The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-13

OF winning the next war in which they en-
gage. Capt. Powell says that an aerial
warship is an absolute certainty, and thai
what the military genius of the future will
have to look out for will be bombs over
other words, Capt. Powell states that the
| fort without roof will be about as USE
full as the fifth wheel Of a wagon
When questioned about the matter. Capt,
Powell said: while we have time let u9
take what precaution we may for our de-
Tense. 1t may be possible to protect to
some extent our Notifications by means
OF sloping, bomb-proof roofs over the mora
vulnerable portions The guns must be-
made capable of firing upward. During
the seige of Paris the Germans had
number of guns specially made on swivel
mountings for firing at balloons, though
II is also true that very few of them wera
hit during the siege. Rockets might per-
hRps, prove more useful. The only really
efficient means of defense, however, Will
undoubtedly be for every army and every
government to make themselves equal, If
not superior, TO their enemies, with aerial
ornaments.
II think we may at all events considen
1t a fact that aerial machines will figure
to great extent in the wars of the future.
These may be the existing cumbersome
windbag, travelling with difficulty fourteen
miles an hour. or they may be balloons 50
improved as to go twenty or thirty miles
an hour
at is also possible that a slow progress
ing flying engine may be introduced, or
that finally some swift darting 'avlativa,a
traversing over 100 miles in the hour and
outstripping the fastest flying bird, Will
be the foe with which we shall have to
contend. Even IL the existing navigabla
balloon trnrlrNrrnA
we consider the advantages that France
actually possesses to-day-we see then
many occasions on which this invention
will be of the greatest value.
Every nation has this problem 10 con.
slider as they are at present situated, with
the possible exception of Russia. Should
some foreign nation produce an engine OF
war such as a dynamite carrying across
tat, there is no certainty that the others
would be able at once to initiate Il and
employ similar tactics. 1t is more than
probable that new inventions of this sort
could easily be kept secret since the diff
ficulties chiefly lie In the details.
In fact, IL may be said that efficient
machines Of many descriptions could
probably be easily made n only we could
turn out a suitable lightweight motor
NOW motor, whether it be steam, elec-
trio, gas, explosive or any other, can eas-
lily be kept secret. II would be practice
ally impossible, then, for an observer, on
seeing an aerial machine in midair, 10 dis
cover and reproduce the details Of the
mechanism OF Its motor
IF two nations actually went to war
two great nations-that power which had
organized an aerial navy would possess
such an inealculable advantage that its
opponent would suffer a most crushing de-
feat Within a few hours OF a declaration
OF war some aeromotors could be dispateh-
ed quite out OF range of guns and per-
haps travelling at such a speed as 20 M
sure safety from projectiles over the ene-
my's country. From them explosNa
shells could be dropped where and when
the aeronaut wtlled. BY this means fort-
hcations could be damaged. magazines
blown up, ships sunk and cities ruined
rs Il not plain, then, that an absolute
necessity exists for the modern fort 70
have a bomb-proof roof? The facts have
presented are known 20 every careful stu.
dent Of military matters. They are nor
theories ripe for explosion, but facts, ing
realization of which cannot come tod
soon"