i88 



The Review of Reviews. 



August 1, 1906. 



THE FLYING MACHINE. 



With Revolution in its Wings. 



Major Baden Powell proclaims in the National 

 Rn'/eu' the advent of the Flying Machine in terms 

 of fact htted to make our current theories of nation- 

 ality and property look more than foolish. Already 

 man-carrying kites have lifted men to heights of over 

 3000 feet, a height practically beyond rifle range. 

 The '■ really practical airship or propelled balloon " 

 of MM. Lebaudy, built in 1902, made thirtv-three 

 successful ascents and held its course in strong 

 winds. Later vessels of improved t\'pe have travelled 

 sixty miles and ascended 1120 metres, 1000 metres 

 being held to be the culminating point of the tra- 

 jectory of field guns. 



The writer asks if we realise what these things 

 mean. In peace airships could cross the Channel 

 and photograph all our coast fortifications. In war 

 they could, from a safe height, rain explosives on 

 our ships and magazines. 



The brothers Wright in America have successfully 

 applied motor and propellers to their gliding ma- 

 chines. The writer wonders what speed these aerial 

 motors will reach when motors on earth can reach 

 100 miles an hour. 



In face of these novelties, what, asks the writer, of 

 our silver streak and our invincible navy ? In sen- 

 tences as terse as the oracles of destiny he exclaims : 

 ■' Tariff reform is doomed when hundreds of aerial 

 vessels are continually passing at all heights and in 

 all directions. National frontiers and private boun- 

 daries will alike be obliterated." 



Let us hope that when men fly like angels they 

 may resemble angels in some other respects. Mean- 

 time, the moral seems to be, let us hurr}- up our 

 Hague Conferences even before war rises from the 

 earth to lose itself in the skv. 



"THE ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING NATION OF 

 THE FUTURE." 



Mr. Francis P. Savinien, writing in the American 

 Review of Rrciews, thus describes Colombia. It 

 " is the Tibet of South America, the roof of the 

 Continent." The United States of Colombia have, 

 he says, entered on an era of peace and progress. It 

 is amortizing its paper currency, asking for a capital 

 of eight million dollars to organise the Central Bank. 

 The people promptly subscribed five rimes the 

 amount required. It contains the richest emerald 

 mines in the world, the lease of the royalties bring- 

 ing in from two to three million dollars a year. " So 

 fabulously rich are the mines that orders for a ton 

 of stones at a time can be filled." The land is rich 

 in goldfields, the production of coffee and cacao is 

 rapidly increasing, but possibly its waterfalls may 

 prove one of the most prolific sources of wealth : — 



Through the ntilisation of her water power. Colombia 

 could surprise the world more than by any other form of 

 development. The Toltune and tall of her cascades, rapids, 

 and cataracts exceed those of any other land. At a distance 

 of less than 100 miles from Bogota the Canca Eiver de- 

 scends 6800 feet in the course of sixty-five miles, and the 

 llagdalena 7500 feet in sixty-eiaht miles. As their extra- 

 ordinary descent is not abrupt being at no place marked by 

 a precipitate fall, it will be necessary to construct canals of 

 great length to make their vast forces available in full for 

 commercial and industrial purposes; but the reward possible 

 is so great that the expenditures involved are comparatively 

 insignificaJit. Eailroad companies, with American capital, 

 are now negotiating with the Government for concessions 

 to exploit these two rivers for the purpose of securing 

 motive power. 



As though careful that nothing should be lacking to make 

 of Colombia the electric manufacturing nation of the future, 

 nature has provided the country with coal fields wherever 

 water power may be wanting. The Cauca, Magdalena, and 

 other immense rivers have their sources in or near the 

 stupendous elevation of land known as the Massif. 



LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS. 



A Proposal by Captain Mahan. 



The National Rrcirw contains a lengthy criticism 

 of the Far Eastern War from the pen of the author 

 of ■• The Influence of Sea Power." It will be read 

 with intense interest by members of the military 

 and naval professions. To the general public the 

 writers closing proposal will appeal most strongly. 

 Captain Mahan asks how long the present race of 

 size in shipbuilding is to be continued. There is, 

 he says, no logical or practical end to it in sight. 

 Vet it cannot endure indefinitely. "' Sooner rather 

 than later '' the overtaxed peoples will insist, through 

 their representatives, on changes " more radical than 

 beneficial." As there is no biggest ship beyond 

 which a bigger is not practicable, a limit must, so the 

 writer seems to argue, be found elsewhere than in the 

 nature of things. If only the question of size could , 

 be eliminated, he would expect other qualities to fall ; 

 into their proper proportions. But how is this 

 elimination to take place ? He sees " no way, save 

 by international agreement ; as, for instance, an ac- 

 cepted limitation that no naval vessel should be built 

 exceeding a certain displacement." With that sole 

 restriction, he would leave the question of classes, 

 speeds, armaments, numbers, to the determination of 

 each State. Among other advantages he reckons the 

 benefit to professional tone. He seems to sugge.st 

 that this form of limitation of armaments might 

 come before the next Hague Conference. He does 

 not believe that nations will consent to any other 

 kind of naval restriction. 



Any international agreement to limit expenditure 

 on implements of war mav be welcomed. But does 

 Captain Mahan really believe that in this year of 

 grace nations could be got to agree to limit the size 

 of their ships — ^to make, let us say, the " Dread- 

 nought ' the lie plus ultra of all battleships ? Would 

 the wealthier and more maritime nations ever con- 

 sent to tie their hands in this way, and allow the less 

 wealthy and less maritime to equal them in the size 

 of battleships? 



