Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26
IEE JOHN wILKIE IN HIS oEFIcE Az THE sEcREr SERVICE RUREAU.

his own name, he is pretty sure to devise
a submarine boat, or a diving apparatus, or
an impregnible war ship. Whatever his
scheme Is, 1t grandly surmounts all the
difficulties that have bothered the naval eX-
perts for years. 1t is not surprising that
these experts should be skeptical about the
value of such suggestions, but the hopeful
inventor is no doubt panied by the jealousy
which prevents them from recognizing merit
outside their own ranks.
About nine-tenths of the letters contain
ing war schemes which come to the depart.
ments are of the "crank" order. They re-
late to almost every conceivable subject
and indicate all degrees of mental aberra-
ton. There are in the navy files at least
$50 separate and Independent plans for sub
marine boats, all unavoidable. They are to
be propelled by every kind of power that
has ever been utilized and some kinds that
are entirely new. They are to roll on the
bottom of the sea, dart beneath the waves
or merely sink below the surface and blow
up any hostile ship that happens to pass
above them. One very insistent genius,
who made a trip to Washington and haunted
the departments for several days, wanted
the government to build a boat of the latter
class for which he agreed to provide the
plans. If his suggestion was adopted he
piopoSeu " take MS craft TO the entrance
of Santiago harbor, sink it in the channel
and blow up the ships of the Spanish fleet
one by one as they attempted to emerge.
The government was obliged regretfully to
decline this undertaking and the genius
finally departed for his home in Wisconsin.
convinced of the ancient truth that republics
are ungrateful.
submarine Gun from Georgia.
There is a man in Georgia who has several
times called the attention of the Navy de-
partment to a product of his brain which, he
modestly says, will completely revolution
ize modern warfare" This remarkable
weapon is a submarine gun, which, according
to the triumphant statement of its sponsor.
has never failed to go off when it was
expected to- The inventor closes his offer
to the Washington authorities with the sug-
gestion that if they do not care for the
submarine gun there are doubtless European
nations who know a good thing when they
see it.
Next to the submarine schemes aerial
weapons and engines OF destructiveness are
most numerous. There are air ship plans
by the hundred. One man in Daughoregon.
Md, writes:
II have an invention of a motive power
whereby ! obtain power from controlling
centrifugal force and directing it in such
manner that 1t returns it's power within
the circle. / can show this to anybody by
a model which | have. / also can accom-
plish a problem which has never been lone
before. That is, | can, by dividers and rule,
square a circle accurately, by which prin-
ciple l obtain this force"
The gentleman who squares the circle
goes on to say that his motive power is
particularly applicable to air ships, as all
| the weight of the cars machinery and naS-
sengers is converted into power. Therefore
the greater the number Of passengers the
greater the speed of the air-vessel thus
equipped. He proposes that the government
shall build 100 large airships OF this type,
each carrying 1000 men, and use them in
the invasion of Cuba. For supplying the
idea he asks only 81, 900 on each ship, or
800, 900 In a lump sum. He explains that
he would not make even this slight require
ment were it not that he is a poor man
with a large family.
Didn't Want WIFE 10 Know.
Another lying machine man out in Illi-
nois writes that 'all the machines that have
been built in this country, England, France
and Germany, are no good, ;" but that he can
build an airship, at a cost of 81, 900, which
will carry a party of twelve persons around
the world II need be without once alighting.
Gasoline is his favorite power. He advises
that one or two OF these machines, loaded
with high explosives, be sent on a trip
across Cuba, dropping bombs into one after
another of the Spanish Notifications and
blowing them TO bits. This letter concluded
with one of the most naive and touching
passages imaginable. 1t read:
IF you write 10 me about this, call 1t a
steam pump, as my wife will get mad II
you say flying machine"
Not all the war suggestions submitted to
the departments are In the line of inven-
tions. Not long ago a letter came from a
New York man who signed himself PRO
fessor' and claimed to be a scientist. He
said that during the plague in India he had
visited that country and had secured q
choice assortment OF germs OF the disease
which he had since maintained by a pro-
cess OF culture,
For a suitable consideration he was will
ing to make a trip to Cuba, ~unloose his
germs and would guarantee them TO kill