The Washington herald., 1917-08-12

And when American planes begin to
arrive in shiploads, We can bring
greater pressure to bear on their home
territory than they can on ours, and
so influence the situation at the front
to our great profit"
This line OF argument may not be
palatable. But I have no hesitation
In predicting that II will and must pre-
vail, for 1t is cold military logic.
Value of Airships.
Three interesting points of view on
the a situation have been obtained
for American readers from the peer
who stands for aviation interests in
the House Of Lords, Col. Lord Mon
tagu, of Beaulieu, from the secretary
of the parliamentary committee, Mai.
Burgoyne, and from a lay authority,
c. @. Gray. On these fundamentals
they all agree.
Lord Montagu Of Beaulieu, one Of
the first men in England to take up
aviation seriously, was scoffed at for
demanding, in an interview two years
ago, that the British government build
10000 aeroplanes and win the war in
the air in 1917. He now has his re-
venge upon his critics. Lord Montgu
sun btlitNcS ludl dll dcTOpldDt OIIen-
sive Is the way to victory, and con-
sented to give his views on the air
situation.
THE entry of America into the
war;" he said, important for a vari-
ETY. of reasons, Is doubly important as
regards - possibility of air develop
ment. Reck ing that you must have
five machines on the ground for every
one in the air, 1t is not difficult to
guage the point where America s
aerial assistance would begin to eX-
ercise a dominating sway on the con-
fiict. If next year the Americans can
produce 5000 aeroplanes and keep
5000 in the ;ir. the war will very soon
be over. There Is some prospect of
this help being forthcoming, for the
latest reports speak of an American
program of 1900 machines"
Lord Montagu emphasized the opin-
ion that he has often expressed since
the beginning of the war, that an
aerial offensive is the quickest IL not
the only way to victory. while ap-
preciating to the full the achievements
OF our gallant troops on the western
'front.'" he said, yet I may be ex-
cused for pointing out that, in view
of the terrible obstacles that have to
be overcome, our progress in the geo.
graphical sense, is and must necessar-
lily be slow. and that, since we are
bound to assume that the Germans
will fight every inch of ground back
to the Rhine, no early result of the
war by that means can be hoped for.
Fighting our way to the Rhine in
this fashion suggests that the war
must be prolonged into 1918 and possi-
bly, into 1919, and the military advis-
ers of the allies are consequently un-
der the necessity of asking themselves
II there is not some quicker road to
victory.
Advises Aerial Attacks.
"If we cannot break through in a
short space of time we can at least
get over. There are no trenches and
machine-gun positions in the air. My
suggestion, then, is that our progress
toward victory should be accelerated
by a continuous and vigorous air Of
fensive on a large scale. If there
as a corollary, diminution of German
were a regular system of aerial at
tacks on the munitions-producing
towns of Westphalia. and also on
the bridges of the Rhine, not only
would there follow tremendous de-
struction of the German factories. and.
supplies. but also grave interference
with their transport communications.
such result would have an i'm
mense, and. what is very vital. an
almost immediate effect upon the
power of Germany to continue the