Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1917 — Page 3

WAR AIRPLANE NOW FLIES 140 MILES AN HOUR

French and German Speeders Go ~ t Much Faster Than American Machines. ? - ...... THEY BATTLE 25,003 FEET UP Flight Lieutenant Faulkner Gives Interesting Account of Fights Between Haatilft Bird Fleets in the War Zone Along West-. ern Front. New York.—The swift German Fokker, less than a year ago king of the air on the western front, is now obsotete. , Thts"was* ttre Tiews hroiigtir'iiare by Flight Lieutenant Lloyd Faulkner, of the British army, recently'injured in an airplane when shot down near Ypres. In the desperate competition to build the most efficient hawk of-the air, the Germans themselves have undoubtedly improved over the Fokker type, but a new allied airplane has Just arrived on the front which exceeds by far anything the world has ever seen, according, to the lleutenant’s story. “The new machine, the name of which may not be mentioned, makes 138 miles an hour,” he said. “It is a great surprise and is only arriving on the front now. “The most wonderful feature is Its ability to climb. It can ascend straight up, without banking, and has reached 15,000 feet in seven and a half minutes. “This makes it the ideal machine for Zeppelin work, it can get height quickly enough to catch the dirigible. "Our new machine is the greatest lighting machine in the world and will guarantee that we maintain the supremacy in the air.” Lieutenant Faulkner received his preliminary training as an aviator in the Wright school at Dayton, Ohio. He said the machines used in the United States were way behind those possessed by the belligerent uations. “Our battleplanes weigh two and a half tons,” he said, “and are driven by two Rolls-Royce motors of 250horse power each. They have twin propellers, and can make more than 100 miles an hour. Other big ’planes have 300-horse power motors driving one 0 propeller.

Smaller Machines Faster. “The smaller machines, which carry only a pilot, are much faster. The Sopwlth ‘pup’ makes 138 miles air hour; the Nieuport ‘bullet’ 135 miles; the Spat 140 miles, but all these are surpassed by the new wonder. “At the front our work is divided Into four classes. The first is the reconnoissance, during which we sometimes fly from 100 to 150 miles back of the German trenches. This work is done by regularly organized squadrons, in which the most important machine is the one carrying the camera. The reconnoissance unit is composed of five battleplanes and ten or twelve Nieuport scouts or Sopwith ‘pups.,’ little fast machines, carrying only one pilot and a machine gun. The little machines are the destroy-" ers or guards, for the big battleplanes. The big machines each carry at least two men and two guns. “When in flying and working formation, the reconnoissance squadron Is arranged in this way: The camera battleplane flies at about 5,500 feet, with a fighting battleplane on either side, flying at about 6,000. To the rear, directly behind each of the fighting - battleplanes, are two more battleplanes, flying at 7,000 feet. These five machines fly 100 to 110 miles an hour The little destroyers with their faster speed fly all about them, always ready to attack an enemy squadron. “If the little fellows happen to be off on a bit of their own and the battleplane squadron sees enemy machines the pilots fire their alarm pistols and call the destroyers, who drive off the enemy, unless he is in much superior force, and then there

Is a fight “Flying at six or seven thousand feet, the observation machines are always being “archied,” which means they are being shot at by every sort of gun, even those firing five-pound siiells. Hits by antiaircraft guns are one of the natural risks and we used to bank back and forth, or zig-zag through the air, so as to throw the gqnners off. That does not always work, as I found out when a shell carried away one of my ailerons and I landed In a smash that sent me to the hospital. ' Fokkers Very Speedy. “While doing this reconnoissance work it is always necessary to look out for Fokkers. You’ll see five or six black spots up twenty to twentyfive thousand feet and when they get over you they'll suddenly nose-dive and drop. These Fokkers drive by at a tremendous speed,’firing as they go, and then they scuttle for safety. “The second Important use for airplanes Is artillery observation work. First Lieutenant Vernon Castle was doing this when I last saw him in the late fall, and had been mentioned •in dik-patChes for his excellent work. Before going, up, the pilot arranges his signals with his battery. He, uses wireless. ',2 • “Observation pilots, also watch every movement behind' the enemy's

