power
and speed are all essential to the max
ing of an air ship anything but a costly
and comparatively useless toy. Each
and all of these requisites Maxim be-
lieves he has secured. A machine has
already been constructed in England
displays remarkable ingenuity. That
the inventor is no confidence man, no
Kelley motor fakir, is plain from the
method in which he intends to show the
powers Of his new machine. Some fine
day, when all his preparations are com
plete, he will soar aloft and take along
with him a package Of straw to mas
querade as dynamite. As he sails along
he will carelessly drop his sham explo-
sive right into the center Of the govern
ment dockyard at Woolwich, or plump
il on the roofs of the houses of parlia.
ment. That feat accomplished and
proved, he will take his way to the
British legislators and suggest that il
might be decidedly advisable for then
to purchase the right to manufacture
. the Maxim air ship, and they will
straightway dig deep into the n~ationa
pocket, and make themselves safe and
Maxim a rich man.
But what a terrible blow success
would be for many vested interests
All the costly government dockyardI
with their immense plants, and thu
great war ships would DO thrown on thu
market. Their usefulness would be
utterly gone, when n of Donnelly'
imaginary Demons" took definite shape
Perfectly free from danger itself, tn
air ship would be able to sink In a few
minutes the proudest fleet that eve
sailed the ocean, and demoralize tn
bravest army that ever marched. NJ
building would be safe from it's terrible
attack. No distance would secure i'm
munity from it's deadly encounter
Helena would be in as much DANCE
from foreign attack as New York or Sal
Francisco. Commercial changes woul
be equally surprising. Railroads an
steamship companies might wake up t
find their occupations gone, and all thei
stores Of property and material benin
the times. All this, too, we must nc
regard as impossible, when al inventc
of the brains Of Maxim, with money 6
his back, has determined on success.