The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-06-08
AIRSHIPS IN
GERMANY NOT
PAYING OUT
OF THE AMOUNT IN
VESTED IN THE GERMAN AIR
SHIP COMPANY HAS GONE BY
THE BoARDS-MAY YET BE A
SUCCESS, ACCORDING TO THE
AERoNAUTS.

Berlin, June About the quickest
possible way to lose money in Ger
many is to buy a Zeppelin, according
to the annual report of the German
Airship Company just made public
Exactly fifty per cent of the $3.50, 00C
invested by the company took wings
with its three big airships in 1912
The loss of the Schwaben covers mos,
or the big deficit; a backward spring
and a rainy midsummer are held Gull
pable for another large sum; the I'M
Willingness of the public to travel by
way of the clouds is blamed not at
ali, for 5000 passengers paid their way
on the aircraft and, in addition, I'M
numbered hundreds of army officers
We're carried gratis.
The report Of the company's loss
reads not unlike the resume of a lean
year on the farm April and May,
banner months for sky-pilots, brought
little sunshine and much cold weather
Tickle winds blew about the sheds and
for many days none of the big ships
stirred from its aerial mornings. June
and July were fair-and the Schwaben
was destroyed. For forty days during
the height of the best season fac
tories worked day and night to re-
place her. When the Hansa was final
iy launched" the best Of the flying
weather had passed. However, the
Schwa ben and the Hansa made 173 be-
tween them from April to December,
and the Victoria Luise, third and last
Of the air fleet, made thirty per cent
more trips than both of them COM
bined, or 225 in all, before she was
placed out Of commission in Novem-
her
The winds will be shorn Of their ter
rors in the future. however, by revo,v-
ing airsheds which can be so manipu-
lated as to bring out ship in the
Of a ~ a IF re-
The high military value of
the Zeppelins, more than anything else,
perhaps, is responsible for the ;nnova-
ton, as the army demands air vessels
that may be used under all atmos-
phere conditions.
What the Zeppelins will cost In the
event of a big war, rather than the
benefits they will accomplish. is an
item in the latest estimate Of the cost
Of Germany's next year. Captain
Henke OF the German general staff,
has been studying the financial end of
such a war, and has made public his
With 100000 men in the
fed, he estimates that the Fatherland
would spend $2,600,00o,o00 a year
more than twice the present national
debt. This stupendouS figure repre-
sents nearly 81 per cent of the earning
of the entire nation on a
peace footing, Captain Henke esti-
mates. i
This conclusion is reached by COM
pairing the costs of the Franeo-Prus-
san and Russo-Japanese wars. In the
Franco Prussian war 1t cost Ger
many $1.43 a man a day to keep its
forces in the field; Russia paid Sass
4 man a day during the MancnSrian
campaign. Germany would spend as
much as Russia, Captain Henke reck-
pms, but would be able to afford it.
The earnings of the German people,
Captain Henke places at S7,140, 0oe. 900.
This is in times of peace. What they
would be with 10000 900 men taken
from the workshops to the field he does
not estimate.
Emigration from Hamburg and Bre-
men is heavier than IL has been in
years. During April more than $4,000
persons left for the United States from
these two ports alone. This was nearly
double the number that left in April,