The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-07-09

| is now sheltered. will be in imminent
danger of destruction
General Squier admits that up to
this time the Germans have had the
best Of the war. :rhis Is due to the
new engines of destruction which
they have introduced-the Zeppelins,
| the monster siege guns, and most
important of all, the U-boat.
But our turn has come, he de-
clared in Washington a few days
ago. Millions of men have been
digging themselves into the earth.
Submerged boats have been destroy
ing our ships, and the world is at a
deadlock. The possibilities of the
two long familiar elements, earth
and water, seem to have become ex-
ment, the air, which has distinct
qualities that the others do not
possess. The air is the greatest of
all oceans, without coasts or limits
of any Sort. Let US learn to think
of it in that way. To do so will help,
psychologically, to solve the prob
lem. Instead of thinking of our
selves as living on top of the earth,
let us think of ourselves as living at
the bottom of this hitherto unknown,
limitless ocean. We must learn to
use it as the fish use the sea. We
must win it for our own as the third
great element, for I believe that all
the wars of the future will be fought
in it, and 1 believe that this war will
be won in it.
1T is transparent Men cannot
hide themselves in it by digging. 1t
will not conceal the submarine. You
can neither mine it nor net it. 1t
makes possible a war in three di-
mensions. In the old way a line OF
fortifications on the border meant
protection for an entire country, but
in the new way every square foot of
enemy territory is subject to attack,
regardless of where the armies of
the earth may be holding their lines.
ITO develop all the possibilities OF
fighting in and from the air in this
present war will be Americas great
part. Europe is war weary and ex-
hausted. The personnel of our allies
for the most effective military avia-
ton has been used up, killed in the
infantry, cavalry, and artillery. l
mean the young men between nine
teen and twenty-five years of age
the period of life when men are at
their best for aerial work. In Ger
many this class of personnel has
certainly been exhausted. So 1t re-
mains for us, coming in with fresh
viewpoint to end this thing the first
possible minute.
Nothing else counts. Saving a
week of this war would be cheap at
any price. And the United States,
alone, can make this contribution to
her allies and the world. We can
outman all the other countries in
Volved, friends and foe, and we can
surely outbuild them. So we should
make this a great national plan to
win, to make our contribution to the
cause something that will be dis
tinctly American in conception and
in magnitude. And there must be
promptness at any cost, for the sake
of our own people as well as for the
people of Europe. To win quickly
by the sheer weight of the number
Of our machines means the sending
of the minimum number of men of
the United States to the trenches.
I'VE can train our men for actual
war service in the air in seven
months, comprising eight weeks of
ground work and four months of fly
ing at the training schools in this
country and then a month of in
tensive battle-plane training work in
France. l don't know how many will
be needed. That, again, depends
upon Won HindenDurB. But we want
enough to operate in regiments and
brigades If necessary, to make all
Germany unsafe, to force her to
demobilize her air forces at the front
and send the men and machines back
to protect the cities. This will blind
her artillery and render it helpless
by depriving it of the range finders.
Furthermore, our regiments and
brigades will be able to destroy all
of Germany's interior lines of trans
portation for the movement of troops
and supplies. They will be able to
rob the enemy fleet Of the security it
now enjoys at Kiel An airplane can
now carry and drop thousand
pounds of explosives. If that is not
enough to sink dreadnought, 1t
certainly can disable her for three
or four months.