The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-30
Wireless Telegraph and Tele- photo Will Make Military Se- crets Hard to Keep in
 Coming Fighting.
COLONEL SCRIVEN'S OPINION
Spying on the Enemy of the Future Will Re Much Easlcr--Dc- lenses May Have to
 Re Changed.

New York, July 29,--Photographing the camps and defences of the enemy from balloons by means of new ap- paratus for taking pictures at long range, and sending intelligence to headquarters by wireless, Is one of the possibilities of warfare of the future held out by Lieutenant Colonel George r, Scriven, chief of the United States signal corps for the department of the east.
 That aerial manoeuvres are to play an important part In fighting hereaft- CT has been accepted by most of the civilized nations, and the tests to be held by the war department In August at Fort Myer indicate that not only Is the dlrIgible balloon regarded as hay Ing attained a practical position, but the flying machine Is looked upon as having been developed far enough to warrant the expenditure of time and money in trying it out.
 Colonel Scryen, himself. does not think that the flying machine has shown enough vet to entitle 1t to con- sideration. but believes that the ex- perlments made for several years in Europe with the dlrlgible balloon. as well as lesser ones here. have proved that these ships of the air will be val uable as means of collecting infor- nation about the enemy which has heretofore been impossible.
 By means of balloon and wire | less communication, he said in dis | cussing the subject to-day, scouting parties may get near to the enemy's camp and send all details to their 1 headquarters, Further than that, they | can probably get an almost complete | photographic picture, showing fortl- | ilcations and the distribution of forces. | This can be done by means of the i tolephoto, new instrument with l which. by the use of an extra lens, 1t i is possible to focus on objects at a | distance of perhaps a mile and get an amount of detail which makes the picture seem as if 1t had been i taken at a few hundred feet.
 Tt would be possible to use this ap- 1 paratus automatically. That Is. your camera could be placed at the bottom of the balloon and operated by clock work, and by sailing around about 4 any given spot, of which a record was desired, It's details could be repro duced almost entire.
 Balloons Hard to Hit.
 "Of course there will be some dan ger to such scouting parties. for they I claim to have demonstrated in Europe that a balloon can be destroyed by gun fire at n height of a mile In the air. which is about lis limit of ascent At the same time the wreckIng of a balloon at such height would re- quire the greatest skill on account oi the fact that there would be no per. spectlve to help in taking aim, and gauging the distance would be largel, guesswork."
 In addition to It's value as a means of collecting information about tho enemy Colonel Scriven thinks the bal loon Is likely to play a direct part 1T warfare. In that it can be used 10 tow explosives through the air, and drol them down on the enemy's strong holds.
 "It Is true" he said. that the Unit ed States agreed at The Hague con
 ference that balloons should not b. I used for this purpose, but 1 believe |
 was about the only nation that did, st l do not believe the idea will become operative, Even If 1t was accepted h,
 the leading nations, It Is likely that under the stress of war, 1t would b. broken, just as the 'dum-dum bulle
 has been used In spite of the provi sions against It.
 | Colonel Scriven said. in response {,
 a question, that he did not thing tn II balloon would make useless any i'm
 portant part of war. although 1
 might necessitate changes in the con struction of our sea coast defences. Maybe It will be necessary in fu ture to cover all our fortihcation' protecting them above as carefully a
 we now protect their sides, so as {
 prevent the taking of photographs O their destruction by dropping explo
 slyes upon them,' was suggested. Sort of armor proof decks owe
 them, oh 2" the colonel uuerled In re v turn. "Well, maybe, but it's too 500 z yet to know how those things wi
 work out"