LAND AND .WATER- 
May 15. 1915. 
lo take. Bnt policy is destiny in thiB, as in all e]s«. Still, 
let us look at the other side of the picture. If we Americans 
now stand aaido and &1Iow other Powers to fight our battles, as 
well as their own, what will be the result t Will these nations, 
as victors, look up to Americana f Will they even regard 
tiiem as friendly equals t Why should they f They will 
have suffered much hardship, much travail; the agony and 
borror they have passed through will take many years to 
heal. If America selfiahly and superficially stands aside, it is 
tme she may not suffer loss in the field; but will she not be 
made to feel in time to come how cowardly and how un- 
friendly her action has been f 
The world is out of joint. It is no time to fall back 
npon " quack cures," if true understanding is to be preserved 
kmong peoples; and if the Germanic race is to be saved from 
itself, there is now but one cure, and one alone — it is by appli- 
cation of the surgeon's knife. 
We of the United States are far too apt to boast of manly 
qualities, the freedom of our institutions, the liberty of our 
personalities, and let it end thus in windy and futile pratings. 
Sn(^ exhibitions will cause us little benefit in time to come, 
nnlesa backed by resolute and virile action. We must not 
let pass this golden opportunity of aiding in the righting of 
the world's affairs, of doing our share in cutting out the 
canker of a malignant growth in the side of universal friend- 
■hip and true brotherhood. 
We are fond of talking of effete Europe, but where would 
the United States be if England, France, and Russia — not 
forgetting valiant little Belgium — had sunk into a state of 
■trophy ? For is there really a sane statesman, even a sane 
citizen, among as who could truthfully state that in his 
opinion the Teutonic races would have waited to cross the 
[Atlantic in order to occupy Canada and Brazil T Waited for 
.what, forsooth f The pleasure of the United States I No ; 
,ire would have been trampled under the iron heel of Potsdam 
Rust aa ruthlessly as was Belgium and Poland. Are wa 
lAmericans such fools that we won't admit these things even 
to ourselves? 
Why, then, do we try to screen ourselves behind a wall 
•f evasion! If we were such duUards a few brief months 
•go as to believe the Germanic races loved us better than 
ether nations, surely the scales have by now fallen from our 
•yes t We need only to look at the scurvy and virulent car- 
toons in their public Press to see how we are regarded now 
that our neutrality cannot be used as a catspaw in their 
favour. Nor is even this neutrality respected. The German 
iAmbassador and his entire staff are implicated in the most 
'damnable underhand acts against us; nor does it stop at that, 
ffhis gentleman and his staff are engaged in trying to bolster 
np, both officially and privately, a pestiferous propaganda in 
onr country and against friendly Powers in a most mendacious 
mad improper manner. What wonder if we finally insist 
upon his immediate recall ! Of the extraordinary trio, Bern- 
Btorff, Miinsterberg, and Demberg, the latter alone will then 
remain to sway American public opinion improperly by 
gaseous lies and subterfuges. 
The Government at Berlin not only laughs at the impro- 
priety of the conduct of their representatives in America- 
it insults and allows to be insulted publicly in Berlin the 
U.S. Ambassador. AU this laight be set down to temporary 
and rabid madness. But tliere is no excuse for their pre- 
sumptuous and murderous dictation in regard t« the conduct 
of the war. They are without the pale of civilisation, outlaws 
of humanity, and must be treated as one treats a mad dog. 
They must be destroyed. Civilisation and barbarism, Rome 
and Carthage, cannot both exist. 
