Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1900-11-02
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS
FACTS AND OPINIONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.
AlRSHIPS

AlRSHlPS.
Count Won Zeppelin's airship is de-,
scribed rs great success. The dis
patches say that it tackled and shifted,
described circles and followed various
angles and proved the possibility of steer
ing It against the wind, which was blow
ing at the time somewhat gently but still
perceptiblv. Certainly great progress
has been made of late in devices for mid
air transportation.
Airships have been in general of two
patterns. One is the aeroplane, which
has been much favored by those who
think that the solution of the problem
will come from a close study of the
graceful gull. Aeroplanes with huge
wings have achieved some success, but
nothing as marked as that now recorded
by the Won Zeppelin balloon over Lake
Constance, which represents the other, or
cigar-shaped, type of craft. The latter
has the advantage of being great gas
bag which gives at once stability in the
air.
The Won Zeppelin ship is so well con-
structed that she can maintain herself IN.
mid. air for weeks without material loss
of gas. She is 4l5 feet long, and carries
beneath her cigar-like body two cars in
which the passengers sit. On the occa-
sion of the successful test last week four
persons were carried besides Count Won
Zeppelin. 1t may seem hardly worth
while to build craft more than 4CO feet
long to transport only five passengers,
but that is not all that there is to be
said on the subject. From this small be-
ginning great advance ought to be
made. New materials, lighter than those
in use, will be discovered, and more
powerful gas-bags will be devised.
Powerful machinery will take the place
of the counts pioneer effort and it is fair
to believe that within a few years more
persons can be sustained in mid-air and
carried against the wind by smaller
craft. OF course, the reports from Fried
richshafen may be exaggerated. but
from different points comes substantial
confirmation of the original story.
What havoc a warship, flying through
the air, could work upon hostile city.
Our urban defenses have never taken in
to account the necessity of keeping of
an enemy calmly flying through space
above US. 1t may be that Count Won
Zeppeln's invention will be followed in
time by such successful and formidable
aircraft that war will be impracticable.
There are plenty of good, sensible
people who still believe that an arship
is vain dream. Rear Admiral Melville,
the Arctic explorer, says In this connec-
ton: 1.-THE whole airship business is
fake and has always been since it was
started 200 years ago. a man has to be
light-headed to begin it, | make no per-
sonal reference to our friend here in
Washington, Prof Langley of the Smith
sonain institution, who is at work on
such a scheme. He is good fellow and
an able man, and his airshp fad is the
only thing against him. But | am
totally opposed to frittering the govern
ment's thousands away on any such
nonsenscal business. Every dollar so
expended is thrown away. | was one of
five members of a naval board who
voted against such an appropriation
some years ago, and in the future | shall
never fail to oppose such policy"