The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1915-11-26
NEED OF AERIAL
PAREDNESS
Public Must Interest Itself,
Says j. A. St0inm0tz.
CHECK SUBMARINE DANGER.

Expert Declares That After Study Of
Craft an Immense Popular Subsorip-
ton Should Be Raised-TeIls What
People of France and Germany Have
Done In That Respect.
Philadelphia. 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 Jo-
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 serious program
Of national preparedness for defense.
wherein the aeroplane shall play an
important part. The public must do Its
part. It 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.. Steinmet3 con-
tends, must result In immense popular
subscriptions Of money which will
place the United States upon an equal
footing with other nations in this re-
gard.
The war In Europe has shown that
an army might as well try to do battle
without the aid Of aeroplanes as blind
man might try to fight, Mr.. Steinmetz
points out Realizing this, the French
and the Germans built their aeroplane
fleets of today largely by public sub
scriptions and through public interest.
'In February, 1872" says Mr.. Stein
metz, "soon after the first employment
of aeroplanes in the French military
maneuvers demonstrated the potential
ity of the air service, although the
French government failed to allow the
| appropriations necessary to secure an
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 large aerial
feet. This public subscription brought
6,114,S46 francs and gave France 208
aeroplanes, sixty-two landing stations
for aeroplanes and seventy-five trained
aviators.
THE public interest created by the
subscription was tremendous and led
to the immediate consideration of the
aeronautical needs of France by the
government. BY April, 1914, the French
army possessed 1000 aeroplanes and
twenty-eight dirigibles and most com.
plete and efficient equipment.
"Germany's aeroplane fleet was built
almost entirely by the public subscrip-
lions started by the Aerial League of
Germany in 1912, which brought 1884
500 marks. The purpose of the league
was to train within the shortest time
as large number as 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:
1.-THE number of pilots was 230 at the
end of 1912. 1t increased to 900 by the
end of 1913. The constructors Of aero
planes were less than twenty In 1912;
they increased to fifty by the end of
1913. The developments due to the
efforts of the Aerial league led the
reichstag to pass plan providing for
an expenditure of $35,O00,O00 for mill
tary aeronautics In the following five
years.
During the first month Of 1914 the
inducements offered by the Aerial
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 IL minutes by
Reinhold Boehm. and the altitude rec
ord to 26,246 feet by Heinrich Oelrich.
More than 100 other records similar
to these were made. For instance.
Basser and Landsmann made continu-
GUS flights Of 10 hours II minutes and
q hours 40 minutes, respectively. In
one of which Landsmann covered 1885
miles. This Is the longest distance
ever travelled by man In one day.
Among the records for altitude was
the record of Otto Linnekogel Of 21,654
feet, which Is about the height OF
Mount Mckinley.
"Just as the people in every part OF
France and Germany united we here
In America can do the same.
'The American national aeroplane
fund will be used to train aviators,
provide aviation corps for the national
guard and naval militia of the states
and United States possessions and put
aeroplanes in use for the mail carrying
service to inaccessible places, forming
an aeronautical reserve. which. while
being used daily for peaceful purposes.
shall be ready for military service In
case Of need"