These perfidious exponents of a brutal doctrine first of all 
declare a blockade that they can in no way enforce. They 
then affirm, against all accepted rules of International 
law, that they wiU sinlc all ships whatsoever found within a 
tremendous sea area, which they are good enough to term a 
" war zone." The United States protests against this entirely 
novel and iniquitous treatment. Berlin laughs at us and our 
"quack" measures; she sinks two of our ships flying the 
national emblem. What do we do ? Talk I We might be even 
forced to say something quite severe did the occasion arise 
again I And now she has sunk without warning of any kind a 
trans-Atlantic liner, involving the murder of many American 
citizens. Certainly it cannot be said that the "threats" 
delivered to the pas.sengers in New York were proper " warn- 
ing." It will not mitigate the sentence civilisation will pass on 
the wholesale murder of undefended " neutrals." Yet it is 
proposed that the Executive in Washington should send a 
query to Berlin asking if this ghoulish deed was, in fact, in- 
tended I No wonder that Europe is taking us for a useless lot 
of money-grubbers; tliia is what we are certainly degenerat- 
ing into. Why not take our stand — a manly and a chivalrous 
stand ? I'm afraid that if we do not there will be but few that 
wiU remain proud of being Americans. That is not a pleasant 
prospect to true patriots. 
So if we finally wake up to a proper sense of our honour 
and declare war on these brutal buccaneers, what will 
transpire f First and foremost we shall be doing our duty to 
civilisation. We shall be doing our apportioned share in 
bringing to a close within the speediest time a conflict of great 
suffering. We shall at the close of this conflict be on an equal 
footing with the other friendly nations. Politically, we shall 
be in a position of tremendous and almost unequalled 
strength. Is this not worth while f But far and away 
more important, more advantageous, and greater for us in a 
myriad ways will be the comradeship and federated under- 
standing between ourselves and the friendly nations — a real 
contribution towards the peace of the world. 
THE BIG AEROPLANE. 
ITS VALUE FOR THE OFFENSIVE. 
By L. BLIN DESBLEDS. 
BOMB-THROWING from aircraft can be considered 
an efficient and reliable method of bombardment 
only when the number of bombs dropped in a 
given time is large. The importance of the 
number of bombs in carrying out an aerial attack 
has on several occasions been shown in this publication. A 
large number of bombs can at present be carried only by a 
large number of aeroplanes, at least so far as the French and 
the British are concerned. As regards the Russians, they 
have for the last year or so been experimenting with an aero- 
plane of very large dimensions and having a great lifting 
capacity. Reports which have recently been published would 
tend to show that the Sykorsky biplane has now been success- 
fully applied to military uses. If such were really the caae 
the advent of the large military aeroplane would give to the 
Russians a weapon of considerable offensive value. 
THE "LIFTING" AND THE "FLYING- 
QUALITIES OF AEROPLANES. 
There are many reasons why the large aeroplane is a 
much more powerful weapon than tlie small one, and in corn- 
Wring the large and the small machine it is necessary to keep 
b mind some tedinical details, such a« the " Ufti^f-quatitf '« 
md the " flying-qwditf " of aeroplanes. 
13» 
By " lifting-quality " of an aeroplane is meant the 
amount of weight it can lift with reference to the power con- 
sumed. The greater the weight lifted, for a given amount 
of power, the greater is the " lifting-quality " of the machine. 
The term " fiying-quality " is used to denote the weight an 
aeroplane can carry, at a given speed, with reference to the 
power consumed. The greater the weight that can be carried, 
at a given speed, for a given amount of power, the greater 
is the " flying-qvality " of a machine. 
It is evident that in considering the value of an aeroplane 
for offensive purposes it is very important that its " lifting- 
quality" as well as its " flying-qu^iUty " should be taken 
into account. An aeroplane with a great " lifting-qv-ality " 
can, relatively, carry a large weight for a small amount of 
power — that is, of fuel — consumed. If, besides, it has a great 
" flying-qvality," the machine will be able to carry that large 
weight, at a required speed, with a relatively small consump- 
tion of petrol. 
An investigation of these two qualities of an aeroplane 
shows that they are always more pronounced in large 
machinea. It follows, therefore, that from an offensive point 
of view the large aeroplane is much more valuable than the 
small one, because of ita much greater " lifting " and " fly- 
ing " qualities. This conclusion is now deSnitofy established. 
Sudi was not the case, however, a year or so ago, and wsw 
