The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-10-04
NEW TERRIBLE
ENGINE OF WAR

More than a quarter of a CEN
tury ago wise men said that the in
Yentive genius of man would de-
wise such terribly destructive weap-
ons of warfare that there would be
no more wars. 1t seems that the
present conflict will have at least
1 great influence in bringing about
realization of these prophesies.
The mighty engines of war for use
on land, in the air and on the sea
were undreampt of twenty-five years
ago, or even at the beginning of the
present conflict. 1t is to be hoped
everlasting peace upon the nations of
the earth.
Read the following story from the
Seattle Union Record, printed last
week:
William f. Watkins, a well-known
union man, has invented and had
patented a weapon that has been
named the "silent gun" In reality it
is a bomb throwing machine that is
capable of hurting bombs at the
rate of 800 per minute with an ac-
curacy that is startling. 1t is cap
able of throwing at any angle a
deadly hail of bursting time-fuse
bombs upon enemy trenches with
consuming mixture of gas fumes,
high explosives or molten fire. AS
matter of fact it is capable of
doing so many things that it would
take whole lot of newspaper
space to enumerate them all.
No Noise, No Smoke
The weapon is noiseless and
smokeless, for it is operated by CEN
trifugal pressure. Demonstrations
of small model of the weapon
were recently made in Seattle be-
fore military men and civilians, and
the performance startled them. Mr..
Watkins has letters from these men
attesting the fact. The model threw
missiles with surprising accuracy for
distance of two city blocks, at
the rate of 425 per minute. The
perfected weapon will have a range
of more than a mile and half and
bombs will be hurled into the ranks
of the enemy at the rate of 500 per
minute. The ordnance department
of the United States government has
already taken cognizance of the
weapon by holding Mr. Watkins ac
countable for any plans of its con-
struction that might fall into the
hands of the enemy.
Working on Weapon
Under the direction of Mr.. Wat
kins three shifts of men are now
working on one of the weapons.
This work is being carried on in a
large Seattle manufacturing plant,
where the utmost secrecy is being
maintained. But even though the
workmen may know just what they
are doing there are details in con-
nection with the finishing touches
that are known to but one man, and
that man is William Watkins. AS
soon as the gun is finished it will
be taken to Washington, D, c., for
demonstration before the highest
military authorities. Watkins knows
the gun will be accepted immediate
ly, and military men in Seattle who
have seen it in operation heartily
coincide in this views.
Inventor Not Warlike
The inventor of the "silent gun"
is not partial to warfare. He is
Socialist and opposed to wars in
general. But he is not opposed to
the present struggle.
"We were forced into war;" said
Watkins to the writer, "and now we
must stay with it until Kaiserism
has ceased to exist. have abso-
lutte confidence in the weapon that
| have invented and developed, and
hope to see many of them in OPP
Grafton before next spring. And
they will be in operation"
Has Strong Letters
For half an hour the inventor
talked about the weapon. He eX-
hibited a sheaf of letters from we'll
known military officers and civil
ians-letters that showed that the
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