The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-09-12
THE MEANING
 OF TIE AIRSHIP
Will RevoIutionize the History
 of Warfare
lNDU STRY AND COMMERCE
World Will Not Fully Realize Full Possibilities of This Great lnno- vation Until Unexpected Hap
 pens Some Fine Morning.
From the Mcchnress Magazine.

From the McChlrefs Magazine.
 Despite all that has been written about the airship. it's meaning will probably not be brought home to the general public until the wireless an- nounces some fine morning that, war having been declaped between France and Germany last evening, a fleet of German dirigibles bombarded the city of Paris early today and compelled her surrender-or something equally mo- mentous and equally unexpected. Those who are acquainted with the facts as- sert that the era of the air has more than arrived, and that stupendous con sequences to human society will de- veiop with startling rapidity. They say that the air machine will not be subject to the slow evolution of the steam engine and the electric motoS It spells overturn and revolution in war, commerce., industry and interna- tional relations In the first place the worlds navies are really junk. The new Dreadnoughts being built will go to the scrap pile before ever they are used The armies of millions of fight ing men are utterly vain, and might as well disband. The next war will be fought in the aIr by fleets of huge dirigibles maneuvered by a few ex- pert mechanics.
 A skeptic might grant the perfection of the Zeppelin air craft and yet argue that the world will be a long time get ting such machines into general use' just as it took decades for other revo- lutionary machines to be adopted. TO this there is the answer that the air- ship today is primarily military weapon. It is not a commercial propo- sition, depends on conditions of econ omy and education of the public taste. Precedents don't count; prejudieeS are unimportant. When one nation has an 8 ir fleet, giving it decided advantage over other nations, the others must hasten to follow suit. Every nation in Europe could equip itself for gigantic aerial shindy within a year. A fraction of the money spent on present arma- ments would suffice. The United states Congress hesitateS today about spend ing many dollars for air works, put the morning after a European aerial bat tie or the day that the first diriglple crosses the Atlantic there will be mil lions appropriated for a higher navy.
 
 a flight of 36 hours, covering $50 miles. and carries a rapid-fire gun of the latest pattern, throwing about 60 1-5-1nch smells a minute, is a fighting machine inVlnclple to any other than one of It's own kind. It is as strong and stanch and controil- able a ship of the air as the Mauretanla among water craft.
 The aluminium frame, the rubber cloth cover and the compartment system of in- terior balloons make it just as capable of safely navigating the air as the steel vessel is capable of navigating the ocean. 1t must be remembered that there are no waves in the air to strain an aerial craft, and that the hardest gale does not dis turb the equilibrium of dlrigibie. Acci- dents usually happen on landing, and 1t is noteworthy that accidents which would absolutely disable an ocean steamer have little effect on the airship. A few months ago the Zeppelin II, smashed her whole bow in while landing, yet made repairs in a heavy wind and flew home 50 miles, Such a craft, 4i6 feet long, equipped with two separate engines of 200 combined horsepower, has a speed of 30 miles an hour The cost is under S250OOO. For the price of one Dreadnought 40 Zeppelins, each one capable of destroying a Dread nought, can be built.
 Instead of the present shelters, these great battleshipS of the SKY Will prop ably be provided with aerial mooring sta- tions-steel towers a few hundred feet high the ship being anchored at one end to the top of the tower. with the other end floating free, except for ground cable to prevent excessive sidewise moYe- ment Elevators will carry passengers and supplies to the lofty gangway of the ship.
 Artillery for sky battles has been manu- factured by the krupps at the behest or the German government. A high-poWered gun weighing about 16o pounds and throwing a 1.9-inch shell. about one every second has been mounted on the Zeppe- lin fighting deck. The shells have burst ing radius of about 20 feet-that is, their fragments kill or wound within s50- foot circle of the explosion. The range is several miles Trials showed that the cotton drigible was not affected by the recoil and that the marksmen could aim the weapon from the aerial gun plat form about as we'll as If they were on solid ground. The danger of exploding the hydrogen in the balloons within the dirigib1e by concussion is slight. If there is fear of flames from the guns igniting the gas, the use of the Maxim silencer