Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-11-21
THE NEW EXPLOSIVES AND THE
PROSPECTS FOR UNIVERSAL
DEANE

We grow accustomed to statements
of weights and measures as applied |
10 the new guns OF the army and navy
and scare take account of what Is re-
ally implied in description of an
eighteen inch gun, the largest in the
world. Imagine projectile eighteen
inches in diameter, launched from a
dynamite gun. Yet the trial of such
a shell demonstrated it to be fail
ure. the bal barely denting the big
ainor plate against which it was fir,
ed, at point blank range.
There has been a constant conflict
during the past few years between the
explosives and the armor plates; the
offensive and defensive means of war
fare on land and sea, The expert.
ments have brought out various re-
suits. and the experiment with the
Gathmann shell, that barely dented the
big armor plate and which the inven-
tor promised would reduce the plate
to powder, would seem to indicate
that the maximum strength of explo,
sives has been reached and that there
is point where plate armor cannot
be penetrated. This would have been
the Judgment of the world, had expert
ments been discontinued but the army
rified cannon has been well tested and
not only fired a shell completely
through the armor plate, but explod-
ed the shell on the inside, wreckingthe
target and absolutely destroying the
steel construction representing the
cofferdam structure of the modern big
battleship. The great significance of
this result is shown by the fact that
while hitherto it has been possible to
penetrate heavy armor with twelve
inch projectiles it has not been pos
sible to fill such projectiles with high
explosives because either the shell
was exploded as soon as it touched
the armor plate or II it did pierce the
plate 1t would not explode at all. 1t
seems that the inventor who has Civ
en- over his invention to the United
States has accomplished that which
has been sought after for so many
years. The shell may carry the high
est explosives and these can be set
Tree and exploded at the option of thu
gunner This Is tremendous stride
IN favor of offensive warfare, and in
che application of high explosives to
The work Of destruction.
1t seems inevitable that the final
result of this contest on scientific
lines between the offensive and de-
iensive systems of warfare will be the
abolition of war. 1t will transpire
that men will be so easily killed be-
Sind what have been heretofore term
ed impregnable fortresses, and assail-
ants of defensive works will die so
tack; and war vessels of each nation
that seek the destruction of rival
will not dare to confront for mo,
ment the ship OF a hostile nation and
that all these devices to kill men will
become absurd-as ridiculous as
though We should be able to turn the
rays of the sun at our discretion and
make them our agents to take the
ives of enemies. When that time
appears, war will be a mockery and
there will be no brave men who will
undertake to lead other brave or ig-
norant men to certain butchery.
There must be the element Of chance
for the display of chivalry in battle.
1t has been difficult question in
Christian ethics to reconcile the con-
slant and irrepressible tendency to-
ward perfection in all kinds of me-
chanism with the promise of univer-
sal peace that is to come when Chris
han ideas are fully established. 1t
Las come to the minds Of such sects
MS the Quakers or Friends and of the
Dunkards, who bear testimony against
I'll kinds of wars, that universal
peace cannot be established until af-
ter nations shall cease to practice
warlike methods and this to them has
appeared impossible SO long as inven
lions multiply for killing men. 1t is
a seeming paradox, but the greater
and more skillful the modes are for
taking human life in battle, the
brighter becomes the prospect for the
total abolition of war in civilized
countries. Whenever the time ar
rives that the array of hostile forces
one against the other guarantees the
practical destruction Of both armies
then is the beginning of that peace