The Washington times. [volume], March 31, 1918, FINAL EDITION, Page 4, Image 4

About The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
T3r)jJs!WHPj
Are Germans Using
BflHUUIY
OPERATED GUN
E
FOR 14.YEARS
On week agt the world marveled
at the report that super-cannon were
bombarding; Paris from a distance of
seventy-five miles. Scientists, inven
tors and ordnance experts'wer ealmost
& unit In saying- It was an Impossible
feat. The laity simply agreed, "It
can't t done."
- Today all virtually admit not only
the- possibility but the existence of
-such 'a trun. The bombardment of
Paris has continued for eight days.
Seven such guns are believed to be in
Action from the forests of St. Cobaln.
Comparatively, the damage being done
is negligible. The apparent object or
the Mg guns Is to make the French
believe that Paris Is under fire.
Even to the sieople of Germany, de
tails of the type of the gun are still
lacking. Its accomplishments were
almost as great a, surprise to Germany
as to the rest of the world.
May Be Birkeland Invention.
There are some who contend that
the gun Is based on a paten I secured
In Washington, D. C, on. March IE,
1804, by Xrlstlan Birkeland a Swede.
Jrho hasecUred thfoucti "the Patent
yrnce in this city half a dozen patents
en various Inventions.
The Blrkeland gun is an electro
magnetic gnn, operated by electricity
and claimed by the inventor to be.
noiseless ana smokeless, and capable
of accomplishing feats which no gun
now in Nexlstence has been able to
goal.
"For throwing an Iron projectile
weighing two tons and containing
1.600 pounds of nltrogelatln at an In
itial speed of 1,000 feet per second,"
ays the tnventor"I make use of a
run of a length of about ninety feet,
the projectile being about nine feet
long and having a diameter of about
aahsetetn Inches."
Electricity Is Propellent.
a, series of solenoids, "whose contact
"tens electrify the projectile as It
passes through the gun. furnish velocity.
Which Is Increased as 'the vroiectlie
moves from contact with one solenoid to
. fhj other. Each contributes to accel
erate the -speed of the nrolectlle.
"Released from one set of contact arms,
wnicn are electneauy cnarged. the pro-
gecuin rusnes to the mouth of the can
boo. Beginlng at the breech of the gun.
the projectile Is handed from one sole
noid to another until it reaches the
mouth and is discharged.
.Th velocity gained while making Its
course through the big gun depends on
Jba'number of solenoids. Therefore, the
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fflurftrcnth at
ssMssKLdBlslstea&flssssssssMssssW
IBVEsIsBBBBBBBBBBSBBBBbIHBBIsBIIsBbK. r JSBBBBBBBBHBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBWBBSCSBSK!3b
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Photo above is from drawing of the electromagnetic gun in
vented fourteen years ago by Kristian Birkeland, a Swede, in Wash
ington, and; which is believed by some to have formed the pasic prin
Inventor does not undertake to stat
nowtiar a projectile nunea irom one
of these guns will be carried.
V i Carries Any Distance.
"With a sufficient number of . solenoids.
accepting his theory as correct, a pro
jectile could be sent any distance.
Unlike other cannon, there Is no but
tress In the breech of the gun against
which pressure Is exerted.
Only wherf the projectile leaves the
mouth of the gun will there be formed
spark, which Is blown out The In
sulations may "be so constructed that
the gun will withstand considerable
heating.
The principle, of the electro magnetic
gun is. not only applicable to a single
barrel gun. but may be applied for a
cannon'of two, three, or four barrels, as
shown In one of the drawings above.
"Ionaoa to Berlin" Gnn.
Hudson Maxim, the Inventor and
scientist, declares that he coold build
aygun that would carry from London
to Berlin.
"1 do 'not, urge any such -plan," 4il
mtA lif ... llr hs -.. I
would
mau & wy MUb mc.o.w tun mus
be Worth the powder. The
thing comes Under the head of freak
ttnde:
ch is
artillery, whlc!
Just where the gun
belongs.'
Charles jr. Schwab, head of the
Bethlehem Steel Company, says there
Is now being built for the United
Rta.in f!nvrntnnt pirn thftt 'will
carry a distance of fifty-nine miles.
