The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-05-20
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wipe out the defenders Of trenches
with unerring certainty. Thrown
from large tractor-type alrplanes or
from big fighting air-cruisers, the
enemy's position would be made UNI
tenable.
an the face of these arcing rays"
says Mr.. Randell. transportation OF |
food, of ammunition and other sup
plies above ground would be made i'm
possible The weaker acrs thrown
from battleplanes would be sufficient
to fire an ammunition train, while the
strongest ones, II reflected from the
big land batteries, would explode the'I
most carefully protected magazines
In the following description Mr..
Randall paints vivid picture OF what
would happen with this machine in
action: an q few moments every
enemy airplane or any fleet OF them
no matter what their numbers-would
fall to earth, crumpled wreck! Al
the touch of q button, lance-llke
bolt of electricity would suddenlv
shoot forward with inconceiVahie
speed, accompanied by tremendous
clap of thunder And what moment
before had been soaring airplahe
would be a flaming mass. and. the IN
slant. a few charred parts dropping
to earth like burned-out rocket.
ain holes or craters in NO Mans
Land scout could Turk with his
deadly weapon, connected by wires
with the generators and the concen-
traitors behind his lines When the
enemy charged, he could sweep the
whole line as they passed him and
annihilate each successive wave OF In
fantry."
Mr.. Randall says that few electrical
engineers in this country care to de-
clare arbitrarily whether or not all
or any part of this can be accomplish
ed. but in this connection he quotes
40 follows the chief engineer of enc
of the largest electrical concerns IN
the world:
~ can say that know this has been
done or will be done-but | don't dare
suggest that it cannot be done. we
can reflect light and heat and rays OF
other kinds-why cannot this too be
accomplished?
"This much we all know-that once
this problem is solved there VIII ut
no more war If the allies were pos
sessed of equipment that would per
NIT ire arcing at distance Of pow
erful electric currents the war would
he won in 30 days, and our t"c'f
could march unchallenged into Der
lin.
"This much we know too. War ha
, always been contest of WIS IN
mechanical genius. Armor was IT
vented to meet the attack CT swor'
and smear. and it was applied TO Bat
, tleships and land vehicles to stop sho
q and shell; the gas mask was devise
IN combat the horrors Of chlorine
I sound detectors and nets to protec
t ships from submarines, and so o
= down the years of military histor!
q each new weapon has brought fort
q another to neutralize the deadly Ell
o. feet of the first Combined Germa
n ingenuity has put into the field tn
/ most fiendish machines of destructio
+ the world has ever known, and the
# are today directed against our me
s now at the front.
"why is it not possible, then, to pre-
n duce a weapon more terrible tina
# any so far created-a weapon so pow
v erful In its destructive force that
n would annihilate whole armies an
< fleets on the sea and in the air, an
|. sever this endless chain of life-takin
\. ideas which are constantly bein
z. brought forward?"