The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-12-15
NEED OF AERIAL
PREPAREDNESS
Public Must Interest Itself,
Says j. A. SteInmetz.
CHECK SUBMARINE DANGER.

Expert Declares That After Study Of
Craft an Immense Popular Subscrip.
ton Should Be Raised-Teils What
People Of France and Germany Have
Done In That Respect.
Philadelphia. In all steps taken TO
insure military and naval preparedness
on the part OF the United States the
greatest stress should be laid upon the
development OF the nations aerial and
submarine equipment, according To 10.
seph A. Steinmetz. president OF the
Aero Club OF Pennsylvania 1t is not
enough, he asserts, that the president
and the secretaries OF war and the
navy are pledged TO Il serious program
Of national preparedness for defense.
wherein the aeroplane shall play an
important part. The public must 10 it's
part. 1t must study the aeroplane and
the submarine In the light Of the show.
ing which these two branches of war
fare have made In the European war.
And this study. Mr.. Steinmetz con
tends, must result In immense popular
subscriptions OF none which will
place the United States upon an equal
footing with other nations IN this re
Hard.
The war in Europe hss shown that
IN army might as well try to do battle
without the aid OF a%eroplanes AS a blind
man might try to fight, Mr.. Steinmetz
points out Realizing this. the French
md the Germans built their %aeroplane
tieets OF today largely by public sub
scriptions and through public interest.
in February, 1912" says Mr.. Stein
metz, ''soon after the first employment
Of ~aeroplanes In the French military
maneuvers demonstrated the potential
itr OF the air service although the
French government failed to allow the
appropriations necessary to secure al
adequate aeronautical organization for
the French army. a public subscription
was started.
I'm every part OF France the people
men and women. rich and poor. young
and old and OF all beliefs and factions
united their efforts with the press and
political. social, professional and sport.
ing organizations. and all contributed
their share to give France a large aerial
fleet. This public subscription brought
6.114,S46 francs and gave France 20S
!, aeroplanes, sixty-two landing stations
for aeroplanes and seventy-fve trained
~aviators.
The public interest created by the
!, subscription was tremendous and led
. 10 the immediate consideration OF the
~aeronautical needs of France by the
government. by April. 1914, the French
: army possessed 1900 aeroplanes and
twenty-eight dirigibles and most com
, plete and efficient equipment.
"Germany's aeroplane feet was built
almost entirely by the public subscrip-
tons started by the Aerial League OF
, Germany In 1912. which brought 1884,
506 marks. The purpose of the league
was to train within the shortest time
as large a number us possible of avia.
/. ton pilots to form a reserve and to en-
courage the general development of
aviation In Germany. Following are
some of the results obtained:
The number OF pilots was go at the
end of 1912. 1t increased to 600 by the
end OF 1913. The constructors of aero.
planes were less than twenty I'm 1912
: they increased 10 fifty by the end OF
: 1913. The developments due to the
efforts OF the Aerial league led the
reichstag to pass a plan providing foI
an expenditure of $50. 200. 900 for mill
tary a%eronautics In the following Ave
I years.
During the first month OF 1914 the
inducements offered by the AeriaI
: League OF Germany led TO the breaking
by German aviators Of all the world
records. BY the middle OF July the
, nonstop endurance record was carried
up to "a hours and II minutes by
ord to 26,246 feet by Heinrich Oelrich
More than 100 other records similaI
10 these were made. For instance
Basser and Landsmann made continu
Gus flights Of IS hours IL minutes and
y II hours 40 minutes. respectively, II
one OF which Landsmann covered 1885
1 miles. This is the longest distance
7 ever Travelled by man in one day
Y Among the records for altitude was
9 the record Of Otto Linnekogel OF 2i.65-
: feet, which il about the height Of
' Mount Mckinley,
n Just as the people In every part OF
France and Germany united we here
y in America can do the same.
u THE American national aeropian,
: fund win be used to train aviators
p provide aviation corps for the nationa
Q guard and naval militia OF the states
}, and United States possessions and pu
~aeroplanes in use for the mail carrying
service to inaccessible places. formini
an a~eronautical reserve. which. whil'
being used daily for peaceful purposes
1. shall be ready for military service II
n case OF need"