WITH I.OU13ST PRICES
Opn. V. 8. I
Pstrnf Offli-o I
Reserve System
0.
President" :
II Sireei
H 5sW 59 II
Principle
pleasurea&usuai,
We Demand a Kebate m Fiddling and Dancing
For Our War Funds.'
By MRS. GRANNY RYLON.
Why is it we canjiever contrib
ute to a war fund like the Red
Cross. Belgian babies, men blind
ed in battle, or any othWorthy 1
in the way of fiddling and danc
ing? Well give $2, $3, or $5 for any
of these things, if the list of pat
ronesses looks good to us, but we
insist on having our "lizard leap,"
- as usual.
Our Eternal Bargain Hunting.
Are we whistling in the dark.to
keep up our courage, or has bar
gain hunting' eaten into our souls
bo (completely- that we can't give a
cup of cold water to quench a dy
ing soldier's thirst without some
sort of junketing on the side?
The answer is, this is a long-distance
war, and we have' not yet
begun to realize. we are actuqjly
involved. If our windows were
rattling with the thunder of bat
tie, as windows are rattling today
along the English coast, we'd
wake up from our trance and ap
preciate fully that to win the war
wed have to do more than dance
with the Longevity. Battalion,
Swivel Chair Array.
To IVIn Mc Most Fait and Praj-.
We'd know that to win we must
deny ourselves, and give in" prayer
and fasting, blood and tears; that
the war is our wsr-and not some
lamentable casualty at the antip
odes, that wo are graciously
pleased to ameliorate by dancing
and Addling, at so much the head.
Berlm must have Indulged in a
good many Oott.sel Danks! the
other morning when their papers
announced that .Russia had given
up, Roumanla had given up, Uw
throne of Courland had been of
fered to the Kaiser, and hundreds
of thousands of men released for
work on the western front, and
Washington, D. C. was indulging
in a camouflage ball! Camouflage,
could we have -expressed our Idea
of the war more eplgrammatlcally?
IThat M. Tardleu Said In Baltimore.
And In the midst of all this fid
dling and festivity M. Andro Tar
dleu, French high commissioner,
addressed an audience In Baltimore
and told them that the wheat
rations oflhe French soldiers at
the front had been cut. The
French soldier now gets four
ounces less than he got In Jan
uary. The civilian ration has been
cut to less than halt that of the sol
diers' ration. Brewing has been
abolished to save barley, and no
more cereals are fed to animals,
with the result that the French
have had to klir off their cattle.
In consequence the reduction of
other foods has been reduced, and'
reduced again. Sugar, oils, and
fats have been cut to the vanish
ing point
Appalling French Figures.
This drastic food regime has
been borne without a murmur by
the French, who have mobilized an
army of 7,000,000 men out of a
population of 35,000,000 and have
lost nearly 1,000,000 men killed and
another 1,000,000 wounded.
Into this sorely stricken land,
we are about to send our boys as
fast as ships can carry them, does
it not occur to American men and
women that there are more prac
tical ways of helping things along,
than by riddling and dancing.
' Our Gastronomic Patriotism.
And when our patriotism is not
terpsichorean; it is too largely
gastronomic the gapers are full
.gtnitti&itea'Ursewing.-teasj"
THE" WASHINGTON TIDIES;
of Gun Patented in3 Washington to Bombard Paris?
ciple" of the gun now claimed to be bombarding Paris. The Birkeland
gun is noiseless and smokeless" and the projectile is thrown by force
generated, through the use of electricity. . -
PATRIOTS
"war-kitchen luncheons" and -the
eternal din, din, din, of our hur
rah dinners. All winter Wash
ington has been like a bonanza
town in the old West, she went to
sleep n delightful Southern city I
una sne wanea up a roarings capi
tal, the change seems to demand
violent social expression, our over
wrought nerves express themselves
in feasting and fiddling, dancing
and dining.
The-various Peacock AUejsawJ.
-Preening Promenades blossom!
with strange exotic folk, the liket
of which Washington had never
seen, until a few months ago. Thej
men have a slick and rather sin
ister look and their talk is never
in smaller change than millions.
