The Ekalaka eagle., 1916-01-14
Naturally Better Means Of Pro-
lection Against Cold Weather
Have Been Adopted This Year
For Soldiers at the Front, but
Severe Weather Will Bother
Even the Most Experienced
Commander Forecasts Are
Valuable.

" nished the stage for the first
three months of the most |
stupendous war in the history of the
world, the attention of war experts
and military men generally is centered
on the effects that zero weather, with
Its billiards, its SHOWS, rains and
sleets, its frozen rivers and muddy
roads, naturally has on the operations
Of the several armies. OF course the
various armies are better fortified !
against the cold this year than they
were last, and thousands of precau
tions have been devised for the COM
fort of the soldiers.
Few persons-even those who follow
tntently the movements of the kaiser
and the allies-pause to realize what a
tremendous part the weather may play
In the drama now being enacted on the
continent Of Europe; how the gravest
results depend on the atmospheric con-
ditions this winter
That the strategists of the fighting
forces have considered these possibili-
ties and have fitted their plans accord
ingly has been evident ever since the
commencement Of hostilides. In all
the maneuvers Is plainly written the
purpose to obtain the most advanta-
geous winter quarters before the ice
season Is full upon them.
These winter bases of operation are
considered by experts to be of vital
moment. The possible and variant eff
fects Of weather upon armies and their
maneuvers in any season are nearly
as numerous and tickle as the atmos-
pheric conditions themselves. Cold and
heat, snow. rain, hail. sleet and wind,
with their resultant distresses to man
and beast and their arrangement OF
mechanism. Of supply and ammunition
trains, artillery and. in these days of
air craft Of all kinds. have to be esti-
mated as factor Of high potentiality
In the plans Of the strategists on the
land, while on sea they make hostile
operations a problem Of the gravest
difficulty in northern waters.
What Can Science Do?
To what extent science may be able
to mitigate or defy the rigors Of win
ter in the present conflict is a problem
upon which the military chieftains
have not spoken for the public ear. 1t
may be safely concluded, however, that
while man has achieved such triumphs
over the elements as the successful
operation of the aeroplane and the dir
igible balloon and the submarine tor
pedo boat he cannot defy absolutely
the hardships of the closed season.
It is generally believed that the ex-
tensiveness of this winters operations
will be measured by the ordinary prac-
teal use to which the present methods
Of transportation in the continental ar
mics can be put The development Of
the dirigible balloons carrying power
may prove to be paramount factor in
the determination OF this winters is
sues.
At the same time the motor tractors.
which have been used with such signal
advantage in the transportation of ar
tillery, ammunition and supplies, may
show themselves to be so far superior
to the usual difficulties Of winter travel
as to make open campaigning possible
during great part OF the supposedly
closed season.
In this respect, too, it must be re-
membered that the road systems Of
the territory now being fought over,
while at first among the finest in the
world, have been severely cut up by
the heavy artillery and motor tractors.
1t would seem, indeed. that Ger
many at least appreciates the value
Of the dirigible balloon for transporta-
tion Of military stores, for experts are
disinclined to believe that Germany's
recent rush orders for the construction
Of more Of these craft to increase her
mir feet to 100 We're merely for bomb
dropping and accommodating. The fact
that the German dirigibles of the lat
est Zeppelin type are much larger than
their predecessors appears to corrobo-
gate this theory.
II this carrying power of the dirigi-