The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-05-02

By FREDERICK PALMER, who has
bsea only oficisl representative Of the
entire American press with the alliesL
Copyright ISIS. by the Wheeler Syndicate.
Inc.
wv re have dealt with the navy
NV and with the guns which rep
w resent the machinery Of war
and skill in handling it as a
means Of defense In place Of the nesh
and blood Of mothers sons.
Two other kinds Of machinery have
been tried out in this war for the
hrst time
Both were the product of American
inventive genius. Holland. an Amer
lean, gave the world the first practical
submarine. Wright, an American. who
began life repairing bicycles. was the
first man to fy. We were the orig
inators. but there We stopped.
Europe took the results Of our pic-
neering and went on with their devei-
opment. England and Germany car
ned the submarine to its present en-
cheney and France and Germany the
flying machine, while we stood ON the
side lines looking on. leaving others to
lead with our own inventions.
In nothing Is II so easy to be SEN
sational as about the war In the air
and under the sea. Here the fiction
writer Is limited only by his imagina-
ton, and the lunatic may consider
himself q military expert In novels
and articles about war in the air cities
have fallen like paper under the blow
pipe and continents have rocked. Let
Us have the facts. the actual lessons of
the war.
The Zeppelin . Failure to Date.
The Zeppelin is a practical failure TO
data goblin to frighten little boys,
but not fighting men. So far as l can
learn, no more than twenty British
soldiers have been killed and wounded
by all the Zeppelin raids over England.
These were hit In the course of the
bombardment Of civilian populations.
They were not in action. Their total
is about one to fifty Of the Zeppelin
crews which have been killed as the
result Of the Zeppelin adventures of
this war. They are not for the use of
the American army and navy.
London could be easily defended
from them If it were worth while. It
Is only a matter of building guns of
sufficient caliber to carry to a sufficient
altitude. The British needed all the
big guns they could make at the front,
and therefore they used popguns to fire
at the aerial invaders, whose every
visit increased recruiting. After a fall
Of bombs women who had been hold
ing back their men folks sent them to
the front. Bombardment OF civil pop
ulations is a military mistake. 1t
makes your enemy fight the harder.
Our Army PitifulIy Weak In Air.
The development Of the aeroplane
has been amazing In all respects, We
hear little about this, because no Sc
crets are more thoroughly guarded
than those of the aviation services.
Each nation has been using all Of its
wits in improving its planes, and the
only way the other fellow learns his
adversaries latest improvements 10
when an enemy machine falls in his
lines. Our own planes, both army and
navy, pitifully insufficient in numbers
and progress at the start of the war.
are now ridiculous. We have fifteen
third rate planes. not enough to look
after ten mile front They don't
count They are slow, out of date and
would be driven out of the air by the
superior air craft of an enemy.
The planes have taken the place Of
the cavalry as scouts. They are the
''eyes" Of the army. and they spot the
fall Of the shells for the gunners. In
battle each plane flying over the Geld
represents a certain group Of guns. to
which It reports by wireless. II you
have no planes or anti-air craft guns
the enemy will know the location of
all your guns and concentrate on them
and put them out of action. But that
would hardly matter, az your guns
would be of no use anyway II you had
NO planes to tell them whether or not
they hit the target We lack both guns
and planes, so we are consistent In
hdhVPU bhcy dk0 uoAAk NhkGc yves Vi
planes-one for reconnaissance and fire.
control. one for combat and one for
pursuit The only kind we have ara
for reconnaissance and fire control. We
have none to drive OF an enemy'G
planes or to resist an enemy's planes.
Flesh and blood for US. We are toe
chivalrous to our enemy to use ma.
chinery against him. We will allow
him to massacre US with our machin.
cry.
America Without Anti-Air Craft Guns
Since we have no anti-air craft guns,
an enemy aviator could keep low
enough In order to get every single de
tail Of the positions. The anti-aiI
craft guns which move up behind the
lines of all the armies on fast motor
cars. frequently bring down a plane
but that Is only a small part OF theiI
business, which is to hold the enemy's
planes at great height. II q plane
tried to come within two or three thou
sand yards Of any anti-air craft CUR
it wouldn't have any more chance thar
a duck twenty feet away under two
barrels Of a shotgun. Six thousand
feet is hardly safe. Eight thousand Il
more often the rule. At that height
the landscape is pretty vague, and Il
is difficult for the aviator to do his