lines. It has been arranged that It they-see a large or important movement, such as the march of an army division or a large seption of transport, they can give a certain signal, which will call for help from every gun iu that section. . “A tbird use to which we put our machines is night flying, which is mostly bomb work. The Germans, for some reason or other, do not fly at night Our bombers travel in squadrons of 50 to WO. They start out hr the dead of night and fly very low. not more than 300 feet up. It is practically impossible to hit them and there are few casualties among our men. This night bombing was forced, on us by the fact that the Germans move their troops and stores at nighty “The last Important work done at the front is the patrolling. This is done by two unachines acting together and flying at five or six thousand feet. High above them, soaring and watching, at about 20,000 feet, are some of the little, fast fighting machines. Thesfe we know as ‘strafers,’ and it is their object to drop onto any German machine that tries to cross over our lines. This patrol work, like all the other regular flywithout regard to wegther. Pilots have gone up in a 70-mile wind, in snow, sleet and rain. “Phosphorous bomb raids are very popular methods with us for getting rid of the ‘sausage’ balloons the Germans use for observation. We used to wait for dark days for this work. Then we’d swoop down, on the ‘sausages,’ which were usually tied at between 5,000 and 6,000 feet. As we’d drive over them we’d - pull the lever and let a shotver of bombs drop. If it was hit the ‘sausage’ would burst into flames and then you’d see a lot of Germans drop out of its observation car in their parachutes.”

MORGAN OF JAPAN” RETIRES

Shibusawa Quits Bank Post to Boost Friendship Between U. S, and Empire. Los Angeles, Cal.—A declaration, that he had retired from the presidency of the First Bank .of Japan for the purpose of promoting “better friendly feelings between America and Japan,” was made by E. Shibusawa of Tokio, “the Morgan of Japan,” in a letter made public here by John S. Mitchell, president of the chamber of co|umerce. The letter said: “I really

PREFECT IS HOOTED FOR BOY’S ERROR

Lad Hoisted Italian Flag at Half Staff When Francis Joseph Died. MISTAKE CAUSED A RIOT All Sovereigns Looked Alike to the Governor’s Little Servant; Got “In Bad.” Rome. —Strangely enough, there was a city in Italy where a flag was hoisted half staff on the prefect’s residence as a sign of mourning for the death of Emperor. Francis Joseph. This city was Ascoli Piceno in the" Marches, where the prefect, or governor, is one of the most intelligent and patriotic officials in Italy, one who advocated Italy’s war against Austria from the very beginning and sent his two sons to the front, where one of them was killed. Obviously the prefect had no reason tb regret the death of Italy’s hereditary enemy, Francis Joseph, and yet his palace was the only building in Italy where a flag was hoisted half staff. The prefect risked losing his post, too, and it took him some time to justify himself and explain the mistake. Because, of course, it was all a mistake, and this is how it happened :

Early one morning a telegram reached the prefect from Some with the news of the emperor of Austria’s death. The telegram was given to the prefect’s servant, or office boy, to file, andasoffice boys all the world over are generally very smart this particular office boy when he read the telegram came to the conclusion that it was his duty to put out the flag In sign of mourning. Sovereigns Are Sovereigns. It is true that we are at war with Austria, he explained to a fellow servant, hut sovereigns are always sovereigns—in fact, they are each other’s cousins—and when they die official mourning is indispensable. The fellow servant was not convinced and warned the smarter one to be careful. He suggested that before putting out the flag he had better ask the prefect. So the office boy knocked at the prefect's door and asked: “•* “Must we put the flag out at half staff for the emperor’s death, sir?” The prefect «was' busy at his desk, but when he heard the question he turned around and sternly looked at his office boy, ironically saying: “Do you think that it is necessary to ask such a question?” “All right. Sir.’ Please excuse me for troubling you, sir,” said the office boy.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

deem It my mlssljon to devote myself to the endeavor of making both countries the true 1 good friends of each other forever.”

MAD MONK OF RUSSIA

Sergius Michailow Trufanoff, better known as “Illiodor, the Mad Monk of Russia,” was up’to the beginning of the war a chaplain of the imperial court at Petrograd. He was an intimate of Gregory Rasputin, the Siberian peasant priest and court confessor whose death was recently announced. Here is how the “mad monk 7 ’ got his name, according to his own version: “Perhaps I may recall the fact that when people want to kill a dog and need an excuse to do it they spread the report that the dog is mad. Well, in Russia they wanted to kill me, or do away with me in some other fashion and so they told the people I was mad—crazy, perhaps is a better word. So they called me “Illiodor, the crazy monk.”

Gas Kills Dogs.