Yet some of them noble disinter
ested patriots that they are are
working for a dollar a year!
Preening Promenade and Poster
Women.
The women with them look pos
terish; their clothes shriek to com
rnand attention; they paint thicker
than the chorus; there is a curious
something about their walk that
suggests blanc mange. Last Sun
day, in a certain Preening Prome
nade, I saw one of these ladies, buy
a paper. She never glanced at
the headlines that told of battle,
murder, and sudden death. She
discarded the news section of the
bulky New York sheet entirely,
and turned to the genuine thrills
of the fashion page. And, in a
voice that suggested early educa
tional gaps, she read to her com
panion: "Jenny Fsvors the Bus
tle." Nothing else from France
appealed to her interest
This is typical of the profiteer
ing peerage, in all the warring
countries. UerUinly our own
women of the smart set have not
offended by their extravagance in
clothes, to judge by the plaints of
dressmakers and women's clothes
shops. Or to look at their clothes,
for that matter.
Saving a Sordid Business.
But they have been patriotic
along tho lines of least resistance:
how many of them have put their
households on a war rationing
basis; how many of them have
fought against the waste going on
in their own kitchens; how many
of them have food products weigh
ed, -at home, to find out which
tradesmen give sixteen ounces to
the pound, and which do not?
These measures are dull. If not
positively sordid no becoming uni
form cheers the eye, no suave
chairman hands out pretty speeches
about our magnificently patriotic
achievement in listening to a
duchess sing charmingly at $5 per
head, or there Is no splurge to It
like going to the Camouflage Ball
as "innocence-at-home."
If we are of the nervous type we
have danced and dined, or if we are
phlegmatic, we have knitted. Some
times we have done all three and
wondered why, despite these
things, the unspeakable Hun still
flourished?
A Shtion of Polyannas.,
Knitting and croquet have been
regarded as the two great safety
valves, for the Inmates of psycho-T
pathlc Institutions, they are both
soothing. It must be due to the
soothing Influence of the needles ,
that we are becoming a nation of
War Pollyanna's. "Just feeling"
that everything la coming out
splendidly. There must be fresh
effort In saving and transporting
food to Trance, we must, as the
wife of our Secretly of Stato has
aaldtS&TQieTerx.Lour oX-ths dayy
SUNDAY; MAIRCH :3K
I FOE GUN USES
SHELL INVENTED BY
.. -.
1 1
Us Ui
Robert Lee Wright, formerly of
Los Anseles, but for the past year a
resident of washing-ton, told a Times
reporter last night that -pre dis
patches describing the projectiles being-
hurled ori Parts by the Germans
convince him that the Germans are
using- the same principle of a. pro
jectile he InventecTsome months ago
and turned over to the "War and
Navy Departments of the United
States.
projectile Js its "p6ln" He attaches
which' lie says -eliminates, much of
mo iricuon UK now prevents saeus
with tbe usual points from attaining-
any considerable distance.
Mr. Wright Claims that a projectile
built on the principle he has devel
oped will carry 30 to 00 per cent
-further on the same charge of pow
der or propellant than the projec
tiles -now In common use.
The United Staates -authorities
have been in possession of his inven-
MAN
LAIM
Send for
Swift & Company s 1918 Year Book
It shows that Swift & Company sells the meat
from a steer for less money than die live steer cost!
Proceeds from the sale of the hide, fat, and other by
products covered all expense of dressing, refrigeration, freight
sellingvexpense and the profit of $1.29 per steer as shown
by Swift & Company's 1917 figures as follows:
Average price paid for live cattls ,?, .$84.45
Average price received for meat .68.97
Average price received for by-products 24.09
Total received 93.06
This leaves fer expenses and profit 8.61
Of which the profit per steer was 1.29
There
CO
SJ
1918.
i i ' I I I i r r &
t i i i I i i r-" ' -e-i ;
.'"- -i 9
Drawing showing the breech of the Birkeland electromagnetic ga, aad the arrangement " of th
solenoids whose antennae or arms project against the projeetSe u it passes through the caaaoB. Th
projectile is passed from one series of solenoid-wisdiags to nnother. The Telocity is increased ia pro
portion to the number of solenoid-windings.
