The Wilmington morning star., 1940-03-19
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
By JACK STINNETT

WASHINGTON, March 1S.-Thls is the story
of a big stink in the United States senate.
sedate senators, walking through the second
floor halls of the capitol past the door of the
senate military affairs committee, sniff9d the
odor and scowled. The noses of senate guards,
catching the pungent aroma, twitched. Every
one around looked apprehensively at the closed
mmitt room. No one dared investigate. The
mi was in secret session.
It smelled like something burning. 1t was
something burning fistful of stenographic
abracadabra that told what may have been
one Of the s%trangest secrets of the day-the
exact formula of Lester P. Barlow's liquid
oxygen.carbon aerial mines.
Utter Futility
1t happened the other day. Here's how. Sen
ators Nye and Gillette and Representative
Church Of Illinois are sponsors Of a resolution
to look into the possibilities of the Barlow
bomb. The resolution came before the senate
committee. Mr.. Barlow was called in.
Mr.. Barlow is an inventor and temperamental,
On occasion, he can be very outspoken. On
this occasion he was so outspoken that he had
the senators %gasping. He not only described
the death and destruction which his invention
will cause. He declared that the nation which
owns it will be impregnable and create in the
world a sense of utter futility Of war. And
then Mr.. Barlow tossed a verbal bomb, just to
give the senators an idea of his capabilities.
Without even lowering his voice, he reeled off
the chemical formula Of his invention.
Aghast committeeman asked: Have you told
thja IN ANYONE heforec To repreSentatiVeS of
any foreign nation? Mr.. Barlow said emphati.
cally no.
The committee passed a motion to have the
testimony burned. A wastebasket was placed on
the committeeman table, the stenographic re-
port dumped into it. A match was applied and
while the committe looked solemnly on, Mr..
Barlow's secret went up in smoke.
Reporters smelled the smoke and a story but
when they arrived. grim-faced senators shook
their heads through the haze and held up
s%hushing hands to silence questions.
Demonstration?
The liquid oxygen carbon aerial mine is not
the first occasion of Mr.. Barlow's dealings with
the government. A few years ago, the u. 8.
court OF claims allowed him something like
100000 for his inventions on engines and arms
Of death during the World war. Before that,
he worked with Pancho Villa, but not after
the United States took a hand in the affairs
Of that ~colorful Mexicano.
Mr.. Barlow wants to demonstrate to the
government the killing powers of his new
bomb. The committee wants the army and
navy experts to look on. Mr.. Barlow says he
will use live animals to prove. killing radius of
the waves Of death that spread for unheard-of
distances FROM the bomb explosion.
He assures the committee that. in no case,
can there be any suffering to the dumb ami.
mails trotted out for this little show.
Mr.. Church reports: HE says the death of
such animals will be much quicker than any
means used in the packing houses. BY using
dumb animals in these decorating tests. he has
stated that it will be very convincing that war
is futile"
Some Of the boys in the ordnance division of
the army are skeptical. They insist such bombs
are not practicable. They might go boom while
being handled, they claim.
Mr.. Barlow says not. He says his new bomb
can be toted about with as much safety as IL
it were a cap-plstoi.
We shall see what we shall see. It isn't of+o.
that these secret committees call attention ~
themselves, by raising a stink in the canito1
! corridors.