The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-11-02
TWO SUPREME INVENTIONS.

The, wear 1900 may be chiefly reTnem-
bered by the world at large as that
which saw the practical demonstration
Of two ideas that may either put an END
to war or radically change Its char
acter The ideas we mean are those
represented by the submarine torp.1o
boat Holland and the dirisible airJhip
invented by Count Zeppelin.
In the report of the Admiral crm-
manding the naval maneuvers at New
port the Holland is set down as sure
factor in future naval battles. That 10
to say 1t Is afsuccess. 1t can be sa led
intelIigently under water and may ap-
proach an enemy's vessel at night OF
lay in walt for it by day. while taxing
but slight risks of discovery. srtdil
fotilla of such boats, or even one Loaf,
would dispense n blockading fleet ana
in a seafight between battleshipi II
could easily turn the scales. ln"ecd
one practical demonstration of the uses
for which the Holland was designed
might retire the battleshlp from he
pea Just as rifed guns and improved
shells put ships of the Hartford lld
Pensacola class out Of commission in
war.
A successful airship that may be
navigated against the wind and stee'ed
wherever the occupants want to so,
means another danger to the battIe'hip
and also to the fort, the fortified ,lty
and the moving army. The hea list
ironclad would be at the mercy OF
dynamite laden craft poised in ali
thousand feet above It, and no 'rt
would be safe from the attack of the
a irt. irGh n
pear above n moving army and panic
ensues OF course. II both sides rad
such powerful allies, the spectacle Ton"
nyson foresaw of airy navies gr'p-
ping In the central blue" might come
10 pass but we apprehend that the
General or Admiral who asks his men
to fight In balloons among the cl1Ads
will find a mutiny on his hands. Z Is
bad enough to travel In an airship any
way without taking 1t into bait" a
mile or so above terra frma.
That Count Zeppelin's arship IL the
real thing in aeronautics, Is attested by
this dispatch from London:
NEW YORK, Oct. IA cable to the
Sun from London says: dispatch to
the Standard from Friedrichshalen says
the airship carried four persons beside
Count Zeppelin. When 1t rose the wind
was from the northeast. blowing With u
velocity OF three and one-half yards q sec
ond. When the airship had attained a
height of 400 yards 1t described IA circle
and then drove with the wind In a gener-
ally circular direction for about six miles.
1t then again described circle, after
which II made Roadway against the wind,
which was then blowing with leased
velocity Eventually the airship descend
ed with great ease and steadiness into the
lake and was towed 20 the shed. Tho ex-
pertinent was most successful. 1t Is gen.
orally agreed that considerable progress
has been made since the first ascent
The day when all this happened sew
marked depreciation in the value of
forts and battleships.
Another important result of an eco
nomic character to be had from per-
fected submarine boats and airshi2s-
particularly the latter-is the damage
they viii do to protective tariffs.
Smuggling must be an easy matter
when harbors may be entered surreat-
tiously and dutable goods carried
across frontiers by the air line and
landed hundreds OF mics behind n cas-
tom house,