Norwich bulletin., 1917-07-19

than it would be to send them out without guns or ammunition, Or food Aeroplanes have become perhaps the most important part Of the equipment of an army today. This France and England and Germany a.ike have rec ognized. If the United States should fail to recognize this, it will pay dearly, in men, in blood, and in defeat, for it's ignorance and it's obstinacy. And this is not all As aeroplanes becoming with every tick of the c Srf<. to mean more.
 England may still control the seas; but for this control Germany is mak- ing. her, and all her allies, pay bit ter price Like it, or like it not, we must admit that so far the German submarine, in it's sphere, is supreme. Checked it can be, but it cannot as yet be scotched.
 On land. armies can be locked for preponderance of heavy artillery may mean a mile or so advance. But every mile of such advance, means months of preparation and the careful hoard ing of munitions.
 On one frontier, and one frontier alone is Germany unprotected, open and vulnerable. That is the air.
 And it is to this frontier that the United States struggling into war un- ready and unequipped, should turn it's face
 For, as scouting aeroplanes have become the eyes of an army, so have grown to be the wea pons with which it can reach a foe protected by de- lenses on land and sea. The air alone
 is the Snguarded clement. And 1t will not be unguarded long.
 Soldiers and guns and supplies will be long in reaching our Allies. But aeroplanes and aviators we can send them. 'and swiftly; and Americans make of the best aviators in the
 It is possibe. and more than pos sible, that victory on land and sea lie with victory in the air. The com mand of the air means that we see while the Germans become blind. It means the best defense yet found against the depredat tions of the sub- marines. And developed to it's pos sible limits. it means great, new to use. Ten thousand aeroplanes. properly manned and equipped, would insure the utter demoralization of the Germans on the western front
 So far the Germans have been the first to take advantage of every new invention. They have taken our ideas and turned them against ourselves; and for us has been the humiliating position of trying to overtake the dis astrous results of Our own creations | Let not the airpane prove another Frahkenstein. Rather let us take this l new weapon that is ours and use it to l the full of our strength and its pos | abilities.
 And it is to be remembered that | delays cost money, blood and men | Every hour, yes. every minute that | we spend in argument over this and l that and what not, means a human l life in payment. Is it worth | it, do you think?
 We are asking our men to give up l their lives in defense of America Let l us not be slow, nor niggard:y. in giv- ] ing them eyes with which to see, and | weapons with which to fight
 A billion dollars-whatever and all I that may be needed-should be given | for airplanes. and given now, The | best brains Of the country stand ready 1 to see that it is rightly spent He who l would haggle and bosgIe when human 1 lives must pay, has no place in Amer l ica today.
 A chance to come to the forefront | at last is ours. In Gods name, let us | take it before it be too late!