Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 291, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1910 — Page 3

MANEUVRING AN ARMAY WITH AEROPLANES

HE great millin tary mapoeuvers 111 picardy by the Second and Third Corps of the French army which took Place early in September, probably were the most scientifically planned and executed of any of the great national war games that the nations of Europe have played as yet. ese manoeuvers the utility of aeroplanes and dirigibles for actual warfare was given its most severe test. The aeroplanes proved to be a “tost marvelous means ol \ transm ittlng orders “id unsurpassed for reconnoitering. The dirlgiblea were used in trans> mltting messages long distances. Paris was supposed to be beleaguered, and one of these giant cylindrical balloons was

Bent across the bills and plains and dropped A Bas el y to its) appointed resting place in tbe heart of tbe French capital, France has the number of air-

en employed in its army of any na- . °°, the world. In the manqeuvers n Picardy eleven aeroplanes and four dirigibles were in use. As the result of these tests the French army's serial fleet will be increased without delay. The military authorities already possess thirty aeroplanes, and orders have been given for thirty more to be delivered as soon as possible. They will consist of ten Bleriot monoplanes and twenty Farman biplanes, seven of which are to be capable of carrying two passengers, besides the pilot, and making a single flight of 180 miles at a minimum speed of thirty-six miles an hour. Prizes have been offered by the minister of war for machines that will fly in excess of this speed. Never before has there been such a great contrast in mimic warfare as in these evolutions in Picardy. Moving along the highways were great automobile wagon trains loaded with supplies for the troops. Far in advance and high up in the air soared the aeroplanes. They seemed like huge-winged birds of prey hovering over the earth ready to swoop down when they sighted their quarry. In reality they were spying out the position of the opposing force which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been hidden by the contour of the country. The aeroplanes moved swiftly to and fro directing the slower progress of the foot soldiers and the cavalry and the supply trains. Because the air-men made the way sure and plain for those upon the earth, the troops lost no time or effort in aimless wanderings, but proceeded directly to their destination by the shortest route. The first and most important principle of the art of war consists of concentrating at a given time at some point in contact with the enemy a force superior to his at that point. One eminent authority expressed it as the principle of “giftin' than fusttest with the mostest men.” The rest of the game of war is a relatively simple operation. It resolves itself into the mere question of comparative man-killing or man-scaring capacity. All other considerations being anywhere near equal, the question of being able to move rapidly is the thing that counts in war. The best of troops are worthless to a commander unless he can have them where be wants them when he wants them, and, moreover, In a condition to do what he wants them to do. The fighting men are useless unless they can reach the place of conflict in time to take part in it, and they are equally without value if the effort to get there exhausts them. That Is why the aeroplanes, are so tremendously useful in spying out the location of the enemy and enabling the troops to reach that point with the very least amount of exertion. But no matter how fast the troops may march they must be fed regularly. That is where* the automobile supply trains come in—huge motor driven trucks that never grow tired. A bursting shell might disable the horses dragging the commissary wagons or the ammunition caissons, but it would take a well placed shot in a vital part of an automobile’s machinery to put it out of commission. Then, too, a wounded cannot be repaired, but a wounded motor truck can be patched up unless it is blown into smithereens. The problem -of food supplies is one of the great things in war. It is an old and trite saying that an army really travels upon its belly. An army 1> a clty Aung down suddenly, over night, as it were, in the country. It moves day by day in such a manner as to require constant attention and changes of plan as to its subsistence. It cannot move a step faster than its food supply travels and it <*“ maintain a position only as long as it i« fMMdy fed there. An

NEW AND OLD METHODS OF CONVEYING INFORMATION IN WAR

W \ army with a full stomach I will fight every step of the J w ay if it has to retreat. If It is hungry the retreat .will be turned into a rout. In the French army quite as much attention is paid to giving the soldiers the kind of food they have been accustomed to and plenty of it at regular Intervals as to anything else. American army officers who have watched the big manoeuvers, like those In Picardy, say two Frenchmen can live well on what one American civilian cook wastes. Yet it is quite likely the French soldier can march as far and be just as fresh at the end of the journey as the American. The French are ahead of the Germans in the matter of cooking scientifically. Also the French soldier knows about as well as any In the world that his ration must be made to last for the full period of time for which It is Issued, and that once It is eaten or wasted or given away the balance of the period will be a foodless one, be It- twenty-spur hours or three days. This is an Important thing for the soldier to realize, for the gross weight of one day’s rations for an army of 150,000 men is 520,141 pounds. It takes more than 100 automobile trucks, such as those used for the French army, to haul a day’s supplies of food. But all this vast machinery Is necessary. Napoleon once said: “According to the laws of

