Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-04-23
SECRET PLANS TO
FOIL ENEMY READY
MANY DEVICES AND COMPOUNDS
HAD BEEN PERFECTED BY
AMERICA AND ALLIES.
THEY WILL NOT BE REVEALED
Tremendous Possibilities in Warfare
of the Airpiane Under Automatic
Control Without Pilot, Successfully
Tested at Fort Worth, Tex.
By EDWARD 3. CLARK.

BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.
hington-Dispatches which have
been received by the war department
in Washington from Fort Worth, Tex,
telling of the exploits of an airplane
under automatic control and with no
man aboard, have aroused deep in
terest, not only because a new war
invention thus is perfected. but be
cause it calls attention TO the many
plans either perfected or in process
of perfection which this country and
its allies had with which 10 bring the
war to an end in case ii could not be
finished by ordinary means of offense.
Most of the war secrets of the gov
eminent have been kept inviolate. The
fact that certain machines or certain
compounds had been invented or dis
covered which would aid In the rapid
prosecution of the war to the end of
victory has been disclosed to the pub
lie, but the mechanism of the inven-
tons and the nature of the compounds
never have been and probably never
will be disclosed, the presumption be-
ing that the United States and the
allies will keep the secrets locked In
their strong boxes until the day comes
when il may be necessary to press
them into the service.
An airplane under automatic con-
troll and with neither pilot nor OBJ
server on board carries with ii great
load of possibilities. If machines Of
this kind had been in possession OF
either of the armies in the field In
Europe, Notifications could have been
destroyed and cities and villages laid
waste without subjecting any man Of
the allies to the danger of death.
Has Great Possibilities.
According to the reports from Texas.
the airplane under automatic control
made a trip of 100 miles and landed
where the men who dispatched 1t
wanted il to land. If this machine
had carried a cargo of high explosives
timed to explode when the landing was
occurring, or so arranged that percus-
sion ensuing from a slight Jar would
IOuCH OIL Iuc HADibnlNtS. piN NsAh
inc what the damage would be.
If the Huns had had a machine of
this kind they could have laid Paris
waste, and their Big Bertha, the long
distance cannon with the projectile
from which they murdered ninety wor-
shipers In the church of st. Gervaise
on Good Friday, 1918, would have
been cast into the shade as weapon
of destruction and assassination.
Many stories have been told about
new gas which the Americans were
ready to use at the French front when
the armistice went into effect. Like
a good many stories of terrible en-
gines of destruction, the tale of the
new gas was considerably exagger-
ated, but enough is known definitely
TO make IL assured that the chemical
compound which was to be used was
much more powerful than anything
that had been used in the field.
1t is not true that the gas would
have killed everything within a great
radius, or that it would have destroyed
all the vegetation for miles around,
nor are some of the other fantastic
stories about it true, but that 1t was
a powerful gas and one with effects
which the enemy would find 1t hard to
meet there can be no doubt. 1t prob
ably was an intensified form of what
is called mustard gas.
Allies Had Many Things Ready.
1t is generally understood in the
circles round about the army and
navy in Washington that these sister
services of the United States and the
allies had various kinds of improved
machines with which TO make warfare
more quickly deadly to the enemy, and
other mechanisms with which TO neu-
tralize the efforts of the Hun to over
come the allies with new contrivances.
Means to detect the presence of sub
marines, means to destroy submarines,
means TO send great loads of high ex-
plosives TO distant points, means to
lure the enemy ships to points where
destruction was certain, and other con-
trivances were ready or nearly ready
for use The question is whether or
not one day the world will see all
these inventions in active operation.
BoIsheVism and Politics.
Just how congress is going to APP
proach the subject of bolshevism.
or rather anarchism, in the United
States, it is hard to say. Re
publican and Democratic members Of
the house and senate already are say
ing some things that fairly may be
called bold. It is TO be noticed, how
ever, that most of these senator's and
members represent districts or states
where the upheaving evils are not so
manifest as they are elsewhere. The
chances are that some members and
senators who like their jobs better
than their duties will wabble on boil
shevism just as they have wabbIed on
other things In the not dim past.
The federal government is limited
to some extent iT its power TO check
mate propaganda of certain kinds. II
viii be a difficult task perhaps for
congress to frame proper legislation,
but some action is assured.