The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-23
FORD SUGGESTS RADIO CONTROL
 FOR AIRCRAFT

the automobile manufacturer, who has acquired recent fame as a philan- thropist and peace advocate, dis cussed with Secretary of the Navy Daniels today his ideas about war, peace and the United States navy. The two men were together in MT. Daniels office at the Navy Depart ment for more than an hour, and at the conclusion of their conference each seemed delighted with the other. At the conclusion of the interview MT. 1 Daniels called in all the heads of the navy department bureaus and the newspaper men and an informal re- was present during most of the dis cussion between MT. Ford and Sec retary Daniels.
 1 The specific purpose of the confer | ence, which was sought by MT. Dan 1 iels was to place before MT. Ford the troubles the navy. is having in finding a suitable type of motor for aero pIanesand for submarines. It was finally arranged that MT. Ford is to be furnished with a historical state ment of the navy's struggles with the gasolene engine problem, and that he will be1afforded an opportunity to in- spect a submarine Following these steps, he has promised that he will devote himself to the endeavor to find | a solution for the problems confront | ing the navy in this respect. l MT. Ford had a number of ideas as regards methods of warfare and the means of effecting peace which he placed before Mr.~Dan1els. It devel oped that MT. Ford is proceeding chiefly on the belief that all that is necessary to abolish war is to make | it more terrible than it now is. He indicated that it is his conviction that 1 if a sufficiently destructive weapon is I devised, war will automatically cease through universal horror of it.
 Faith in Small Submarines.
 He has already proposed a tiny sub marine, which, he declares can be ] operated with a gaso1ene engine, as a means to this end He believes and so informed MT. Daniels today, that such submarines if provided in sufn- cient numbers could render batt1eship fleets obsolete and worthless. This morning he launched another l proposal of which no mention has been made heretofore. He declared l that aircraft could be controlled by means of wireless, much as John Hays Hammond has perfected a de- vice for controlling the movements l of small boat in this way. Large numbers of these craft could be sent up in the air, MT. Ford said and by l the release of bombs from them l through the wireless controlling de- vice, enormous destruction could be 1 caused.
 l MT. Ford said the introduction of the air craft he proposes would be so i terrible as to drive the nations of the world into peace,- since, in his belief, could effect the depopulation of vast areas of the earth.
 In introducing MT. Ford to the as- 1 semblage gathered in his office at the close of their interview. MT. Daniels saidS
 Amy Idea ssCan Be Worked Out.''
 MT. Ford believes that man as much against war as he is ought to .l fight against war as bitterly as pos sible, but, nevertheless. his brains are on tap for the government in time of ineed.''
 "One of- the things MT. Ford told me- the secretary continued, ''is that 1 no man ever had an Idea that couldn't be workedt out.'
 MT. Ford echoed this statement of the secretary. "If you can conceive a thing he said, tit can be achieved .'' l When asked about his idea of a submarine with a, stick and pill on the end of it, MT. Ford said:
 t'I know that gas engine will run under water. and I think the plan propose is the proper method for i utilizing a .submarine.
 When asked if the explosion of the 1 s'pill on the end of a stick would not also destroy the submarine itself. MT. Ford replied that it would not if the stick were long enough. How long the stick would have to be was the real l problem. he said.
 ''I believe said MT. Ford, 'tthat there is ingenuity enough in the Americans people to depopulate the earth. If the government were to provide a lot of aeroplanes provided with wireless control, such as I have suggested they would succeed in showing the people the folly of war. It would mean depopulation if war ' were engaged in and such machines were used.''
 MT. Ford said such machines would be very cheap and would not entail l the risk of any human lives on the part of those using them. The engine, he said,s would lift itself, and it was worth only two cents a pound if de- stroyed.
 The Important feature.
 MT. Ford's claim that a. gaso1ene engine can be used fin a; submerged submarine is regarded as by all means the most important feature of his talk nhere today Naval officers of this and other countries have never regarded 1 this as a possi bifity. It was admitted d T today that if MT. Ford can prove his claim, he Will undOubtedly be the
 means of effecting revolution of sub-
 marine warfare. MT. Ford asserts that his gasolene engine will the submarine as well under water as on the surface. If this could be done
 the costly and inefficient electric stor- age batteries, upon which submarines T are now dependent for power when submerged, would be done away with. }. These batteries are likewise danger I ous to human life, for if salt water
 reaches them deadly chlorine gas is
 liberated. It is supposed that the
 men on the F-4 met their deaths in
 this way.
 Following his conference with Sec retary Daniels, MT. Ford was taken tc