THE LESSON OF THE TIMES.
By C. M. S.
WITH every new day there come new evidences that the world is now in feverish preparation for its last great battle. There never was so much energy, skill, genius directed at one time in one direction as to-day being used in the preparation for war. The most skilful men of every country are devising weapons of war. The man of genius is busy concocting new schemes for the destruction of life. It would seem that the inventor had declared war on the race. It is also true that no inventions are so well paid for as those which are capable of killing the largest number of men in the smallest amount of time. The principal concern of governments at the present time is that they shall be ready at a moment's notice to strike their antagonist a mortal blow before he is ready to strike them. Perhaps no man is better able to speak authoritatively upon the topic of progress in war preparation than Mr. Hiram Maxim, for whom the Maxim gun was named. We quote from an article by this inventor which appeared in the New York Independent of Oct. 11, 1900, on "The Future of High Explosives." After telling of the rapid progress made in producing high and dangerous explosives, Mr. Maxim outlines their uses as follows:— "Perhaps the field where the greatest changes will be wrought in present methods by the increased use of high explosives lies in naval and military operations. "We may often aid our reason in dealing with a complex problem by considering it in a simple and analogous form. "Suppose there existed in the sea an enemy of the whale, a hundredth part of his size, and capable of traveling at three times as great a speed; and suppose this fish were capable of inflicting a mortal blow upon the whale whenever he could get within range. It is obvious that the whale would soon become extinct. "Over a large area in South Africa there exists a peculiar fly, whose bite is mortal to the ox. How obviously helpless becomes the sluggish beast in the face of such an enemy! "Place in the sea, where the ponderous armor-ribbed whale—the battle-ship—rides, large numbers of swift battle-ship destroyers, costing only a tenth as much as the unwieldy monster and of three times its speed, which will be able to strike a mortal blow whenever they can get in range, and the swish of the search-light would be as impotent in the defense of the battle-ship as the swish of the tail of the ox against the African fly. The naval leviathan would necessarily become extinct. "The writer has perfected a material termed motorite, composed of the most powerful high explosive compounds, but which has been tempered so that it can not explode, and its combustion may be controlled and regulated with the greatest nicety. He has also perfected means for utilizing the heat of the products of combustion for the evaporation of water,—the steam and the products of combustion being combined for driving a turbine. By this means a torpedo-boat may be provided with such a reserve of propulsive energy as to travel with almost any speed which might be desired. "A torpedo-boat of this kind would be able to carry sufficient motorite for its propulsion at the rate of a mile a minute for half an hour. "The motorite torpedo-boat, sighting a battle-ship at a distance of ten miles, going at a speed of twenty miles an hour, would be able to overtake it at the rate of forty miles an hour. This would bring the torpedo-boat upon the battle-ship within fifteen minutes. "The battle-ship would be entirely helpless. The torpedo-boat, traveling at such high velocity, with its lookout turret only a speck above the surface, would be comparatively safe under the very guns of the battle-ship. "It is obvious that a torpedo-boat, propelled at such enormously high speed, would require to be armed with automobile torpedoes, capable, when launched, of traveling at an equal or greater velocity than the torpedo-boat itself. This end can be accomplished only by the employment of motorite for the propulsion of the automobile torpedo as well as the torpedo-boat. In an article of this length, it is impossible to go into minor details of construction. Suffice it to say that the writer has already constructed and tested apparatus which fully demonstrates the practicability and utility of this means of propulsion, and is able to give assurance of the perfect feasibility and practicability of this method. The writer has engaged with him in making calculations and determinations, with a9view to the application of this system to torpedoes and torpedo-boats, some of the ablest mechanical engineers and marine architects in this country. "There is to-day a greater demand for increased speed for short emergency runs of torpedoes and torpedo-boats than for anything else in naval engineering." Never before in the history of the world were men rushing to the fulfilment of prophecy with such feverish haste as now. To prepare war and wake up the mighty men is the present burden of the world. The danger to the Christian is in allowing these things, so full of vital consequences, to become to him meaningless occurrences. If Satan can blind our eyes to the real condition of the world and what it means, he has triumphed over us. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness." C. M. S.