The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-10-10
AERIAL WARFARE.
Great Need of Balloons In
the United States for
Military Purposes.
OFFERS GREAT ADVANTAGES
Useful for Determining the Mech
anism of Storms-Harm-
less Ascensions.

United States" said Prof Henry Allen
Hazen, the meteorologist of the Weather
Bureau this morning, lis the only one
of the great powers which does not pos
sess drigibIe, or storing balloon. Eng
land, France and Germany each own
balloons of this character, but the United
States thus far has taken no steps to-
wards securing one"
what are the advantages of such bal
loons?"
Being controllable by means of their
steerage apparatus, they can be made
terribly effective against countries with
whom their possessors are at war They
can be sent directly over an enemy's line
thus giving the occupants of the car
clearer view of the enemy's fortifica-
tions, his numerical strength. and other
matters of detail of enormous material
advantage.
Riding at the height of 5000 feet they
cannot be injured from below, and can
only be driven away by other balloons
under equally good control and well
manned by an attacking party. Their
greatest effectiveness, however, would be
in the facility with which they could
drop dynamite bomb upon an. enemy's
Half a dozen such balloons circling over
New York City could destroy thai met
ropolis by the use of dynamite in COM
parartvely short space of time"
rs not this government likely to Sc
cure such balloon for offensive and
defensive purpoSes?"
BEHIND OTHER COUNTRIES.
81 don't know what we may do in the
future. but ait present in this respect we
are sadly behind the three European
countries ! have named. Their -nven-
tors keep their mechanism a profound
iS ir11l 1IS n h1Iv
it from them"
Are not Americans capable of invent
ing balloon of sufficient strength and
capacity to meetthose Of the European
even terms?"
Il should dislike" replied Prof. Hazen
with smile ito say that we could not
most ingenious people inthe world.
have no doubt if the proper inducements
were offered by the government that
such balloon would be readily forth
coming"
Prof Hazen has in contemplation a
series of balloon ascensions to discover
controlling their forma ton and develop
ment. The advantages which would
result from these experiments ara, he
says, manifold One of the results will
be knowledge of the conditions under
which the natural rain forms. 1--WE have
not today" he explained. "any clear
conception of this matter"
''some scientists argue that the air
where the rain is forming must be
warmer than the surrounding region.
Others contend that the air must be
tfon The othe advantages which would
result from the experiments are briefly
'nese PLENTY OF ADVANTAGES
"First, we cannot from the earth dis
cover the cause of a storm, inasmuch as
the storm is energiZed at height of
fore at the point to which the energy
of the storm is displayed in order to de-
termine its source.
''Second-The cause of the motion of
the storm. Some persons believe that
storms motion is due to the drifts of
the atmosphere, others to- the wind
attracted by the rainfall in its front
which, in my opinion, is putting the
cart before the horse. The rain is mere
ly an incident of the storm. Some of
rain in their front.
''Third-To determine whether the heat
has aanyt;hing to d do w with tn the formation
Another important result will be to
determine the effect of the suns heat
upon n dda the atmospheric layers to height
moisture has anything to do with the
development of the storm, since many
an important share in the development
= COST OF EQUIPMENTS.
I, "Where do you purpose conducting
'They could be successfully carried on
at Prof. Carl Meyers balloon farm at
former sr Chief Of the weather i8ii Bureau s
always insisted that experiments of this
character should be made without gov
ernment assistance, and 1 agree with
him."
ST am hopeful that arrangements can
be made privately whereby sum suffi-
cient to defray the expenses of the ex-
periments can be raised. A few thous-
and dollars would be ample, and it is not
unlikely that there are a sufficient
number of private citizens in the United
States interested in such matters to pro-
vide the necessary amount
ssAll the aScenSons would be made of
course, during the prevalence of storms.
shall go to height of five and six
miles. SO taht al the conditions may be
favorable for securing the data from
which, to increase our meteorological
knowledge"
HARMLESS ASCENSIONS.
'fYou do not regard these ascensions
as dangerous, then?"
"By no means. The more improved
methods of ballooning have reduced the
danger of ascension to a minimum On
the other hand the benefits resulting
frteg this increased Knowledge can
hardly be overestimated
During the past twenty-five years we
have made little if any advance in
meteorology, vet the. shipping and farm
ing interests have been. saved millions
upon millions of dollars by the inforna-
tion we have given them These bene-
fits will be greatly increased if we can
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