The Yale expositor., 1914-10-22

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two officers and a secretary whose
sole duty it was to acquaint and make
themselves perfectly familiar with
everything in that particular locality.
Through the far-reaching system of
espionage, the latest and most up-to-
date information is always forthcom-
ing, and time and again | myself, often
returning from mission like one Of
those to the naval base in Scotland.
have sat by the hour verbally amplify-
ing my previous reports.
A part of the intelligence system is
the personality squad, whose duty it
Is to acquaint themselves with the per-
sonality of every army and navy OIL
Ger of the leading powers.
Aerial Weapons.
] Within the last few years an en-
tirely new, and, according to German
ideas, most important factor has en-
tered and seriously disturbed the rela-
tive military power of European ma
lions. This is the aerial weapon.
Since the days of Otto Lilienthal
and his glider. it has been the policy
of Germany to keep track of all inven-
lions likely to be embodied and made
use Of in the war machine. 1t is a far
cry from Lilenthal's glider to the last
word. in aerial construction such as
the mysterious Zeppelin-Parseval sky
monster that. carrying a complement
of twenty-five men and twelve tons of
explosives. sailed across the North
sea, circled over London, and returned
to Germany
1t is my purpose here TO tell you
how far Germany has advanced and
progressed in this struggle for mas
terry Of the sky. shall disclose facts
about her system that have never APP
peared In print-that have never been
heard in conversation. They are
known only to the general staff at Ber-
lin, not even in the cabinets of Eu-
rope.
Secret Aerial Strength.
Germany without doubt has the most
up-to-date aerial feet in the world.
The budget of the reichstag of 1908
building and maintenance OF twelve
dirigibles of the Zeppelin type. So
far as the knowledge of the rest of
the world is concerned this is all the
sky navy that Germany possesses. 1t
is fact, though, that she has three
times the number that she officially
acknowledges.
The diribigle-balloon centers in Ger
many are five, and they are situated at
vitality strategic points. There are two
on the French border, one on the Rus.
sian border one on the Atlantic coast
and central station near Berlin. The
exact places are Strassburg, Frank.
fort on the Main, Posen, Wilhelms.
hafen and Berlin. This does not in.
ciude the marvellous station at Heigc,
land in the North sea, this being a
strategic point in relation to Great
Britain. Nothing is known about this
Helgoland station. None but those on
official business are permitted within
a thousand yards of it. / shall tell
things concerning ii.
Besides these purely military posts
there are number of commercial sta
tions necessary as depots of the regu
lar transportation aerial lines that
public. Like GeTmany's commercial
steamers, however, they are controlled
and subsidized by the government. Al
few hours notice they can be con
verted and made use Of for govern
ment purposes. Taking these trans
portation lines into consideration, il
is safe to state that by now Germany
could send fifty huge airships to war
Revolutionizing Discoveries.
II may be a puzzle to Americans
why, in the face of disasters and acct
dents to these Zeppelns, Germany IL
spending about $4,000 900 on her aerial
fleet. Now we come to a very signifi
cant point. | know, and certain mem
bers of the German general staff know
as we'll as trusted men in the aerial
corps, that there are two conditions
under which airships are operated in
Germany. One is the ordinary more
or less well-known system which char
acterizes the operation of all the pas
senger lines now in service in the EN-.
pire. 1t is the system under which
all the disasters that appear in the
newspapers occur. Airships that are
used in the general army fights and
maneuvers are also run under the
same system as the passenger dirig.
ibles-for a reason.
The other system is an absolute Sc
cret of the German general staff II
is not used in the general maneuvers,
only in specific cases, and these al.
ways secretly. 1t has been proved to
be effective in eliminating 70 per cent
of the accidents which have character
lied all of Germany's adventures in
dirigibles and heavier-than-air ma
chimes. These statistics are known
only among the German general staff
officers.
Critics OF the German dirigible who
rate the French aeroplane superior
| that ha