Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 142, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1917 — SEEK ANTIDOTE FOR SUBMARINE [ARTICLE]

SEEK ANTIDOTE FOR SUBMARINE

Inventors Strive for Means to Rid Sea of Menace to Shipping. EARLY ACTION IN AMERICA Thousands of. Letters Received by Boards ot Inventions In England and United States but Few Practical Ideas Advanced. London. —The New York Herald’s naval correspondent writes: A development of the war which will receive special attention from the historian is that which Is connected with the mobilizing of Inventions for fighting purposes. In Germany science was harnessed to the Moloch of destruction before hostilities began, and all the resources of technical knowledge were brought to bear for the purpose of devising new methods of killing. It ■was the use by the Huns of poison gas and similar contrivances which awakened the allies to the necessity for mobilizing Inventions and the imaginative enterprise of thoughtful men and painstaking investigators. As-a result there were established In Trance and England boards of Invention connected with the naval and

military departments, for the examination and trial of such plans and proposals as seemed to be of value. By these measures the flow of invention was directed to channels from which 4t was hoped might issue a provision of new weapons and new kinds of munitions helpful to the, forces by land and sea. j Early Action by America. With ready forethought America, 'while yet at peace, provided her own bureau of invention. She should b'e, therefore, more ready to utilize her natural inventive genius now that she has become a participant in the war. It is comparatively easy to find men of expert judgment and experience to Inquire Into or advise upon the feasibility of schemes and proposals, mflny of which are only rough hewn but may contain the germ of improvements; but what is less simple is to detach and detail the right kind of officers from the naval and military servlces-to carry forward the work of experiment and investigation to a point of usefulness. Just at present the attention of inventors is directed particularly toward finding an antidote for tlie submarine. It is said that the consulting board of the United States navy received in one -week more than two thousand letters, each containing what the writer believed to be a solution of the submarine menace. How many letters the British board of inventions has re-, ceived on this subject has not been made public, and yet it is manifest that no device has been discovered the practical application of which is an assured success. The explanation of this unsatisfactory state of affairs seems to rest mainly in the inability of the inventor to grasp rightly the factors In the problem. The principal obstacle to effective dealing with the U-boat is its invisibility, its quality of submersion for a considerable length of time, during which it can travel comparatively long distances under water and change its position without discovery by the watchers on the surface. It is true that it must come up at times to recharge its electric accumulators or to give its crew freslr alr. It must more often put its periscope above water, and the circumstances in which its attack is made may oblige It to emerge for-.the purpose of bringing its gun into action. - - The Real Solution. In these conditions it may be treated -* as a surface boat, and proposals for dealing with it, whether from the air or the sea, have already attained a high degree of efficiency. Again, where the U-boat is forced to operate or to reach the scene of its activity through narrow channels or constricted waters, the value of nets and mines as a deterrent has, as official records chow, been proved up to a point. Nevertheless, to overcome the submarine, it is not sufficient to be able to 1 obstruct its passage in certain limited areas, or merely to be prepared to deal

with it during Its brief intervals of emergence. Something more Is wanted than this. The real solution of the problem will, depend upon the possibility of discovering its whereabouts under water and making that discovery either on the surface or in the air. This is the fruitful field for Investigation, and this is clearly the direction Indicated to inventors as the line along which to devote their thought and study if they are seeking an antidote to the submarine peril. The limitations thus set up not only narrows the scope for suggestion but the number of persons whose equipment by training and experience is likely to fit them for. the task. In order to save themselves from an inundation of useless or impracticable schemes, it is surely worth the while of the various Investigating boards to issue to wouldbe correspondents some rules by which the latter might be guided in making suggestions. Much disappointment would thereby be prevented and much waste of time and trouble.