It is said that Secretary of the Navy Daniels has placed an order at the Washington Navy Yard for the construction of the largest aeroplane yet built. It will be propelled by two 160-horse-power motors, which will be expected to give it a speed of from fifty to eighty miles an hour. Its carrying capacity will not be less than six thousand pounds.
It is “designed to carry and discharge the secret explosive bombs recently tested successfully at Pensacola.” It is said that experts in the navy department claim for it that a fleet of such airships equipped with these new bombs would be able to destroy any of the great cities of the world that it could reach. It would also be able to go one hundred and fifty miles out to sea to meet and bombard battleships.
This country has its full share of the most ingenious men of the age; and with some of the very brightest of these inventive spirits called to devote special attention to devising destructive implements, we may not be surprised at almost any kind of startling developments. And how sad it is that the genius of man, that could be used so effectively in bringing blessings to our world, is used, instead, in the barbarous activities of devising means for destroying his fellows on a wholesale plan!
