OCR Text |
Show m mm OTHER NATIONS MUST BUILD AIRSHIPS. The success of Zeppelin's new airship, air-ship, or dirigible balloon, is notice to the armies of the world that a new instrument of war has come into use. Army officers continue to pooh-pooh tho idea, that airships will prove eer-vteeablo eer-vteeablo against fortifications or troops in the open, but why an over-hpad over-hpad bombardment nr attack is not to be feared is yet to be explained. The Zeppelin airship is capable of conveying fifty men at one time. That number of men might open tho way for the invasion of a country; high explosives could be dropped from these monsters of the air; army maneuvers could be accurately noted from a reconnoltcrmg dirigible. There are so many possible applications appli-cations of the airship that little doubt remains as to the necessity of these weapons, and from now on there will be a race to build these aerial machines, ma-chines, and, as a result, great improvements improve-ments may be looked for. We can scarcely realize it, hut tho time is at hand when aerial navigation Is to be recognized as a serviceable mode of trael. |