St. Patd, Minn.—Giiillninnp and Pietro, dog pets of Joseph Demalo, were found dead from gas fumes in their master’s home. They died by their own paws. The room in which they lay was filled with gas. Demalo denies they committed suicide. He says they heard rats in the stove and in attempting to open the door of the oven turned on the gas.

and he rushed out and told his, friendt “You see I was right. The prefect said that it was not necessary to ask such a question.” And within a few minutes the flag was out half staff and a crowd collected outside hooting and jeering at the prefect, whom they called “a dirty Austrian.” Naturally the flag was taken away, the prefect was furious, the smart office boy was kicked out dnd the government had to issue official statements explaining how the mistake occurred. Cardinal as Censor. Another incident in connection with Francis Joseph’s death occurred in Rome, and in a way it is equally amusing. The editor <Jf the Osservatore Romano, the official organ of the Holy See, was instructed by the cardinal secretary of state, Cardinal GasparrL to write an article regretting in mild terms the death of the Catholic emperor. He was warned to be careful about the censor, and accordingly wrote the article emphasizing the deceased’s religion® faith and his attachment to the Holy See. Then he submitted the article to the censor, who passed It for publication. Owing to the Vatican’s neutrality of} course it was only natural that the offi J cial organ of the Holy See should express regret at the death of a Catlw olic sovereign. The censor explained this to the editor, who was encouraged to ask whether there would be any objection if the paper came out with a black border, as was the custom on the death of a Catholic sovereign. The censor said there would be no objection, as he had nothing to do with the makeup- of the paper, but only with what was printed in it, and he added: “You can have as wide a border as you please.”

The editor rushed to the cardinal secretary of state with the proof sheets and Informed him that the censor had not only passed the article but the black border as well. To his surprise Cardinal Gasparri insisted that the black border should be removed. “We have to regret the emperor’s death,” he said, “but we are not bound to go to mourning for him as he was so bitterly hated in Italy that if the paper came out with a black border the people are bound to .wreck your office.” i The editor naturally obeyed and the OsServatdre Romano was not in mourning for Francis Joseph. Everybody, of .course, assumed that the black border had been censored by the censor, but the editor made the mistake to explain that it was Cardinal Gasparri, who censored it, with the result that the cardinal’s popularity increased considerably, while in all probability Austria will protest that the Holy See's neutrality is not complete.

HANDCAR MOWING-MACHINE

The Machine Runs at From Two to Four Miles an Hour, Cutting a Five-Foot **Swath on Each Side of the Track With the Blades.

CUTS DOWN WEEDS

HANDCAR CONVERTED INTO A MOWING-MACHINE. With a Crew of Three Men It Can Remove Obnoxious Growth on Both Sides of the Track at Rapid Rate. The railroad handcar has been converted into a railroad The three men required to operate It are able to do the work of 30 men with scythes, and when the car is mowing at its maximum speed it can cut down from two to four miles of weeds and brush an hour. When the mowing blades are not in operation the car can travel from 18 to 20 miles an hour. The motive power is a six-horsepower gasoline engine. Thomas McGee of Madison, S. D., is the inventor of the machine. He has made the mowing blades vertically adjustable, so that they may be moved into different positions and to different inclinations for mowing upon level or inclined surfaces. Furthermore, the mowing mechanism at each side of the car is controlled independently, so that one mower may be thrown out of operation while the other continues to cut.

The accompanying illustration shows the mowing-machine car with cutting blades raised to pass through centerguards. When the blades are operated they cut a swath five feet wide on Heaeh=slflvoF the car. After the weeds and brush have been removed another machine —the railroad disking machine —is brought into operation in its wake. This machine has a series of disks which smooth down tlie gravel Just beyond th? ends of the ties. —Popular Science Monthly.

When Firing Meant Real Work.

Said an old fireman: “Firing in the early days meant working 24 hours. They’d come around and call you, and you had to go, no matter if you hadn’t an hour’s rest. One time-they came and called me for another run before I got in, even. When I got home there was my father; he was a carpenter at the shops and a railroad man, too. ‘Where in you been?’ he asked me soon as T got in. - . ■ “ ‘Just finished my run,’ said I. “ ‘The caller was here after you an hour ago. I think you’ve been loafing somewhere.’ “We had to stick to firing sometimes two or three days on a stretch. One night I pulled into Albany,” said Bud, who was holding floor just, then, “and I ha dn’t had a wink of sleep for 72 hours straight, and I started for my boarding house in Albany; but the boss called me over. ‘You’ve got to take out this train,’ says he to me. ‘I won’t,’ says I ;Tve had no sleep for 72 hours !* ‘Can’t help it,’ says he, ‘got to go,’ and he took me into the office and showed me a bulletin that promised to lay off a man who disobeyed orders. By the time I got home I was too tired to sleep.”

