Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-09-12

abnormally high cost II seerna n nt,,,
that the senders cannot or will not reallye
the almost complete irnpossIbiiity Of get
uns s sooos through the blockade, and con-
the attempt '' "'
Medals occupy a prominent pos,,ion In
this contraband collection. I was par,,c'
ularly interested in bronze medal struck
oy tne Germans 70 commemorate the sink
ING OF the ill-fated Lusitania ON one
sloe was picture Of the big liner. hut
quite unacceptable picture. For she
oristled with 30 many huge guns and cam
mons ana weird instruments that one might
Wen De forgiven for taking her 20 be a
battle cruiser instead OF passenger boat
on the other side of the medal was a
glowing eulogy Of that deed which drowned
SO many women and little children. There
was high praise for the men who did II.
and below was engraved the date of the
Victory" An apoplectic old Highland gen
tleman who caught sight OF that strange
tribute few into such a passion Of rase
ana disgust that he very nearly had a AZ.
All these articles, SO / am told are
merely interned for the duration OF the
war, and will duly be sent TO their allotted
destinations the moment that peace is de.
clared
Perhaps the most interesting things in
the whole collection were two iron crosses
AaNhA Ntitlhny 10 TWO eNlleu Niermnnq
with accompanying letters. The letters
stated that as the wearing Of the inclosed
decorations might cause some small degree
or unpleasantness to the wearers Il would
be best TO make a statement that they had
1870. VI
COLLECTION OF ARMoR
In another part Of London there is ar
interesting collection OF battered helmet,
and metal armor which have saved manS
soldiers life In the present conflict.
Lloyd George, Minister OF War, made a
recent statement that the steel helmet,
worn by the British had preserved thou.
sands Of lives and that protective shield.
could be developed very considerably.
A question which Is interesting every on,
at the moment is whether II would be nos
sible for soldiers TO go into battle CLAD
in metal armor from head to foot, as die
the knights OF OLD.
The old-time armor was only built 70,
resisting sword-thrusts, and whenever gun,
and gunpowder were used in warfare
armor was discarded as useless for de-
fensive purposes
But now discussion wages around IN,
question of adopting highly wrought stee
armor as protection against superhigl
explosives
steel helmets are chiefly a protectio,
against shrapnel," said a fighting man, 'aT,
stop machine gun or rife bullet al 40,
yards they would have to be three time
as thick and therefore of unbearabl,
weight.
"Armor plates could be worn for the pro
lection OF the heart. But here again tn,
weight would be a drawback, for such I
plate would weigh at least twelve pound,
and considerably hamper the movements
OF the wearer, especially when one take
into consideration that a soldier is alread,
loaded with rifle equipment, empty sand
bags, bombs and other paraphernalia."
Nevertheless, experiments continue TO b,
made. and day may come when the sol
diers of the Allies will go into battle carry
ing shields of quarter-inch steel plate, jus
as their ancestors did in the far-back cen
turtles