Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 314, 2 November 1891 — ANOTHER ADVANCE IN THE MILITARY ART. [ARTICLE]

ANOTHER ADVANCE IN THE MILITARY ART.

The art of produdng instruiiientB of destruetion i.s apparently about to take anōther step in advance. Lieutenant G N Whißtler, of thri Xlnited Btates army. has been at work for some timē past upon a new gun, the characteristk feature of whieh is a segmentai coro of steel wire, whieh is wound tightly around t steel tube and <jovered with a cast-iroh jacket,—a- method of eonstruction whieh secures an enormous increase of strength over the %un of ordinar} T make. The New Vork World says of it, "Should the gun prove a suceeBs, it will revolutionize the arfc of modern gunmaking the world over, and 110 iron-elad, however hoavy its jniior pfates. wouid Ik? gafe from -being piert?ed from en<l to end by a single s!iot. M ' The philosophy whieh h<»s hehind all tbis waste of en«rgy, tane. and monoy in Lhe production of deathdealing weaponn. is of :i eomewhal jcurio\is nnture. Wo sav "waste." i beean*e the world would he just. as • well m ēVery rēsoe<'t withoiit i thes<* thiogs :»s wirh theiu, s \vhether |fbr purpose« of pea<# war. How muoh l»ttr>rprei»Arod i* one aalion tocopc? wf(h anotl?er iution whea both aro n! svith :tU the !ate*l inv'ntk)ns lu v t>l rslr|>s aud other ni:l:t:irr instr«m* v * wh(>K r.;j »»y -sv>!ils ~vships :irwl oi l- 'vfn whioh were in u-t* t hu» maniii « i wilif«4'*y j No* auv -tvt'.i;r: ty>r t!ie nitio of streagth eiactlv eaina

Yet thi« philosophy persuadeg the nation6 of the worid to go on javesting in new guna and ircm£btdst at a most ©normous exper.se m order that they may ali be on, exaotly the same footifig fws before as regards their relative etrength. Bat this not aii; fw as there is both an aggressive and a defeneive side to the m ilitary art, there are. two antagonistic fields of military invention, the efforts in one of whieh only serve to neutralize those 1 in the other. When the famons iron*clad . u 'MeniaMus''"'- made its dajidly attack npon the™wooden war ships of the Uaited States, in Hampton Roada, tbe shbt from the guns of the latter glanced from. the armored sides of the rebel ~ ship without producing any damage whatever and the advantage lay I for a time on the side of defence, ; Xhen new gnns were invented, eapahie of piercing any kind of armor in existence. Then new armor waß made, strong enough to i withstand the missiles of toe heaviest guns; and ttius the contest has kept up, without any particular. aduantage to eitber side. A new i gun having been now prodftced, eapahle, if expectations are realized 0t piercing the heaviest iron-clad from end to ēnd, it will be in order for inventive geniUs on the other side to\x>me forward with a new armor whieh «haii bid defiauce to! all the guns in the world. I If tbis new ,wire'gun provr»s suc* i cessful, our gun factories will a,t onee begin its manufacture, and it will speedily find its way, regardless of expenBe, into the arsenals of Europe,unless in the meantime tbat country should produce something better. But what a condition of aifeirs has the World reachcd when j aU its great nations stand i»ady, i under a necessity whieh thev cannot disregard, to expend uutold miliion» in »upplying their vast armies new weapons of war as fast as the j mventive genius of man (whieli is j a very fertile genius, in that line) \ ean create thwn. Suppose Kdison I for shotrid turn his atten- j tion from the field of electrical ap-! pliances to that of war. He eould I keep all the nātions of Europe busy j turning out weapoue of destrnction. j for an indefinite time to eome; for I whenever a suporior iinpiement ofj war is invented and comes to light! a stem necessity compels its adoption bv nll the armed powtr.s, no matter how <Tushine: the expense. How long ean the expenditure con : tinue? How longcan Europe stand thc strain ? fnevitably there m ust be a limit, :uid it would seem that! the limil is now juet about reaehed! L. A. S 1