“The Black Death"

The plague, or Asiatic cholera, or as it used to be called, “the black death," has been spreading of late in Europe. In Russia, where the people are dirtiest and most superstitious, the plague thrives best. Seventy thousand persons are known to have died of this attack in Russia already. This is not surprising, for the inhabitants, instead of cleaning their wells, cleaning their bodies, and using their brains, get out the little ikons or Images which the Greek church sells at a considerable profit, and to these little Images superstitious peasants pray—the prayers being interrupted in thousands of cases by death from the plague. There is nothing more tragic in all the history of man than the record of ‘.“the black death” in Europe. 'ln the fourteenth century one epidemic after another spread among the people. Twenty-five millions of human beings are believed to have perished in thia single series of epidemics. The rich and the poor alike were affected. In Oxford two-thirds of the student population died. In Constantinople the people died at the rate of 10,000 a day. —Charms, incantations, fear, filth, ignorance and superstition fed the disease. Curious results came of the long period of panic and of dying. The famous “dance of death,” in which desperate human beings parodied and made fun of the plague, Illustrating the “dance of death” with grinning skulls and skeletons, was one feature of the epidemic. Another, curiously enough, was in England, the tremendous rise in the cost of labor. The workmen died so fast that there were few left to do the work, and, following the law of supply and demand, the few that could work were offered extravagant wages—although laws were passed to keep the wages down. And it is said that this snddeu rise in wages laid the foundation of the emancipation of working people in England. The plague in Europe appears now in the old familiar way—breaking out here and there, always in filth and in ignorance, spreading gradually. The disease is not thordughly understood now. But the method of fighting it is understood. The people must be well fed —a strong man may* have the disease germs with him, resist them and rid his system of them. The

war every general who loses his lines of communication deserves death.” For if once the foe successfully interrupts the flow of food to his opponent’s firing line his victory is practically assured. These great manoeuvers of large bodies of armed men are a common thing in Europe and are beginning to be common tn this country. Civilians often wonder wherein is the sense of spending hours, days, weeks, teaching a man to stand in a certain fashion, to step in a certain way or to carry a gun in a certain manner. They ask themselves what difference it makes whether the soldier faces to the right, or to the left about, or whether he rubs shoulders with the same man or a different one day after day. To these people it seems like a waste of time training large bodies of men to step a pace this way or that and to do it instinctively, automatically, always just the same, so they could not do it In any other way to save their lives. Yet although all this may seem trifling and purposeless it is like the Interminable polishing and oiling of a delicate mechanism. It is the process by which is manufactured a human machine that will work cheerfully to exhaustion, starve without a murmur,. or march up to the cannon’s mouth merely because the voice they have been trained to recognize tells them to. It is the means by which the hallmark of proficiency is placed upon the professional soldier, and that is the ultimate end of these great manoeuvers.

weak, half-fed man dies—that is why the plague was often so violent in the old days just after a famine. As far back as the fourteenth century Gabriel de Mussis observed that those who escaped the plague gave ft to others with whom they came in contact. They gave it to others because they had the plague within themselves; their essential tract was infected with the disease, and this disease they scattered. It is some comfort to know that the disease can only be acquired by actually swallowing the disease germs. The man who will be sufficiently careful need not get the plague. If you will drink only water that you know to be clean, and only from vessels that you know to be clean; if you eat no fruit that has not been carefully cooked, or carefully peeled with an absolutely clean knife, and if all the food that you eat is well cooked and eaten when freshly cooked, you will not get the plague. The main thing is not to worry about it in this country. There is lit* tie chance, probably nppossibility whatever, of a plague of the old kind among us. The work that ia_not done by the little sacred images of the Russian peasants is done very well by good sewers, plenty of disinfectants, plenty of soap and hot water, and a little common sense.

Does Opposition Create Love?

There is one thing that parents and guardians never seem to learn, and that is, how opposition fans the flame of love. Charley is not rich enough to satisfy their ideal of the man who shall marry pretty Molly—or James, perchance is too young, or too something else to their minds. Forthwith one or the other young man is criticised, sniffed at and generally belittled—with the inevitable result that Molly becomes his champion and loves him a thousands times better for every sharp wor<Tor snub that he receives. And even more apparent is I 'the result when a mother and sister strive to turn the current of a son and brother’s love. Every chivalrous Impulse carries him to the side of the girt who is abused, and drives him, perhaps, to the very end against which his family ia struggling.

