The Proposed Air-ship Coast Defenses.—
We are living in a time of almost universal peace; and yet there is more war talk than has existed for many years. Coming very shortly upon the announcement that Count Von Zeppelin had made 900 miles with his air-ship is the statement that the United States will have an air-ship coast control. The idea is to have balloon houses all along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. These stations are to be about 250 miles apart and each station will be equipped to care for two or three balloons. These air-ships are not to be used for fighting, but merely for scout work. They are to go out over the sea looking for a hostile fleet and then fly back to shore to give the alarm. It is a question just how this proposition will be viewed by the people at large in America. It may be that the plans of the War Department will not be looked upon with any great favor by Congress. It is claimed that the present plans are mainly educational. If the plans interest the public, it is then supposed that public sentiment will prod Congress to make the proper appropriations.