The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1918-02-06
BY ROBERT n. MouLToN

great destructive machines Of
modern warfare lie in wait for
an Opportunity to spring out upon the
enemy, belching forth a breath far
more terrible and deadly than that Of
the tabled dragons. The incautious
prey. seeing nothing dangerous, ap-
! pfoaches too near and Is lost
"Camoufage" is the military term
given this art Of mechanical deception.
and host Of new offices are drafted
into the business of waging war. The
landscape artist and the scene painter
now employ their several abilities In
rendering death-dealing devices,
trenches and vantage points secure
from hostile observation. The concen-
trated ingenuity Of man is daily emu
lating nature in concealing the true
being Of deadly weapons.
"Camoufage" as though we had dis
covered a new method Of warfare, and
had thus again proven the superiority
Of man. Mammoth steel monsters,
sheathed in im1regnable hides Of steel.
rush the foe over seemingly impossible
|
man has invented for the extermi1s
ton OF man. Indestructible moving ga
risons, which house a score Of armed
men, passing over hills. bitches and
wire-entangling barbados
That the enemy may not observe
the approach of this deadly machine.
scaled with plates OF heavy steel, the
artist has been urged into the service
TO conceal the glistening sides of the
tank.
A pot OF paint renders this ally al
most invisible. as though we had found
the invisible cap or coat of myths. The
tanks are painted broken gray and
white. and from hundred yards or
so are indistinguishable from the ter
rain.
Again the landscape artist employs
his talents in No Mans Land. placing
q thicket over a trench. or concealing
q howitzer behind a new-formed knoll
Of green turf.
Long. gray files Of armed men wave
on wave, sweeping toward a low hill
and Enthusiastically the hill
changes into bristling fertilization,
mounted guns and howitzers belching
death TO thousands, and the thicket be-
comes large. armored tank. indie
structible. moving down ranks Of men
like swathes of hay. A massive bowl
der turns out to be a gigantic machine
which brushes over all obstacles. En-
trenchments. painted and covered tC
simulate the surrounding topography
lure the prey into an unrelenting trap.
Thus war has become a great srrug
gle of concealment and deception. Day
after day the strife goes on. man pit
ting his ingenuity against man. in the
most barbarouS contest ever waged
We have found new ways TO fight
amoufiageand the art is developed
day by day What animal craft coulG
be more subtle, more deceiving thar
this?
But IS camoufiage a product of tht
mind of human? Have We truly dis
covered a new method Of waging war
fare and preying upon our foes?
Existence from time immemorial ha:
been a constant process of preying. tbs
stronger and more clever surviving
the weak. All life is a continual !strug
gle between the different forms anG
classes. Large and strong forms prey
upon the lesser. Camoutiage. or de
ception. adaptive coloring and shape
are the weapons scattered TO every
class Of life. plant and animal. Sucf
gifts are lavished upon dumb life BY
nature with three different objects il
view: protection. attraction. and de
struction. Innumerable examples Of
each class might be listed. but only {
few are necessary to bring to atten
tion the more or less obvious fact thai
our "camoutage" is sheer imitation
Of this proclivity of nature.
We have succeeded in penetrating
rhe DEPTHS of the sea and the expanses
of the air, in our contention for gair
and progress. but these accomplish
ments are but of recent perfection
For thousands of years, for millions
shs seas have been inhabited by inny