Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-08


stoned officers and twenty-seven men. only
the officers were experienced in the use Of
the apparatus. Tape messages would be
taken at from fifty to sixty miles, but the
tape was almost entirely abandoned for the
ear, by which communication could be well
maintained up to a distance of 100 miles, as
happened in the advance in three columns
against Waterberg In the fight at Water
berg one of the balloons served also as a
| signal balloon and drew upon itself the fire
/ of the Hereros and It was found afterward
TO be perforated with a number of bullet
holes. The station itself was suddenly and
violently, but unsuccessfully, attacked by
the Hereros, who seemed thoroughly to un-
derstand the Importance OF its mission, and
| this happened on other occasions.
Repairs and Quarantine.
After the operations in Omahoke, in
which the three stations played an import
ant part, the whole had to be sent to the
railway works at Karibib for repair. In
addition some of the personnel went into
quarantine with typhoid fever Reinforce
ments were sent out in December and also
some material which could not be supplied
| at Karibib. In January of this year a Sec
| ond detachment of three stations was sent
out, and the personnel of each detachment
was brought up to four officers, nine non
commissioned officers and seventy-nine
men, care being taken on this occasion that
| the men, as well as the officers, understood
their work. There is now permanent com
munication between Aminus and Keetman-
shoop, a distance of about 112 miles, for
which only one extra station is required,
making five stations in all in use. A sixth
station is out of order at present
| The following are some of the difficulties
encountered in making use of the appara-
! tus The land being high above the sea
level the balloons had less lifting power
| than in Germany and the stretch OF cable
| often fell below the demanded go yards.
| The dryness of the atmosphere set up fric
tional electricity, which at times threatened
to set the balloons on fire The atmospheric
electrical disturbance was greater than in
Germany, especially in the rainy season and
| in the evening There was generally free
| dom from this disturbance between and
a. m. Strong whirlwinds were frequent,
particularly at midday and the balloons
or kites were sometimes hurled perpendic-
ularly into the bush and much torn. On one
occasion the bush was occupied by the
enemy and the balloon had to be rescued
from them. Some balloons were carried
right away by the wind and were lost or
burst by the air pressure.
The balloon while serving to reveal the
whereabouts of one column to other col
umns also revealed the presence of the col
umn to the enemy. The combined heat and
dryness caused the boxes containing the
apparatus to crack, and they then admitted
the dust The heat and dryness had
ruinous effect upon the wheels of the We
hicles. and the rough travelling also had a
ruinous effect upon the whole outfit. The
supplies of ghs benzine and balloon and
ma oI ehp tI,-
paigning with wireless telegraphy appears
to have been quite a different thing from
the experiences with wireless telegraphy
on n field day at home.
Germany'E Financial Problem
Imperial finance in Germany is in a highly
unsatisfactory condition according to all
| accounts here. For the last five years the
German budget has been faced with a de-
/ felt In 1904 the deficit was over 00OOO 900
marks. while for the present year the diff
ference between the total net expenditure
| and the total net revenue is over 5000 900
marks on the wrong side, The expenditure
amounts 10 about $S45, 100000, or an increase
Of $4,000 on 1904.
THE unfavorable development of the i'm
perial revenues'-the words are those of
the chancelor-"has resulted in squeezing
the federal states to their utmost capacity,
but this system cannot be carried any
further without risk of grave financial diff
| hculties."
| As an indication of the gravity of the sit
| uatlon II is stated that the government
has been compelled TO cover the deficit
by what is little less than official embez-
, element. namely by drawing on the In
valids fund which was established for the
| benefit of the veterans of the Franco-Ger-
man war
| In the meanwhile the national debt grows
apace the interest alone for 1904 showing
an increase Of half million when COM
pared with the previous year, The South
| west African protectorate which has been
In a state of chronic rebellion for the past
two years is proving an expensive luxury
! The suppression OF the uprisngs alone
has cost the government close on to $1,000
OOO
Proposals for increasing the imperial rev.
| enue will soon be laid before the Reich
stag. Oficial secrecy is maintained. but IL
is surmised that the chief measures will
include tax OF 80 per cent on manufac-
tured tobacco and 60 per cent on pipe to-
! bacoo. an increase in the brewing tax and
the introduction OF imperial estate duties
| But to judge from recent precedents II is
| doubtful whether even by such drastic ex-
pedents as these the government will sue
coed in making both ends meet.
| AS Baron Won stengel, the imperial sec
| rotary OF state for the treasury, has more
! than once said, any increase in revenue is
| likely TO be more than counterbalanced by
increased expenditures.
UtiIising water Power.
Since the construction of the numerous
valley dams In Roumania, Westphalia and
| silesia more attention has been paid 10
an adequate utilization of the water power
stored in the German Alps which so far
has been neglected. According 70 a state
ment OF the hydro-technical bureau only
5000 horse power, about 10 per cent Of the
available amount, has been utilized In the