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Airships Must Soon Revolutionize All Warfare.

FORTY powers will soon assemble at The Hague to discuss the abolition of war. At the same time, knowing that the armaments of the nations were vastly increased instead of diminished after the last peace conference, rules of conflict will be revised. Most uncertain of questions is whether the forty powers will or will not rescind the 1899 prohibition against the throwing of projectiles or explosives from balloons.

For since the last Hague congress the nations have gone on adding to their facilities for battling from the air. Progress in aerial locomotion has been so swift that it is expected some countries will refuse to bind themselves not to use the enormous new advantages they have acquired--as England projectiles filled with deleterious gases.
Said a member of the United States balloon corps, here last week in connection with the equipment of the new aerodrome at Fort Omaha:

"Airships will do more than any one agency I can think of to make war unpopular. On that account The Hague might as  well indorse their  use. Fortify every inch of frontier and coast with the heaviest artillery, arm and mass the whole population behind them, and you will still not be able to repel the enemy who flies high in air and drops dynamite upon your 'impregnable' works and multitudes of soldiers. Navies, mine-strewn channels, any number of great Sandy Hook 16-inch guns would be useless to protect New York against an air squadron once set free from the enemy's ships out at sea!

Not many days ago came this Associated Press cable dispatch:

NEUFAHR WASSER, West Prussia, March 25.--Artillery practice against balloons began here to-day. Two free balloons, released at sea were fired on as they floated landwards.

One of them was torn by three shrapnel shells and came down. The other floated inland uninjured.

Both must have been low in air, military men say, and approaching from a predetermined position." or both would have escaped. "Besides," it was added, "these were free balloons. Range would be very difficult to [[?]] had there been men in the balloon [[rip]] changing their altitude and direction. Once the balloons got immediately overhead any artillery we now have could touch them. Bullet-holes would, it has been found, have no real effect - they are too minute. Before you could by bullets release its gas the balloon, or airship, would have dropped its dynamite and made off, probably straight up to a higher altitude, whence, out of range, it could steer homeward."

Recently Augustus Post, scientific secretary of the Aero Club of America, went down in a lake submarine boat off Connecticut. he was much impressed. "But," he remarked to a World reporter, "no sooner has this wonderful under-water engine of war been made practicable than the means of discovering where it is and of fighting it become plain. It is the airship - or even the simple balloon!

"You know that from a balloon you can see to a considerable depth in water. Haven't you seen  hawks poise high in air, then dive straight down and come up with their fish? If rules of war did not prohibit, you could easily find submarine and drop your projectile or explosive down upon it. Of course, the water would be some protection-water like air, is a solid if you hit it hard enough. The submarine under water would be at the mercy of the balloon in the air; it could not shoot back.

"New guns will  need  to be invented in order to disable airships or dirigible balloons. Mortars have not sufficient elevation. I suppose the new guns would need to have a spring recoil. All guns must have a recoil; and to shoot directly upward a sufficient spring seems the only possibility. In the operations around Richmond in the civil war, you remember that balloons were used for observing and signaling.  The rebels placed their guns on a steep hillside in order to get aim.

"The airship is the natural antagonist of the submarine. Only guns from shore or guns from ships far enough away to be capable of the desired elevation could change such an action from being a one-sided duel."

Before the Royal Military Institute of Great Britain a few weeks ago Major Baden-Powell declared:

"France and Germany have so far advanced [[?]] flight that we may consider the airship a new instrument of war. In six years possibly, in ten years quite certainly, we may expect to see [[?]] in the air under control and in practical use. The very [[?]] Government will obtain them, and their need [[?]] be virtually useless as a first line [[?]] [[rip]] of the United States Signal Service. [[rip]] hat he believes this country is "far [[?]] in [[rip]] machines" and that "there will become [[rip]] soon forthcoming." He is re[rip] brothers, who den [[rip]] who lately [[rip]] we can travel, we do not regard [[?]] twenty-four miles as the limit. The new machine will carry sufficient fuel for a 500-mile trip. An mile-a-minute bicycle rider could take our machine and beat us completely. Our success, we believe was due to our scientific calculations and to the fact that we have made a superior type of machine [[?]]. In the one matter of propellers we have would out theories which, in our opinion, will revolutionize the designing of marine screws as well as make possible the navigation [[rip]]. Any government can have exclusive rights to our invention for a short period if it agrees to our terms [[?]]."

