The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-08-02

III
u. Haskiin. l
highest rank as inventors. The board
! will not only work out it's own
ideas, but it will endeavor to assist
other inventors to perfect their
plans. ana It VIII make recommsn-4
dations for the Improvement Of ma
chinery now in use. In brief, the
naval advisory board viii try TO ap-
ply to the practice. OF warfare the
great supremacy OF the American
Inventor. n thus aiding Uncle Sam to
maintain his position among the drst
| class powers Of the world.
If this theory becomes an estab-
Mshed fact. and there appears TO be
| no valid reason why 1t should fail.
it will be only another instance Of
the REPETITION OF history. America
has not alone the steamboat. the
cotton gin. the electric lamp. the
telephone. the telegraph and many
other peaceful Inventions to her;
credit She also leads the world
In the perfection Of new machines Of
war. as glance at history will show.
Three Transformations.
Within the past century three
epochal transformations In the con-
struction OF modern navy have
taken place the change from sail
ing navy to ore whose motive power
was steam, substitution Of armored
vessels for wooden ones and the In
production Of the submarine. For
all Of these the United States may
claim the credit. The invention Of
the steamboat belongs, Of course, to-
Robert Fulton, who also da1ned with
the submarine and made several Inn
portant changes in the underwater
craft as first designed by Yale
undergraduate. Buttons chief work
however. was sending every sailing
ship of the navies of the world to-
the discard. and substituting for the,
haphazard motive power Of the wind
the dependable motive power OIL
steam.
The second great change In the
, fleets OF the world was accomplished
by John Ericsson, designer Of the
Monitor. Ericsson was responsible.
not only for the Yankee cheese
box on a raft" but also for the screw
ment upon Fulton's invention of
the steamboat. Z
Wooden vessels Of war had been
in vogue since the earliest days OIL
history up to the time Of the his
toric battle between the Monitor and
the Merrimac In Hampton Roads.
a battle which sealed the doom OF
this type Of warcraft. According tol
many experts, among them Sir
on matters pertaining to the navy
the submarine has sounded thel
knell of the surface battleship as
enectual1y as did the Mintor sendl
all the wooden ships to the scrap
heap. But here. again. the super
iority OF American creative geniusl
makes itself seen, for the submarine;
is quite as much a product of Amer
lean skill and ingenuity as was thel
first steamboat or the Monitor. Hol-I
land built the first modern sub
marine and Simon Lake is respon-l
sible for the majority of the im-t
provements upon this type of craft
so that the United States may truly
be said to have been responsible for
all the great changes in. naval war
fare during the past century.
Essentially the Same.
The Improvement of the aeroplane|
by Professor Langley and the Wright
Brothers is too well known to re-
quire comment. other than to state
that the aeroplane now used In war
fare Is essentially the same as that
which the Wrtghts brought to its
present state Of usefulness. The sea
realm of Mars. and the air which
covers 1t, have therefore been sue
cessfully invaded by Yankee ingen-
uity.
with respect to warfare upon
land. it is necessary only to recall
the fact that Richard Calling, 81
North Carolina school teacher. not
only perfected machinery to SOW cot
ton and rice, but astonished the
world with the first machine gun
the famous Calling gun Of the Civil
war while Colonel Deringer gave us
the vest pocket pistol that bears
his name and which was the im-
mediate progenitor Of the modern
automatic. The disappearing guns.
used in coast defenses. and the
giant howitzers which played havoc
with defenses Of Liege and Antwerp
are also Of American origin, as are
many OF the smaller machines of
war.
It viii therefore be seen that, ri
American genius merely lives up to
the traditions and achievements Of
the past, 1t will more than enable
the United States to protect itself
against aggression or invasion.
Every home with a phone IS al