The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-26

said he proposed offering it, first Tn his own country, notwithstanding that his father fared so badly when he Of fered his machine gun to the United States navy department. He has his European rights already amply pro tected and frankly states that as was the case with Hotchkiss, Calling, the elder Maxim, Lake and Holland, he too expects a greater appreciation to be shown the arm abroad than here.
 In this country he looks to see the principal value of the invention in fowling pieces and in guns for large game hunting. It will be recalled that when the elder Maxim first brought forward his automatic ma chine gun and offered it to the navy department, he did not get much en- couragement. Disappointed, he took his invention to England, where it promptly received the consideration it's value has since proved it deserved. For the untold service it rendered the British army in the Soudan, the elder Maxim was induced to become an English subject, in return for this the late Queen Victoria knighted him.
 What It Means.
 With a rifle or revolver which makes no sound when it is fired the imagination ,quails at what is possi- ble. Entirely aside from. the awful effect it would be liable to have upon animal and game bird life. the possi- biities in the hands of police and the criminal are terrible to contemplate. In the hands of the former one man properly hidden might overpower any number of men arrayed against him. He would have it in his power to deal out death or disablement to anyone he selected from his position of ad- vantage The moral effect upon a gang of criminals might be imagined, as one after the other fell, the victim of an unseen and silent representative of the law.
 Turn the tables and the conditions are even worse. One desperate crim- inal or maniac from ambush could serve out death to his pursuers at hs leisure. and render capture all but impossible. The assassin would have to but point his finger at his vic tim and. the latter would fall. Death could be silently directed at any time, in any direction, with no noisy alarm being served as is now the case with the loud voiced pistol.
 In discussing this phase of the sit uation with authorities on firearms the opinion has frequently been ex- pressed that in the event of any such terrible instrument as this coming into regular use, laws would have to be passed giving the exclusive right of manufacture to the central govern ment, the same as is the case with the minting of money and the printing of bills. Against this is raised the objec- tion that it would not be possible for the government to insure the proper use of its arms at all times, and that the only way to insure safety would be to prohibit the making of silent firearms altogether. But even against this comes the fact that even with laws prohibiting the manufacture of these deadly weapons there would be no way to prevent their being se- cretly made.
 It is easy to see that the issue of this patent by the United States Pat ent Office and the protection to the inventor which it carries opens up a new and sensational line of possibili- ties some of which may be far reach ing to mankind the world over. The opportunity to the author and the playwright has come at last, for here is an entirely new idea. Up to date characters may,now be endowed with power of the fairies and wicked knights of the Child's story book. and be well within the bounds of the pos