In this country there is mor[[rip]] faith in aeroplanes than in a power-directed balloon, like the airships of France and Germany. Consequently Gen. Allen's [[severe rip]] balloon corps established at Fort Omaha, for which $15,000 was appropriated this year, will be fe[rip] the present simple baloons. One was bought in France, and one was manufacteured on Ninth Avenue, New York, by Leo[[rip]] and is ready to be shipped.
     [[very severe ripping]] a sort of dread [[severe rip]] men who will feel at home in [[rip]] like a ship commander on his bridge or our[[?]] running his automobile." 

Japan is about the only first-er[[?]] which is not taking up war-ballooning; it is delaying until she can adopt the results experiments in the Occident at once.


Eyes of the World on America This Year.

This year the chief practice in using "the great universal highway overhead" is to be in American air.

Through the winning of the first great International Aeronautic Club race by an American, this event has for this year been transferred to St. Louis. Numerous races are to be contested at the Jamestown Exhibition, and while most of the area's $315,000 in prizes are limited to England and the Continent, more demonstrations of advancement are expected from the United States than from [[?]].

The[[guess]] expectations is based chiefly upon the mysterious[[?]] Wright Brothers of Dayton, O. Witnesses bear [[rip]] iony to their flights, and the brothers themselves[[guess]] have made reports to scientific societies-the [[rip]] being to teh Aero Club, of New York, in which[[guess]] they make the prophesy that this year they will[[guess]] "effectually remove all question that the flying [[?]] originated in America"

[[?]] they can "make good" scientists do not know[[guess]] especially Octave Chanute, one of the [[?]] eminent of experimenters, gave his word as follows[[guess]]:

"[[?]], I saw the Wright brothers fly. They improved upon my models by the [[?]]us device of putting the tall in front, and several other ways. At their own expense-[[?]] are not rich they have persued a remarkable [[?]] of experiments. They are born mechanics[[guess]] very quick and deft with their hands. Their [[?]] controlling their machine is most suprising on one[[guess]] occasion, for example, I saw one of the [[?]] land safely while at a speed of fifty miles [[?]].

Owing to the efforts of Sanct[[?]] we have arrived at the dirigible balloon. But it has so far been found impracticable to impart to this frail structure a velocity sufficient to enable it to make headway against anything but the mildest sort of wind. The character of the balloon problem has therefore changed. Velocity of propulsion rather than steerability is now the chief object of research. 

Best of the new achievements in flying are those by the Wrights, of Ohio, who have been able to fly in a 925-pound aeroplane, its tail in front, for thirty-eight minutes, over twenty-four miles of distance, "cutting figure eights" in the air, &c. 
Santos-Dumont has flown in public in Paris 200 feet, ten feet from the ground with a 208 pound aeorplane. De La Vaulx in Paris, at a height of 600 feet, has just safetly flown eleven miles in half an hour, with an aeroplane ninety-six feet long. For airships the best records are those of the lebaudy dirigibles-220 miles in ten hours, making for a certain point then returning. Count Zeppelin, manoeuvring over Lake Constance, has accomplished eighteen miles in one and a half hours, attaining at times 2,500 feet altitude. 


$315,475 in Prizes to Aeronauts in 1907 

Prizes ammounting to 315,475 are offered for aeronautic contests this year. The most importatn of these will take place in the United States as follows:

For the Jamestown Exposition numerous flights are scheduled and several entries have been received thus early. Besides the better-known air-[[?]] flyers, these new ones have entered: Stanislaus Von Wiszensky, New York, with an aluminum flying machine of 150 pounds weight, driven by a 

[[image]]
[[caption]]This Map Shows All For[[cutoff]] Balloon Voyages from St. Louis, Where the International Balloon Races Are to Take Place Next Fall. Prof. Wise's Trip Made in 1850,[[cutoff]] Record Till 1900. It Was Made in the Balloon 'Atlantic,' Containing 60,000 Cubic Feet of Gas, and Covered 1,150 Miles in 19 Hours and[[cutoff]] tes. Prof. Wise's Second Flight in 1878 Came to Grief in Lake Michigan. All the Other Flights Indicated Were of Small Unmanned[[cutoff]] Sent Up in 1904 to 1906 for Experimental Purposes from the United States Meteorological Observatory.

25 horse-power motor: L. Weill, New York, a flying contrivance "without motors;" D. C. Bassett, of South Dakota, who "expects to enter an Airship to compete with anything." Here are the dispositions of time for the suggested contests: Special race, Aero Club championship, May 4; dirigible balloons, June 1; competition of ordinary balloons for distance June 15; for duration, Aug. 3; for objective point, Sept. 7; for altitude, Nov. 16; in pursuit of pilot balloon. Aug. 17. 

