The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-05
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By Frederic J. Haslin.
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! balloons, ani pleads for the organi- zation of efficient means for observing | the fire.
 The work done already by the war balloon Is notable. A captive balloon at Port Arthur helped the Japanese find the range for their guns. the ob- servations being telephoned into the Japanese lines Napoleon used cap tive balloons at the battle of Fleurus in l794 and they were used in the Italian campaign of the Emperor Ma poleon in 1859. The Confederates
 sent them out from Richmond in 1865, and they were a big factor in the Franco Prussian war. During the seize of Paris sixty-five balloons were | sent out, and sixty-five intrepid aero | nauts went up--only five of whom had ever made ascensions before. These and half tons of postal matter, rep- resenting 100000 letters, and 3s1 carrier pigeons. which carried 100000 messages and telegrams. The re- ceipts from the letters and telegrams were $20o,000 and as the expense of sending up the balloons was $5S.500. the beseiged French figured that the s141,5o0 was easily saved. On this same basis other nations may figure. and if the possibilities of help fulness were so pronounced in 1871, what will they be in 1s71?
 When the great horror of aerial warfare strikes the hearts of the peo- pie of all the world, when they real ize what it means to see these great birds of the sky graphing with one another high in the ether, and either hurling one to destruction on the earth below, or driving it so far up. that the occupants perish in the rarefed air, they will begin to see that as the means of the most terrible form of warfare. it becomes imme- dtately the biggest argument for peace.
 Hitherto they who have made the wars have been protected, whether a senate. king, an emperor, or a czar. It was easy enough to say: Let there be war" and remain safely entrenched within an impregnable city. They have always been guarded by army and navy.-by men whose lives count ed for little in the big scheme of the nation, so many pawns on the chess board of life In the light of this new invention war-making will be- come more personal matter, for the old principle will remain the same. the capital city must be taken and the ruler must be taken or slain In- trepid sailors of the air would seize with Joy on the privilege of skim ming over the land to drop explosives into the enemy's capital and so make sAS oo1@ OA as a Lale mat is told, and the king a thing soon for gotten. .'',
 There may be a war or two. among nations having aerial navies before the awfulness of the method, strikes tn, and king or two may be killed to make the lesson worth Knowing. Then will come the cry for arbltra- tion. Think of the amount of saving in life and property if such a thing | as arbitration should come about It would be cheap to build a few air ships at the highest price in order to prove the point The civil war cost million lives and ten billion dollars. to say nothing of the crippling of the 1 resources of the South for nearly a quarter of & century. One airshfp. lowering over New England's aboii. | tionist oeaite rSa or over the. capitol at | Washington, or over the homes of southern fre-eaters would have eff fectually stopped beIIigereney and have cost the nation a trthe in com parison.
 Copyright, 1908. By Frederick J.
 Haskin.l
 TOmOPOw-The Age of Flight,
 HI. The Overhead Mail.