LIGHT PLAYERS IN DEMAND

Gridiron Stars Need Not Possess Great Weight, as Agility and Speed Figure In Contests. Light, fleet-footed backs are In demand this year for all the college football teams. Under the new rules the light player has at last come into his own. This does not mean that the back field can be composed of men in the lightweight class. But the day of the ponderous, heavy backs seems to be a thing of the past. A player weighing from 150 to 180 pounds has the call for the positions this year. The abolishment of the sturdy, catapult type of back is due to the change in the rules dealing with the old style of line plunging play. No longer Is it legal for the human battering-ram to hurl three or more men as interference at an opposing line. Mass play has been effectually abolished. And so the character of the game has nndergone a great'change from the days of the flying wedge. That the big college teams realize the futility of playing heavy men in the back field is shown by the number of shifts made this year. The heavy men had their try-outs early in the season and they failed to make as much headway as the lighter players. In some cases the experiment proved rather costly. Harvard was one of the first to realize the value of light men in the back field. Evidence of this was shown when Minot, an ATI-American back of last year, was shifted to a place in the line. Minot’s plunges through opposing lines last season netted the Crimson many big gains, but with the ’restrictions on this style of play this season the coaches decided he would be more valuable on the line. Later in the year Princeton made a similar shift. Captain Eddie Hart, reckoned one of the best line plungers in the country, was taken out of the back field after the Lafayette game and placed in the line. In the game with Carlisle Hart more than won his spurs as an aggressive line man. He opened up some big gaps for the backs to tear through. Coach Ted Coy of Yale was another football director to startle the experts when he placed Howe in at full ■ back. Last season Howe was the choice for quarter back and it was expected he would play that position this year. He is heavy enough under the new rules, but he does not measure up in weight by m'any pounds to some of the old-time full backs. Perhaps the forward pass had had much to do with giving the light men their opportunity. Surely that, coupled with the necessity of end runs, has worked a big change In the complexion of the attack. To be successful the forward pass must be hurled and received by a player quick on his feet, one able to get started with the ball at top speed. While lacking Inconcentration of attack and a bit weak on the defense, Princeton has one of the fastest back fields In the country. Sparks, Pendleton and Ballou make up a combination hard to beat. Pendleton Is counted one of the best runners In a broken field of recent years, and Sparks shows plenty of dash In his attempts to skirt the ends. Ballou Is fast on his feet and at the same time an able punter. Against Houser of Carlisle he made an excellent showing, outklcking the Indian by many yards. Nor are the Tigers without their usual drop kicker. Pendleton has acquitted himself well in the early games and seems capable of dropping the ball over the cross bar from any point almost within the 40-yard line. The list of star Princeton kickers is a long one. Somehow Nassau secures a good goal kicker almost every year. While Harvard has been rolling up big scores on its opponents Yale and Princeton have not been doing so well Yale was scored on by Syracuse, beaten by the Army and held to . a no score tle> by Vanderbilt Princeton started off well enough by scoring 18 points on Stevens, but only managed to score 12 on New York university. Villa Nova was easy for the Orange and Blaqk, but the Tigers barely won by a score of 3 to 0 over Lafayette. They defeated the Indians, 6 to 0.

DEATH NOT DUE TO FOOTBALL

Autopsy Reveals Real Cause of Freshman’s Demise at Cornell—- — Died of Heart Disease. That Lauren B. Paine of Duluth, the freshman who died at Cornell Infirmary the other night, did not die from injuries sustained in football practise was made known after an autopsy upon the body by Dr. Charles A. Bentz, the Buffalo pathologist. The findings confirmed the opinion of the football coaches and others connected with tjier game and removes all doubts as ,Jo the playing of the balance of the scheduled year. The findings are contained in the following telegram sent by President J. O. Scburman to Franklin Paine, the boy’s father: “Dr. Bentz of Buffalo made a postmortem examination and has just submitted to me the following signed report: From the it is my opinion that the patient died of unavoidable acute dilatation of the heart, associated with arterial disease and a gastro entero colitis. There was no evidence of anything due to football injury. The gastro entero colitis was the most important cause of the dilatation.’ I should add that Dr. Bentz Is a member of the department of pathology of the University of Buffalo and has made thousands of autopsies."

