Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-09

when marvellous developments IN military
matters have taken place.
In a struggle between two great Euro
pean military powers IL Is quite possible,
and. indeed, probable. that each or the
opposing forces would number something
like three million troops, Tor ie -many,
France. Russia and Hungary are
all capable of sending such armies to the
front without touching their respective
last lines OF reserves. IL two such mighty
armies were engaged In battle the Hello
of their operations would probably ex'
tend quite 500 miles from side 90 sue,
while the distance from the rear CT the
one force to the rear of the other could
hardly be less than 800 miles. Thus the
square miles.
Big Task for Generals.
: When Frederick the Great fought his
battles in the eighteenth century the field
of operations never EXTENDED more than
four miles from side to side and in the
Russo-Japanese war, when, owing to the
great distance from the respective Eases,
there were never more than three or four
hundred thousand troops simultaneously
i'm action, the battlefields remained limited
in extent. Will the generals of the future
be equal to the almost superhumaa task
of directing operations extending over
such immense areas? Every army riust
have a commander-in-chicf, and that
SeIeTdliSSlIuO COlttOf
ments of all the troops united unCer his
orders. He will have all The latest tfcn-
nical devices at his disposal Hundreds
of miles of telegraph and telephone wires
will be rapidly laid in order that he may
exchange orders and communications with
his auxiliary offices.
There will be motor cars and Tying ma,
chimes, steerable balloons and spherical
balloons. bicycles and apparatus Tor WIRE
less telegraphy and telephony, besides
other mechanical contrivances Tor sig
mailing. Will these suffice to surmount
the purely technical difficulties involved
in establishing effective communicated,
over such an area. especially as they will
have to be installed and equipped Tor
service in a very short space or time!
And If they furnish a perfect communi-
eating machine will there De any human
brain capable of mentally digesting the
information supplied him with bewildering
speed from so many different sources, and
of working out in his mind the profound
ly complex problems connected with the
movements of such legions of human en-
gines of war? Would Moltke, the great
est strategist of modern times, II he were
alive, be able to handle modern armies OF
millions with the ease and CELEBRITY neces-
sary to success? Are the great armies
created by the leading countries of Eu-
rope really efficient instruments of war,
or would the complicated machinery break
down under the stress OF actual nostln-
ties?
On1y AuSWor III w al
All these questions are occupying the
minds of German experts. but only war
can supply a conclusive reply to them'
There is, however, a strong inclination
among many competent judges to regard
the countless legions of the great powers
as inefficient because it Is thought that
they are too big and unwieldy to be
handled with facility, and because no
human brain can surmount the difficulties
of directing their movements with preci-
sion.
German society women and favorite &C.
tresses-who between them make and un-
make fashions in Germany-have leagued
together to do away with bird of paradise
feathers and other millinery trappipgs de-
rived from winged creatures. The move
ment is led by Prof. Schillings, a ia
nous African explorer, and he has Sc
cured the support of the Grand Duchess
of Mecklenburg-Schwer Princess Marie
AIexandrine of Reuss, Fraulein FRITZ
Massary, the crowned queen OF German
musical comedy, and a number of other
ladies all-potent in the realm of "chic.