Germany Adopts Air Brake.

A uniform airbrake for freight trains has been adopted in Germany. What this means is apparent to any American who has seen the German railroads, with nearly every freight car surmounted by a -smallpavilion, in which a man sits to operate' the brakes. Henceforth the railways will he able to dispense with an army of brakemen, and all freight trains will be operated exclusively by the engineer. Representatives of the AustroHungarian railways, as well as those of the German states outside of Prussia, have been in Berlin > recently witnessing the final tests of the new system.

Educational Advertising.

The newspaper reader who overlooks the advertisements misses one of the great educational features of the modern newspaper. In recent years there has been an extraordinary revolution in the conception of the value of publicity and in the methods of employing it. It is significant of more than a higher appreciation of the use of newspaper space on the part of the advertiser. It means that a growing public intelligence demands more considerate treatment and that cleaner ideals In business and politics have made frank publicity profitable.

Controlling One’s Actions.

The whole scheme of/bur voluntary actions, all that>e-d<\from morning to night of evefy day, isbeyond doubt Intrusted to our control. And from our inmost consciousness we do know that, whenever ,we will, we can make ourselves execute whatever we approve, and strangle in its birth whatever we abhor. —Exchange. _

MADE RECORD AS ENGINEER

One of Those Who Have Spread the Fame of American Skill in All Countries. Virgil Gay Bogue, one of the most distinguished civil engineers in America, died on board the Esperanza of the Ward line while returning from Mexico. The end came after a short illness. —Mr. Bogue achlevedfame as a builder of railroads in the United States, in South America and in other parts of the world. His first great triumph came in 1877, when at the age of thirty-one he completed building the most difficult part of the Oroya railroad in Peru, the famous trans-Andean system. The road crosses the Andes at Galera tunnel, the grade elevation being 15,615 feet above the level of the sea. Spider web bridges and curves along the steep slopes and tunnelsform the feature of the difficult work, Mr. Bogue was occupied in this work for eight years and then became manager of the Trajille railroad, also In Peru. Resigning his post in 1879, Mr. Bogue returned to the United States, and the following year waamade an assistant engineer of the Northern Pacific railroad. His first work with the Northern Pacific was the exploration of the Cascade range for the purpose of finding a way through the mountains for the line across the state of Washington to Tacoma and Puget sound. In 1881 he discovered Stampede pass, which, he declared, would solve the railroad problem. Later he supervised the construction, of a two-mi 1 e tunnel at the pass and completed the building of various other sections of the railroad. In 1886 Mr. Bogue became chief engineer of the Union Pacific and served until 1891.

WORK CALLS FOR MILLIONS

Vast Sum Needed for the Improvement of the Railroad Lines Throughout Japan. Probably the largest domestic question awaiting settlement in Japan, says the London Times, is that concerning the alteration of the from the present narrow/JS feet 6 inch) to standard gauge (4 feet 8% inch) the advocates of which have been active for years past. As the result of a resolution of the upper house a commission was appointed tn April last to go into the matter thoroughly and render a final report and recommendations. According to the vice president of the comtnission, Dr. Juichi Soyeda, who is president of the Imperial railroads, the estimates of the expendlture required have been very carefully considered, and it is now calculated that the outside cost of converting the whole of the railroads of the main island of Japan from Shimonoseki to Aomori to the standard gauge would be £89.000,000, and that of converting the trunk lirfe from Tokyo to Shimonoseki (which in any case would be done first) would be £29,000,000.

Workers Under Eight-Hour Law.

According to the latest figures of the interstate commerce commission, there are 1,710,296 persons employed by the railroads of the country. Of this number, only 311,900 can be considered. strictly speaking, as coming under the eight-hour taw. They are the enginemen, firemen, conductors and other trainmen. The figures of the commission show that of the 1,710,296 railroad employees, only 62,021 are engineers, 64.959 firemen, 48,021 conductors, and 136,809 other trainmen, such as brakemen and flagmen. Should the law be considered as applying to telegraphers, it would bring in 40.464 more employees.

Memory's Fragile Link.

Memory depends on continuity of association. When the thread of that continuity is broken, the knowledge of the past is >gone. If, in a state of unconsciousness; one were taken entirely out of his present surroundings: if, falling asleep in one set of circumstances, like Christopher Sly in the play, he were to wake in another, were to wake to entirely new especially, if during that sleep his body were to undergo a change—he would lose on waking all knowledge of his formeC life for want of a connecting link between ■it and the mew. And this, according to one supposition, is precisely what has happened to the soul at birth. —Frederic Henry Hedge.