KSI Jbm8 BSSSb! BSBSbI BBSS'
KSM JsnsSS SSSSr BSSb &
B 'sBfiOV 9 Hw BSsl
Ebb I SJ f- bbbB HE
Bra I xl Ib9 HbbI H
L U n H 1
Ki gINisf ST B
ebbbbbbT ACi IbHH' lMr9 bbbbbbB
IHI I p8SB fflffiM jrHs I IeE3
11 Wm V I
The electromagnetic gun may be
made with multiple chambers for
intensely rapid firing.
tlons relating to several types of Nl TV, court-martialed for drua'&en
projectlles since July of last year. he"nes,, eo Jn reviewing the findings to-
says, and satisfactory tests have
been made of them.
The secret of long-range guns lies
not In the gun itself, but Jn the pro
jectile, Jir. wrignt claims, ana nis
contention Is that with the present
ordnance this Government should be
able to develop a projectile that will
easuy carry iuo mues or, more.
are many other interesting and instructive , ,
facts and figures in the Year Book.
We want to send our 1918 Year Book, to anyone, anywhere fraa
for the asking. Address Swift & Company, Union Stock Yards, Chicago,
Swift & Company, U. &
T
LABOR LEADERS
TRYING TO SEHLE
KANSAS CITT, Mo. March X Labor
leaders today declared that theIegaUtr
of the general sympathetic strike- which
has been on for three days In an effort
to force the Laundry Owners' Associa
tion to make, a settlement with Its em
ployes. Is expected to be questioned by
at least a part 1) the international offi
cers of the various unions who are ex
pected toarrive here today. Several of
the International officers are already
herev , .
'A conference is called for this after
noon by Patrick Gill, federal co&dUator,
In an attempt to settle the dispute
The. number of men 'and women ost
announced today as 38JS8- by the
secretary of the strike committee.
PRESIDENT REMITS
KAN
CITYSTRIKE
FINE FOR DROKEHimSt
A fine of S200 in addition to dis
missal from the service was deemed
by President Wilson too great punish
ment in the case-of First Xlaut. Amos
V. Cooper, Medical Corps. Camp Cody.
day, the President remitted the fine.
The dismissal order was sustained.
Other court-martials approved were:
FIrstt Lieut. Edward J. Cox, 128th
Field Artlllerv. Cum CodTr rlmnl.n
ness. dlsmlssalr First Lieut. John V.
Kelly. 30Sth Field Artillery. Cams Dlx.
x. j., absence without leave. dumissalA
1
v
l
LIBERTY BONO BILL
PASSED BY HOUSE
NT
Tne great "Liberty bond. bilT la
creasing -authorization for Liberty
loans by S4.6ee.T3ee.eift was paaiea
by the House last nlht UBaaIawHlr
ana without s, roil call. '
The measure flxe the Interest rats
at 4U per" cent.
The bllf will be rushed through the
Senate early this week,- as It Is es
sential tojfhe third loan, campaign
starting- js5 Saturday.
Passes la saert Time.
The House, passed the-blrna. shorter
time "than' -.any- prerlous.Jmpormt
measure. r
But there Was some undercnWcut nt
sentiment "against It despite this.
The outstanding features of- tho Mil
are: '
increases Llbertv hm. .Mtv-t-
.. -.
Jnxes Liberty loan Interest rata at
U per cent for rest of war.
Increases authorisation of afcort '
time certificates by 4,eee4eo.eee. er
to 8ee,9ee,oee, sJaco.Aaaerlca eater
ed thenar;.
Creates -ar fond of -B per, cent set
each issue to protect the Liberty feoad
market, the Secretary of the Treas
ury being authorized to buy up bonds
when he considers necessary. .
Makes future issues. Including- the
next loan, Bos-cojtvertlble. hut al
lows bonds of first' two. Issues- to be
exchanged for those of the tJard It-
sue.
A.
r
WITHOUT 0
ISSE
V!
IV. I
:
A
- 5
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