The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-13
Ney's Historic Cavalry Charge Com
pared With the Present Death
Grapple of 100000

time Of Waterloo. Take the single
question of aeroplanes: Henry Wood
house, a governor of the Aero Club
Of America, says that ii would he no
cxaggeration to estimate that orders
amounting to SIG, 0O0. 900 worth Of air
machines already have been placed ia
the United states n that orders for
1000 more machines are going Begging
here because American manufacturers
cannot turn them out.
1t is reported further hat the large
machines Of American types have he q
in demand to act as conveys to Brit
ish transports sending troops across
the Channel. Soaring above the
transport high in the blue ether the
~aeroplane pilot. it is believed. could
detect far in advance a German SUBJ
marine and signal the troopship of its
danger. A whole battalion OF these
winged scouts is said to be demanded
for every army division On land.
What would Napoleon have thought.
or Ney or Wellington or Butcher or
the Car Alexander, of such an arm
of defence? what would they have
thought Of field telephones. not to men
ton telegraphs? or Of Analysing
drinking water. as is commonly done
to-day? And as for the immunization
of huge bodies Of fighting men against
disease-such a thing probably had
never occurred to any one at the time
Waterloo was fought.
Take, again, the progress made in
development Of arms and ammunition.
This war Of to-day, as a Berlin des-
patch remarked just the other day, has
produced so many mechanical and
chemical surprises that 1t seems as IL
nothing more could be produced which
would occasion surprise. Germany's
Thick Bertha" hat ~ centimeter
mortar, astonished the world when
first brought into action; yet now is
nnouncemen made that Austria has
perfected a long. powerful sister in
howitzer form. constructed at the Pill
sener Skoda works. of which the first
hot was fired on January IS at Rus
sian troops. Ninety seconds 'elapse. II
is said, from the time this gun is fired
until the huge projectile drops at its
point Of destination, demolishing struc-
lures built of masonry and steel and
tearing a hole forty feet in diameter
in the earth where it finally descends,
for that projectile is alleged to go
through anything, smashing all as II
goes. Correspondents describe this
enormous engine Of warfare as being
about the dimensions of a large loco
motive and as requiring TO be trans
ported by a special train.
What would have been thought Of II
by those British artillerymen who
stood at Waterloo with their little bat
teries exposed to the charging French
cavalry? To-day those batteries seem
the devices Of pygm!es. Of children. in
comparison with the colossal enginery
Of modern guns and gunire.
Reference has been made to the
numbers engaged in Europe at the
present time-possibly $500. 900 Ger
mans. Austrians, Turks, and possibly
10000, 900 Of the Allies, either actively
in the field or held in reserve. one of
the grave questions sure to arise in
the near future-and Il question which
was not uppcrmost at the time Of Wa
terloo-is as to who can carry on the
work Of Europe while this mighty host
Of II, goo goo men is DETECTED into mill
tary, activity?
The worlds work must go on. Food
must be produced not only for the
warning multitudes. but for those at
home-for men. women and children.
Shelter must be provided, clothing
also, fuel and means whereby these
necessaries of life may he transported
easily and rapidly: for to-day the
world is mobile in the sense that il
never was before. \ million men may
he killed or incapacitatcd for life ere
this war Ceasy. Their norma. work
Cor'inu'i on >irth rage