Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-09-18
new War WEAPONS
DISCUSSED At PH|LA,
MEET OF EXPERTS

Philadelphia, Sept. 17-New de-
velopments In aerial warfare that
render certain world war methods
of strategy obsolete were declared
today by government experts before
a gathering of scientists here in hon.
or of the centenary of the Franklin
Institute.
The end of transportation of great
armies overseas; bombing of cities by
unnamed and automatically operat-
ed airplanes: a new aerial camera
that nuilifies camOufiage"; wiping
out Of battleship with q single air
bomb, and the possible paralyzing
Of an entire nation by combination
of new chemical discoveries were
among the new weapons of war dis
cussed.
The session. presided over by Rear
Admiral w. A. Moffett. had as speak
ers, Major General Patrick, chief of
the army air service; Major General
Squier, signal corps expert, and DIR.
Joseph S. Ames of Johns Hopkins
University, member of the govern
ment advisory council on aeronaut-
les.
Referring TO the ''manless' air.
plans, General Squier asked VINO
shall say what limits to impose upon
new ideas of attack If, unhappily,
war sho1.d come again."
Just as we now give harmless
, anaesthetic to an individual for a
surgical operation" he said. 80 we
may be able in future to put a whole
nation to sleep for as hours by Il
combination of new chemical dis
coveries with adio-controlled man
less airplanes."
He warned against the possible de-
velopment of unique instruments oil
war by a single country, and recon-
mended a world wide net of inter-
communications liking radio, land
lines and submarine cables as "a
powerful agency for preventing war
through rendering less likely secret
developments Of new ideas.
General Patrick, stating that the
army already possessed an "aut omat-
ic pilot" that flies airplanes without
anyone aboard. expressed the be-
lief that their control by radio was
only matter of brief development
and that whole flocks" of such
planes. controlled by a man in dis
tant airplane. would in future OPP
crate against hostile cities, attacking
at the will of the remote pilot.
I'VE have really gone so far" Cen
eral Patrick said, las to now believe
that transportation of an expedition
airy force across the seas is an i'm
! possibility. If the Germans had
| known in the world war what we
! know now, few of our million men
The general made a plea for con
servation of helium gas for use in
| dirigible aircraft. The gas. he said
| as being wasted by industries in this
| country at the rate Of SOC, 1000 600
cubic feet annually. The air chief
said that Great Britain was about to
build. an airship twice as big as the
giant navy dirigible. Shenandoah.
| Before another sectional meeting
held at the University of Pennsyl-
vania. DR.. w. D. Coolidge. assistant
! director of the research laboratory
of the General Electric Company
| described a new type portable X-ray
, machine. Weighing 80 pounds
| about the size of an automobile stor-
age battery, fool-proof and operating
| from the ordinary household light
! ing circuit. DR.. Coolidge said the
/ machine promised to bring X-ray in
| to much wider use.
1t would prove useful. he said. tc
! the builder. the plumber. the cleo
triCian. and so forth since it would
be just as easy to look through walls
and floors as it is for the doctor to
see the bones of the human body. II
would also prove q great help to the
customs inspector in searching for
secret chambers in trunks and bags
| and would be useful to jewellers in
examining precious stones to deter
mine whether they were genuine, he
added.