The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-27

that would burn under water could be
ignited readily enough, permitting the
assassins 10 swim away at their leis-
ure.
In some such way as this. I think.
the Maine was destroyed 1 only cite
the case TO illustrate the ease with
which a mighty warship of this des-
cription can be destroyed by two or
three determined men at a minimum
of cost. a few dollars worth of high
explosives will wipe 81. 900 worth of
fighting machinery and several hun
dred lives. If half dozen hostile YES
sells of war ventured into the harbor
of New York, they would be annihi-
lated very quickly, not by our own
warships, but by small groups of cOur-
ageous men with so-called Internal
machines of one kind or another When
this sort Of thing can happen, and is
always likely to occur. il means that
the fighting ship of the type described
is out Of date. The modern battleship
is constructed, so to speak, on gun
powder basis; in the building of them
no more account is taken of high eX-
ploSives than if there were no such
thing. But it is perfectly certain that
the wars of the immediate future are
to be prosecuted with high explosives.
You must remember that as yet no
adequate test of the efficiency of bat
tleships has been made in practice.
They are built on theory. What does
their strength amount to, the thickness
of their armor and the weight of pro-
jectiles they can throw. if they can
he so readily destroyed? They repre-
sent putting of matter in the wrong
place. In a museum of natural his
tory you viii see the skeletons from
those which belonged to creatures of
more recent times. because the latter
full, representing improved types. In
one of these great warships you see
massing of material regardless Of eX-
pense and without regard TO practical
conditions. Therefore, this species of
vessel is doomed to early extinction
like the huge and unwieldy mammals.
of the PIiocene.
THE great warship and the great
gun are the naval ideals of today. Both
of them are based on what? On gun
powder Modern forts, both on land
and on sea, are built on gunpowder
basis. and without any consideration
of high explosives. The very brains of
army and navy men all over the world
are adjusted to gunpoWder, as it were
Military experts, generally speaking
are unable to think of war eXcept in
terms Of gunpowder. Yet gunDowder
Is practically out of date. The day of
high-pOwer explosives has arrived:
tilGS Opi-SAiAulf the poSIuiaIt TO winch
Ideas of warfare must he adjusted
These explosives have carried the art
of war beyond the stage when the bat
tleship can be useful. With their aid
1t is as easy to destroy the strongest
armored ship as to smash up q wooden
schooner. 1t is not possible to predict
with confidence just what the char
acter of the ghting vessels Of the fu-
ture will be, but a suggestion in that
direction seems to be afforded by the
torpedo boat. \ torpedo boat costs
$4,000, and you can build a whole fleet
OF such craft for the cost of one battle
ship.
THE advantage Of high explosives is
that only little powder is required TO
convey them to the place where they
are to 90 work. Their adoption as a
means of destruction is certain to in
troduce an entirely new series of inven-
tions for war The development of tba
art of war from this time on will be a
battle of invention. If hostilities should
break out between Spain and the
United states, invention in this line
would be marvelously stimulated. Has
II ever occurred to you to think of the
TACT that during our own civil war a
greater number of fighting machines
were invented than in all the history of
the world up to that time? The
tranco-Prussia conflict gave a great
stimulus TO military invention. We, of
course. are a nation of inventors A
war with Spain would bring into ex-
lstence many cOntrivances for destruc-
ton far surprising what has hitherto
been devised. The Spaniards. them
selves not at all an inventive people, !
would think that they had come up
against nation of devils.
1T is logically proper to assume anv
absuTdity for the sake of argument. Let
us assume, then, that we were driven
from the seas actually by the Span
iards, and that our defeat was absolute
and overwhelming. The wind-up Of the I
whole affair would nevertheless be the
total wiping out Of Spain, for we would
build vessels adjusted TO requirements !
There is no telling what we might do
with electricity, which doubtless is des-
tined to play part in future warfare
as an active agent Of destru ton Teleg-
r3phy without wires is as yet in its in
fancy. but something very substantial
in this line has been accomplished al /
ready. If we can convey, as we do, to |
a distance and without wire enough /
energy to communicate intelligence, we
shall be able before long to convey |
enough energy to work injury. As our /
control of electrical energy becomes |
more complete we can extend its reach |
further and further. 1t does not seem I
wholly improbable that the time will !
come when we shall be able to explode |
the magazine of ship without going /
near it.
The only attempt thus far made by !
the United States in the direction OF /
utilizing high explosives for purposes of !
naval warfare. if torpedoes be excepted /
is represented by the so-called dynamite /
cruiser NesuVlus. which IS now in the /
neighborhOod of Key West. This vessel /
has or her forward deck three 15-inch /
guns. which throw projectiles loaded with I
dynamite a distance of Il mile. The shin
Is only an experiment. and her practical /
utility Is regarded by naval authorities /
as very doubtful The problem of throw
Ing nigh explosives with safety to those Q
who use them has not yet been solved /
satisfactorily No explosive is good for
fighting purposes that can be touched off
b. shock or otherwise than by actual |
contact with IRE. The stuff called ev-
powerful Of al known explosives, being
- times as strong as gunpOWder. II is /
mace by dlSSOlVIng gun cotton in nitro
glycerine. the preparation having the
sale for use in battle, because a bullet
striking il viii set il off by conclusion
1T is extremely likely that in the next
great war shells that liberate poisonous
gases on explosion VIII be employed It
has been suggested that bombs loaded
with hydrocyanic acid gas under pressure
could be thus utilized. releasing such I
fumes on bursting as would destroy all l
life in The EciehbOrhOod. The French }
mel5nite has for its base a coal tar
product termed picric acid; its consist
ency Is about that of mOlasses. and il is
poured into shells and permitted TO hard
en-. This stuff is entirely safe TO handle I
thOogh three times as powerful as gun /
powder. The fumC- set free by the burst I
irg Of q bomb loaded with il are most
deadly. \ single one fired Fundamentally [
at a vessel on the deck of which had been
placed a number Of sheen and coats /