Spectacular Embellishment

„ “Why do you let your hair grow long?", . - “For 1 the benefit of my audience.*' replied the eminent pianist “It gives the people who don’t really care for music something to amuse them till I get through playing.” ' .

HOME TOWN HELPS

MEANS LOOKING INTO FUTURE - Expert Who Has Made a Study of City Planning Outlines Objects -— —Sought to Be Obtained. Although a wide interest In the sub•Jeetof city planning is manif Jtt. day, both in Europe and America, t Ixzxrxx nnon rg fr* 11 nportu tnf V fl SI tO TIfVI V tv jz jzVIT rry—txS rrg? * *** J -sa«J—what it precisely Is. According to a distinguished authority whom Mr. .Lewis quotes: “City planning simply means getting ready for the future in city growth. It is the guidance into proper channels of a community’s impulses toward a larger and broader life. On . the face of it, it has to do with things physical—the laying out of streets and parks and rapid-transit lines. But its real signicaflnce is far deeper; a proper city plan has a powerful influence for good upon the ment:t 1 an< 1 rn<>r:ll <1 <• v»• h>[lllieiu <>f the people. It is the firm base for' the building of a healthy and happy community.” Mr. Lewis studies in turn, the inception and development of this city planning movement emphasizing the need of Intrusting Its successful executive to “duly authorized city officials or a special commissioner created for the purpose,” the correction of mistakes, and the general problems of transportation'. In the delightful chapter, “Garden Cities,” he declares that the garden city movement goes much further than to provide attractive homes for those who live in or near large cities or centers of Industry. “It is really a protest against the extreme centralization which has lately been the tendency In city development.” Later chapters are devoted to a comparison of city planning legislation in England, Germany and the United States, the municipal progress made under this legislation, methods of financing a city plan, and various municipal land policies. Having indicated in the body of his book “what a city plan Is, how It Is developed, the various problems to be solved- and the conditions wtdeh—

it is necessary to provide for or guard against,” Mr. Lewis points out in his concluding chapters the opportunities and responsibilities of the modern mechanical engineer, who is today making “the most substantial contribution toward the orderly development and administration of our dtles.” Indeed, he declares the basic purpose of his book to be “to bring home to them this responsibility and awaken in them a realization of this opportunity.” — The Planning of the Modern City. A Review of the Principles Governing City Planning. By Nelson P. Lewis.

CONCRETE GROWS IN FAVOR

Use of That Material in House Construction Is Becoming Popular With All Classes of Builders. Since the advent of the concrete block Industry, some rapid steps have been made in house construction. The special facings which it is possible to apply to the concrete blocks make them a solution of almost any problem in house building where something Special is HesTret) ffi ffhWßy the use of white cement in connection with suitable coloring'material almost any shade or tint may be obtained and a very close imitation of highly expensive stone may be built at a reasonable cost. Marble, granite, sandstone and limestone may be imitated with such exactness that there Is no advantage gained in the use of the true material A house Just put up in Watertown is an example of the beautiful effect which may.be obtained by the use of special face concrete blocks applied to the construction of the porch and chimney of a frame house. The facing used in this case is intended to imitate white marble. This facing consists of a mortar made of some brand of white cement and marble chippings. —Boston Herald.

Common Sense Penal Treatment

Davton, O- Used to treat its workhouse prisoners as most other cities treat them—that is, put them in a celt and let them stay there in idleness, eating poor food at the expense of the city until their terms had expired. Under the commission the workhouse has been made clean and all the prisoners given work in the open air. The woman prisoners have been set to work making towels and bed clothing. Male prisoners are taken outdoors and used for city work as day laborers. The result is that the city gets the benefit Of the prisoners’ work and the prisoner gets the moraf and'physical advantage of outdoor exercise. —Exchange.

Waning Tree Life.

Do not forget that old trees'starveto death just as surely as young trees, though by reason of greater bulk and. a far-reachingroot system they do not so quickly show the need of food nor so quickly succumb. Stable manure; dug or plowed in 20 or more feet around the tree will do as much goodas anything. Conifers that are; trimmed up from the bottom and the> soil raked clean or sown to grass right! up to the trunk-generally undergo ai slow but sure loss of vigor. Soil should: be occasionally enriched and dug up deeply and the needles always left f«R a mulch. »’