AFTER MIDDLE WEIGHT TITLE

The coming middle-weight champion of the world, in the- estimation of many good boxing judges, is Frank Klaus, of Pittsburg. Klaus has come into ring prominence within the past year and is growing better every day. His friends believe that he is the logical successor of Stanley Ketchel, being a fighter along the same lines as the unfortunate Grand Rapids boxer, who fell by an assassin’s bullet. Klaus is-23 years of age. He has been in the boxing game for some time, but his reputation had not

YALE NOT RUNNING SMOOTH

Team Is Expected to Improve Great Deal, However, Under Work of Its Expert Coaches. Yale doesn’t stand as Impressively as usual for superiority on the gridiron by anything evidenced as yet this year. Captain Daly hasn’t a coherent, smooth running football machine at his disposal. The team hasn’t got the punch, the power to forge a swift, sure attack when it Is needed. It is expected to improve a great deal, however, under the work of Its expert coaches. Enough games have been played and the season has advanced far enough to make the assertion that the chief aim of those who worked so hard last winter as members of the rules committee has been accompllsh-

Captain Daly of Yale.

ed. The game is much safer and the players are open to fewer and less serious injuries. The game is less exhausting and freer from much unnecessary roughness, which more than anything else opened the way to constant unfavorable criticism. There are bound to be some injuries. It could not be otherwise, in such a strenuous sport, but the injuries up to this time have been of a minor kind, except in two or three cases. Although Yale has suffered more than any other team by the new rules, Head Coach Ted Coy is far from knocking the new code. “Give them a chance,” says the greatest of Yale players. "Despite the fact that people claim there is just as much chance for injury as there. was of yore, the game as it is now played is . not as dangerous as before. And I believe that from a spectator’s viewpoint the new game is much more interesting and exciting. Every play can be seen now, whereas before, when the old rules were in vogue, attack after attack on the line could not be fully appreciated by the spectators, inasmuch as they couldn’t tell who carried the ball.”

Papke Scores Knockout.

Billy Papke, who claims the middleweight championship of the world, the other day at Sydney, N. 8. W., knocked out Williams, champion of Victoria, In the sixth round.

Frank Klaus of Pittsburg.

spread far until recently. He stands 5 feet 7% inches and is of sturdy build. He is not especially clever but has a punch 18-earat fine and the courage of a lion. He loves to mix up things while in the ring and does not mind taking two or three blows to land one of his pile drivers. Klaus has fought good battles with Ketchel, Papke and Harry Lewis. He had no trouble defeating Jimmy Gardner. He is out after the middleweight title and stands ready to meet any of the other fighters who claim it.

SPORTING GOSSIP

Many of the greatest baseball stars come from the farm, and it is not surprising that they go back after retiring from the game. Trees and herbaceous plants are to be planted around Comiskey's new baseball garden. It is the ambition of every prise fighter nowadays to grab a championship and get into vaudeville. Sam Langford, the knock-out pugilist, says he is tired of the stage. There is too much sham and not enough reality about such life to sat- ‘ isfy Sam’s aesthetic taste for the beautiful. A westerner is to be head of. the United States Golf association. Hackenschmidt’s declaration that he would meet Gotch, should the real world’s champion emerge from retirement, has stirred up the wrestling fans from Missouri. Hackenschmldt wants to fly in an airship. He is not afraid of flying falls. Fielder Jones, former manager of the White Sox, is reported as saying that he has no intention of returning to baseball at present and that he prefers to live on his fruit farm in Oregon. If they can hold cross-country runs in the city why not cross-city runs In the country? Capt. Pat Page’s Maroop baseball team has downed the Japanese in straight falls. The jin jltsu, however, was barred. European wrestlers, like Halley’s comet, always come back, but they come oftener. Suppose Wrestler Gotch should suddenly decide to emerge from retirement. Would Hackenschmldt call oft that American tour? ; - William Rourke, owner of the Omaha Western league baseball team, announced plans for a 130,000 ball park, to be built there this* year. The plans include a steel grand stand and Improved field.

Sammy Smith Outpointed Goodman.

Young Sammy Smith of Philadelphia outpointed Jack Goodman of New York city in a fast ten-round bout before the National Sporting club in the latter city the other night. The fighting was furious * throughout with Smith showing to advantage, except in the sixth round, which was Goodman's.

F. H. Grubb, the English vegetarian cycling club rider, accomplished a fine performance in beating the Eastern English counties' 100 ‘ miles cycling record. Despite the wind, he covered the distance in five .hours, one minute, twenty-two seconds, as against the previous best time of five hours, ten minutes, twelve seconds.

100 Mlle Bicycle Record.