Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-25 | Page 50 | Aircraft to Make Pacific Main Traveled Ocean within Ten Years

Aircraft to Make Pacific Main ' Traveled Ocean Within Ten Years By HENRY WOODHOUSE. (Mcviber of the Board of Governors, Aero Club of America, and the Best Known Authority on Military Aeronautics in the Country.) THE Pacific Ocean is soon , ' to., be th e : y , world's central; s X; basin. succeeding s s i the Atlantic, which Ns v became the cential NN basin, succeeding I the Mediterranean & i Sea upon the ad 4 i. vent of the steam L t ' ship. : - - - ', This will be ; 1 - brought about bv - N the advent ol : t --- . ' faster transpoita tion. aerial trans- ' ';-:-----j-y"1 portation, combined ' with the comiuer- riioto aiiiyi-idit by ihe . , , , . Into: i!:ttio:uil l illu .o: cial development or South and Central America, the northwestern northwest-ern part of the United States, Australia, Japan and China. This change is bound to (.nine within ti'ii ynrs. .m;-! in (ho years that will follow the countries of South and Central America and Australia will develop into large nations. When the U-53 rose to the surface in American waters after having crossed the ocean, and a few hours later swept the coast, destroying six merchant ships in qniek succession, the state " of things changed. It was a. most, fundamental change. It means that our isolation has gone, our dream of invulnerability has been shattered, and looking ahead into the not distant future we can see that aircraft soon will cross the oceans, putting down the time between continents by more than two-thirds. two-thirds. Other nations count their submarines by the hundreds and their aircraft by the thousands, while we, the country winch gave the world both the submarine and the aeroplane, are barely taking baby steps to "test" these modern instruments of warfare. We are living in a dynamic age, which is creating extraordinary conditions, and we cannot and must not try to avoid the responsibilities re-sponsibilities which this change in the status of things brings to us, the younger generatinn living in the western hemisphere. Upon the young generation of the western west-ern hemisphere falls the task of safnguard-li::r.!':i!.v. safnguard-li::r.!':i!.v. Whoflw this hpmjsphere Is