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Show UNCLE SAM NEEDS AIR FLEET. Ag if the government could not spend enough on land and sea armament, it must now go and put millions more into an aerial navy, they tell us. Gen. James Allen, chief signal officer of the army, in his annual report says that this country is far behind in, the realm of the air, and that we need at least 20 first-clas aeroplanes at once, so that our military men may be. learning how to manage them. Air sailors cannot be created at an hour's notice, says he, and in order to be prepared for war in its new shape we must follow the example of other nations. Already France has ordered a fleet of 100 airships, and all the leading nations are taking the matter of aerial navigation seriously. Uncle Sam, however, always manages to do pretty well in such things, though he i3 slow in getting started, and the prevailing view is that there is no need of getting excited. |