The herald., 1898-08-24
HIRAM MAXIM ON THE WAR
Impressions Of England and France as
He Tells Them

Hiram Maxim, the inventor OF the nrs'
rapid fire gun. arrived on the Cunard
liner Etruia Saturday with his wife fol-
a. two months stay in the land of his
birth and early life. He will leave in a
few days for Wayne, Me-, to visit his
aged mother. 1t is the first time in sew
enteen years that the inventor has had
the opportunity.
Just before the declaration Of war Mr.
Maxim was in Paris. In the eyes OF the
Parisians the Americans had only q
slight chance Of defeating the Spantards
when attempted to differ with
Them" Mr.. Maxim said, "they seemed tc
pity my ignorance. They tried to show
me, that the Spanish fleet was immensely
superior to ours: that they had fast
cruisers, whereas we had only one OF
two. They said we had had no expert
ence in fighting, and that we would soor
And the spaniards bombarding New
York and Boston and leading us merry
chase along the coast.
I'm England people thought Spain
would give us good deal of trouble and
that the war would last about year
but they all said we would conquer In
the end.
Eat the beginning of the war;" Mr..
Maxim went on. "a good many Britons
thought the Americans had no. cause
for fighting. It was the impression the
Maine was blown UP accidentally. When
I saw the report Of the commission Of in
quiry I was convinced that it was an
outside explosion, and I wrote articles
under the signature Of An Old Engineer
or An Engineer and Expert on Explo-
sives.' They appeared in the London
Times, the Pail Mall Gazette, the Paris
Herald, and several engineering papers
I asserted that the destruction Of the
vessel could be satisfactorily explained
only on the hypothesis of an outside ex-
plosion. My articles called out many
editorials, and, think, were largely In
fluentfal in changing English opinion to
my own way Of thinking" az
There was a minute of thoughtful 81
lence before Mr.. Maxim replied when
asked what ne considered the chief les
sons of the war as concerns the person
mel of the navy.
ut has taught u.s." he finally said
that a cruiser has no business with @
battle ship. That is the opinion in
England. The war has also demon
StIdtcu tudt IOlPCAoco dhN eoiPcus
boats are not as effective as was ex-
pected by many.
ut has demonstrated that the bes'
fighting arm Is the gun Of extremely
high power--a gun which the projectils
leaves at high rare Of speed so that
Its trajectory Is fiat. We must use gun.
of higher power The war has also
taught that almost everything depend:
upon the man behind the gun. A man
who can shoot straight is worth his
weight in gold. l don't think hereafter
we will have any fads In naval con-
struction. We don't want another We
suvius or Katahdin. We will stick to the
regular models. There is also strong
feeling at present against the use OF
high explosives in any quantity. aboard
ship.
American gunnery has been so effec-
tive that 1t has caused a great commo-
ton in England. They are asking if the
English themselves could do as we'll
under similar conditions. 1t is admitted
that the accuracy Of our fire was amaz-
ing" a>ot
Regarding the results of the war, Mr.
Maxim said the official English classes
with whom his business had equently
brought him in contact, are deeply. in
terested.
"They think 1t great shame" he said,
"for us to give up an inch of what we
have won. They think we should keep
the Philippines at any cost"