Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-11-06
The Day q Prayer.


than In the past"
The Day o. Prayer.
Special prayers "of uncommon elo-
quence and beauty Of phrase" had been
prepared for special use on Peace Sun
day by Cardinal Farley and Bishop
Greer. and for the Carnegie hall meet
Ing Rabbi Wise framed plea for free
dom for the common man" and for
confirmation in the American people Of
"a settled hate for war"
The ultimate good Of such OBJ
servances Is debated in some minds.
The view Of helplessness of such ap-
peals is perhaps best stated by Presi-
dent Hadley. Of Yale, in his matricula-
ton sermon to the university student
body. As the New York Sun reports
him, the doctor says:
with our illusions shattered and
our very ideals shaken, we crave help
leesly for peace: and as far as the mere
craving goes We are ready to pray
for Il.
''But how little this mere craving
amounts to! What effect will it have
Englishman or German. Frenchman or
Russian. each desperately convinced Of
the Righteousness OF his own cause, for
which he has already suffered and Is
prepared to die II need be, that prayers
for peace are offered by members OF
other nations comfortably distant from
the fray and from the passions that
evoked It? No direct effect whatever.
1T Is wrong to dignity this profit.
less expression OF desire by the name
Of prayer Unless we follow up our
prayers by Intelligent help in promot-
ing peace on earth they are but the
vain repetitions' OF the heather. They
may have q certain use as a public
recognition of the controlling power Of
God over the affairs of men; otherwise
they arc no better than the peace
parades and the children's peace cards
and other similar manifestations Of
misdirected zeai wiz. --SS!!ch wa are
now familiar.
People think they are doing their
duty whsn they are simply indulgin1
the luxury Of expressing their own
emotions in public, To expect such
prayer to be answered Il folly on thu
part Of the ignorant ana blasphemy on
the part Of those who should be wiser"
In an editorial expression The Sum
observes that even though Immediately
visible result be lacking. no one need
doubt that bounteous response will be
made to the prayers for peace which !
went up from all quarters Of this coun-
try" Providence has Its own subtle
ways OF distributing its mercies, and
though we may little know them IN
the larger sense, there are some which
even the dim eyes Of reason may per-
ceive."
Tho Terrible Torpedo.
A torpedo is about the most terrible
and wonderful thing that has ever
been devised for spreading death and
destruction during war time. In out.
ward appearance 1t Is a metal tube
sixteen feet o. moro long, and eighteen
inches in diameter.
One end Is pointed and the other has
a fin at the top and ono at the bot-
tom. Set horizontally to these perpen-
dicular FMS are the two rudders. And
which work In opposite directions.
BY altering the angle of che rudders
the torpedo can be made to travel at
any depth required. and the upright
finds and the two propellsrs revolving
one TO the right and the other to the
left help to keep the torpedo from
turning over or revolving IN the water.
It is the interior OF a torpedo which
is SO wonderful. It IL almost like
little submarine boat. About quar-
ter Of the length Of the missile, con-
sisting of its pointed end, Is the war;
head filled with wet, compressed gun
cotton and in the very nose OF the tor
pedo is the striker. a little rod, which,
as soon as the torpedo hits ship,
plunges down like piston into tho
center Of the gun cotton, which at once
explodes and blows the ship sky-high.
In the ordinary way this striker Is held
in place by a pin which prevents 1t
from being driven inwards, but. on mr.
ing, this pin IL automatically with"
drawn so that the torpedo may deal Ito
deadly blow.
The center of the torpedo. for about
q third Of It's length. Is filled with
compressed air, which works all the in
tricate machinery filling the after
compartment.
The popular opinion Is that torpedo
Is fired at q ship In manner Similar
to that in which q shell - fired. and
that Il gets its motive power In the
same way; but this is NOT go,
ID IL true that q torpedo Is started
on its Journey by being fired from
tube. but II 1t had to depend on this
firing to carry 1t to its destination it
would not travel more than hundred
yards or 20. Directly 1t is discharged
from the tube, and as soon as It gets
In the water. the machinery in the In.
terror Of the torpedo Is automatically
set in motion, the two propellers STARE
to whirl at q dizzy rate and drive the
torpedo onward to its mark. II 1t ~
DETECTED slightly from IT'S course
gyroscope, spinning round In the in
terror, works series OF levers which
bring It back to the right direction.
The compressed air drives q four
cylinder engine which in turn drives
the propellers. Then on the nose OF
the torpedo are knives which Will cut
. way for the torpedo thru the torpedo
net with which battleship tries TO
protect itself from being torpedoed.
The machinery Of the torpedo will,
drive it for about 1000 yarcs, and II
traverses this distance IN about two
minutes; 30 shat g tarnedo boat or
submarine has to get within about a
mile of its victim before 1t can launch
the torpedo. and this brings the tor
pedo boat within point blank range OF
the big and little guns OF battleship.
Thus It win be seen that torpedo
attacks are best made at night, when
the torpedo boats have chance OF
stealing upon their victims unawares.
The torpedo has buoyancy chambers
80 that the missile floats when the
machinery runs down. Another clever
device shows q light as soon as It
comes to standstill, thus Indicating
its whereabouts to boats crew told