Mexico weekly ledger., 1914-09-10
MODERN WARFARE HAS IN
GENUTTY OF THE AGES

CtIl VI nj AOGo
War is nov waged in the air, and
beneath the water. and numerous de
vices never used before are employed
to slsy and MAIN not only the men
Of opposing armies, but noncombat-
ants. In this war bombs are dropped
from the air at night upon sleeping
cities. killing and wounding women
and babies; the sea is sown with
mines that blow up the ships of nom
combatants, making widows and or
phans in lands far removed from
the countries at war; wire entangle-
ments are lain into which soldiers
are lured and then are killed by pow
erful electric currents; searchlights
hunt out groups of sleeping soldiers
and the shrapnel from heavy guns is
turned upon them before they can
escape; mine grenades are planted
a few inches below the soil and as a
troop crosses them the pressure of
an electric button causes the gren-
AIDES to jump a yard into the air
where a chain halts and explcdes
them, scattering bullets in all direc-
tions and moving down the march
ing men; torpedoes Of great power
go miles beneath the water, straight
to the mark. exploding with sufficient
force to tear out the whole side of
the biggest dreadnaught; bombs that
explode and give off poisonous fumes
are thrown. and we have even read of
the ~retreating army poisoning the
food supplies left behind for the ad-
Vancing foe.
The aerial feet Of the Germans,
dropping bombs. already has attacked
Antwerp and Paris, and London is
awaiting a similar visitation. At sea
the submarines are lying in wait.
Great Britain has sixty-four of them,
France sixty-one, Russia twenty
nine, Germany eighteen and Austria
Hungary, six.
Russia is credited with the great
est submarine of all. II is $50 feet
long, eleven times larger than the
next biggest in the world. 1t has a
cruising radius of 1880 miles. II
can voyage that far without stopping
and it can go under water 275 miles
without coming to the surface. II
carries sixty torpedoes and f2C
mines. This mighty engine of death
is planned to dive while it is far out
Of sight of a feet, SOW the water
with mines all around the vessels Of
the enemy and then hurry away, ant
when it is at a safe distance, explode
the mines by electricity and blow th'
whole fleet into the air.
The British navy has a torpedo, in
vented by Lieutenant Hardcastle
which weighs 1000 pounds and il
charged with $50 pounds of gun.
cotton. enough to blow the whole sid
out Of a battle ship. This torpedo
can be placed in the water four mile
away and steered accurately from
the ship so as to hit the smallest tar
get.
The floating mine is one Of thu
modern horrors Of war, and alread!
one British warship, the Amphion
and several merchant ships Of otheI
nations have been sunk by them. Tn
crew of any vessel afioat in tn
. northern waters of the North Sea j
in deadly peril Of them. 1t may b
in the dead of night, the crew asleep
a wave dashes one of the ~loatini
mines against the bow or sides o
the ship, there is a terrific explosion
, a burst of flame, and the vessel goe
to the bottom.
: Hand grenades are being used o.
, land. One of these contains 80
, small bullets which fly in all direc
r tons when the grenade explodes
, This grenade is thrown from cover
, Another is thrown from a gun tina
weighs only twenty-four pounds an
is carried in a case, like a rifle. Thi
grenade weighs two pounds, i
' thrown three hundred yards an,
scatters 215 bullets over an area o
one hundred square yards.
, The machine gun is one of the in
ventions of the last half century. 1
, has been repeatedly used in this wa.
with deadly effect. Hardly a da.
goes by without an account Of
charge against machine guns tina
5 left the dead piled high in the patl
l of tho sfnrm