The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1916-01-14
SUBMARINES AND
AEOROPLANEs in WAR,

AEOROPLANES IN WAR;.
Science and invention have made many
changes in the weapons of war, but per.
haps the results of the inventions Of the
new air craft and the new sea craft have
been regarded by the world with more
curiosity than any other modern means
OF destruction.
Until tried in actual service the i'm.
aginasion could hardly conceive any
thing more destructive than the secret
foe from under the depths of the sea OF
q rain of bombs from the skies.
But.while science and invention con.
struct the most devilish weapons for
destruction, science and invention are
also equally proficient in providing de.
fence.
When the heavy, riaed cannon were
CONSTRUCTED, masonry and concrete walls
were made to crumble and fall like card.
board, but now we have seen millions of
men facing each other in lines but few
hundred feet apart, in trenches. practi.
cally immune from the big guns.
When long range muskets were
brought into use and these supplement-.
ed with quick-firing, machine guns that
squirted musket balls il e steady stream
even the military experts declared that
the day of close fighting between large
bodies Of troops had gone. because one
or the other of these bodies would he
annihilated before they could come to-
gether. And yet today the opposing
armies in E0rope are fighting each other
with bayonets aud hand grenades and
have even added the ancient slings and
bow.guns with which to throw the gre
nades.
The aeroplanes and submarines have
been distinct failure so far as methods
OF wholesale destruction. As destruc-
tive weapons they have as yet only prov
an Of incidental value. The aeroplanes
are very use full as scouts but the ''raids''
on peaceful cities have resulted IN but
little loss of life and no serious destruc-
ton OF property, and on the other hand
they have reused a sentiment OF horror
and hostility that far outweighed any
military success.
The history Of the submarine is much
the same except that it has not proven
of special value in some other sphere
like the aeroplane.
The sinking of about one in q thou.
sand of English merchant ships has not
interfered but very little with sea tran
sportatiou while the sinking of unarmed-
passenger ships has created a general
feeling against the inhumanity of the
acts, 80 that even Germany and Austria
have practically said that they would do
SO no more.
As fighters the submarines have not
as yet distinguished themselves. The
British navy has been busy ever since
the war began, hunting the German
usbmarines the submarines have not
hunted for the British cruisers and des.
troyers, while no British submarine has
passed through the Kiel canal.
Many navy men before the war were
arguing that the building of more dread
naughts was useless because the big
levlathans would be at the mercy OF the
little submarine, but we do not hear
that the building Of dreadnaughts has
been abandoned on account Of the ex.
paoits OF the submarine in the present
war.
What two or three thousand to
submarine with i've thousand mile
radius Of action might do his perhaps
still question. and it is still unsolved
as to the destructive powers of vast
feet of aeroplsnes each of which can
carry tons Of bombs, but the present
types are no more valuable than many
other branches Of war service.
The weak place in all these war con.
trivances is that while they may be de-
structive to the enemy, nothing has yet
been invented that provides absolute SO.
|curity to the warrior machinists who runs
then. The submarine il blind, aud
must show itself at least oace before it
strikes. and the aviator must Ay low to
drop hls bombs with any precision.
Some day somebody may invent some
~ .s,t.