St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-10

wreck the proudest bridge thatman'
labor and skill ever built Every
; death-dealing appliance that in
genuity, spurred by fearful necessity,
can devise is scattered broadcast
over land and sea and sky; for it
is known that England so long mis-
treSS of the ocean, has strained her
resources to the last notch to OBJ
tain and hold supremacy in the at
mosphere, and her aerial fleets will
Icome, summoned by the cable or by
some swifter messenger from all
points of the compass, from her ter
Titories on the north, from 1.-The sill
Ver-coasted ISLE" from India and Au-
stralia. We, too, have the air cruis-
ers of our sky navy scattered above
the globe, and an hour after the dec
laration of hostilities a powerful
armada of flying battle ships starts
for Great Britain to carry the war
into the enemy's country.
All this preparation would cost
several billions-a couple of trillions,
probably-and would require a few
more millions of able-bodied fighting
men than our present population
could furnish. But there could be no
proper defense with less than [
have outlined, if with as little; for
unless every mile of our air were SEN
tineled and patrolled to the eX-
IRENE height at which an aerial YES
sci could sail, out Of the upper dark
ness would fall a rain Of shells that
would transform our fairest cities
into pathetic, smoking heaps of
wrecked buildings and mangled hui
mainly.
Think of it! Five miles up over
your head, in the quiet, beautiful
night, a shadowy something, noise
less, stealthy, meteor-like in it's
SwiftneSS, sweeps across the sky and
is gone; but down through the SHIN
mering starlight are falling, falling,
falling black globes, whose iron
WombS are pregnant with death in
its most sudden, cruel, awful form.
And yonder one of these hell-balls
crashes through roof-your home
There is a binding flash, an ear
splitting roar, hail of jagged frag-
ments and your mother, your wife,
your little helpless children are
killed and buried in a blazing ruin
by bomb loaded with nitro-glycer-
inc. And harki All around you ex-
ploSion follows explosion, and the
death Shrek of women mingles with
the crash of falling timber and ma
fro hn nptc
father, brother, son and friend guard
the land defenses Of the doomed and
hopeless city; now from mansion and
cottage; now from the hive-like ten
ementS, where crowded poverty
sleeps it's feverish, unrestful sleep,
and now from the, hospital where the
sick and wounded toss in WEAKNESS
and pain.
Ay, turn your artillery heaven
ward and shoot at that faint, flying
blur in the northwest; it is travelling
at the rate of over three miles min
ute; is already about eight miles
away, and will turn at right angle
to its present course at the flash of
your guns. You will not hit, and you
will hardly overtake it if you send
other winged demons pursuit. Be-
sides, the mischief is done, and
there are flames to extinguish and
dead to bury. And there is another
shadow approaching from the SOUTH
and the night glasses proclaim it
to be a bird of the same feather as
that that just flew over. Quick!
Get the women and little ones into
places of safety. There is only one
safe place where spheres loaded with
dynamite drop from a cloudless sky.
1t is hole with a bomb-proof cover.
And what of armies in the field?
How will they keep their lines of
communication open? How get sup
plies? How transport by rail or
steamer?
When the trackless oceans of the
air shall become navigable by craft
OF human designing, if that time
= ever come, war will cease, or men
night high above the clouds.