Flying devices heavier than air, with motor and operator, will have their day Sept. 14; with motor, Aug. 24; without motor and carrying operator, Sept 14. There will also be competitions in dropping shells (harmless) nearest selected objective point or target, a search for submarines from warships &c., and a competition for longest trip, open during exposition.

At St. Louis, on Oct. 19, the contest for the Bennett International Cup for balloons will take place. Entries have been announced as follows: France, three balloons; Great Britain, three; Germany, three; Spain, three; Italy, two and America, three.

The contests of the year all over the world are as follows:

Le Matin, Paris——$50,000, Paris to London in 1906 217 miles in less than twenty-four hours; open to dirigible balloons or heavier-than-air machines.

Daily Mall, London——$50,000, London to Manchester 161 miles; open only to heavier-than-air machines owned by members of a recognized aero club.

The Car, London——(1) $2,500 (trophy) annually to aeronaut who flies longest distance in United Kingdom without touching ground in a self-propelled heavier-than-air machine; (2) $25 a mile for every mile successfully accomplished in the Daily Mall competition by the machine which completes the longest distance without touching the ground, provided at least twenty-five miles is covered. 

Adams Manufacturing Company, London——$10,000 for any aeroplane that wins the Daily Mail Flight, provided it is entirely manufactured in Great Britain or its dependencies. 

Autocar, London——$2,500 in same connection, provided engine used in the successful aeroplane is made by a British motor-car manufacturer.

Daily Graphic, London——$5,000 to the inventor who produces a heavier-than-air machine which will carry one or more persons through the air from one point to another not less than a mile distant.

J. Norton Griffiths——Challenge Cup to winner of Daily Mall race.

Brookland Automobile Racing Cup——$12,500 to the aeronaut who is successful in flying around the Weybridge track, without touching ground from start to finish, at a height of thirty to fifty feet from the ground. 

Ruinart Pere & Fils——$2,500 to the first aeroplane to fly from French shore to English shore or vice versa; from Cape  

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Progress of Sky Travel to the Present Day.
BALLOONS.
Date Altitude Hours in Air. Miles Flight. Balloon of Pilot. Country.

1753 2,000 .... 27 Charles
1859 .... 39 3/4? John Wise
1863 37,000
1889 31,000
1893 24,000
1899 ....
1900 18,000
1906 ....
1906 29,000
1906 28,930
1906 9,000

Well Known 1907 Models of Airships and Dirigible Balloons to Compete in the Jamestown Races. 

Gris-Ne to Dover; is about nineteen miles. 

Societe des Bains de Mer d'Ostende——$40,000 to any flying machine or dirigible to go from Ostend to Paris in twenty-four hours; distance, 186 miles. 

Henry Deutsch, Paris——$14,000 (trophy) to any flying machine or dirigible to cover 124-mile course. 

Deutsch-Archdeacon, Paris——$10,000 to heavier-than-air machine which accomplished closed circuit of sixty-two miles without touching the ground.

Daily Mall, London——$1,250 for three best models of heavier-than-air machines exhibited at exhibition, London, April 13, 1907. 

Barnum & Bailey——$10,000 fir the purchase of a heavier-than-air machine to be used daily.

Frank Hedges Butler. London——Challenge Cup for the longest distance cov[[rip]] by loons starting from Lon[[rip]]on on a 

Lord Howard De Wald[[rip]]Prize— heavier than air.

Sir David [[severe rip]]mon's [[rip]] For type. 

Bennett International A[[rip]]onaut national contest for ballons o belonging to the Federeh. 

Lahm Cup, $500 value—[[rip]]


Airship—Detro

HUDSON MAXIM, [[rip]]enton stabillite, forsen[[rip]] bat it ligerent employs ballon attack, the other will h[[rip]] 'their

"To counter is the r[[rip]] wa remarked. "Armed with [[rip] ships would meet and [[rip]] eac

"Should some escape, [[rip]] suc the enemy's works wit[[rip]] would inflict could [[rip]] pounds of dynamite d[[rip]] tear up the road an[[rip]] ings. Its area of eff[[rip]] 

"But if the sam[[rip]] dropped upon Fort [[rip]] compish much. 

"If a hundred airs[[rip]] mite, were to pass [[rip]]

Transcription Notes:
image: Sketch of Airship Race IMAGE CAPTIONS POSSIBLY NOT COMPLETE OR DONE, PLEASE CHECK Any word or phrase that is followed by a [[?]] is something unrecognizable while [[rip]] illustrates a place where the paper is ripped, obscuring readability. finished all but bottom right passage