The population in the district of Hadersleben (about ten miles from the border) have been ordered to destroy thistles in the pastures, by the roadsides, in the garden, in the woods, and in the cultivated fields, either by cutting them or knocking them down. Neglect of this order will bring on a maximum fine of 150 marks, or about $35. Fate of Historic Bells The German military authorities in South Jutland have seized a goodly number of the country's old church bells. The metal is to be used for military purposes. These church bells often have peculiar old inscriptions. For this reason Nis Nissen, a member of the Landsthing or Danish Upper House, appeals to the readers of a South Jutland newspaper to copy accurately the words and numerals engraved on the venerable bells, so that at least something may be preserved of these historic relics. A foreign firm has made an offer to the board of church directors to take the big bell down intact for the sum of 100 marks, or about $23. This offer has not been accepted by the German authorities. The bell will be broken to pieces in the tower and brought down in small sections. It is with a sorrowful heart that every Dane must see this sacrifice laid on the altar of war. The venerable bells of South Jutland that have rung in so many centuries are not only historical antiquities, they are witnesses also-stones that speak. Prayers for German Harvest The official organ of the Kiel Consistory says: "Since harvest prayer services have "been held in all churches throughout "the land for the past two years of the 66 66 Nis Nissen mentions among others the oldest bell in Norburg, a city on the island of Alsen, thirty-five miles north of Kiel. It hangs in Tundtoft Church and bears the following Latin inscription, translated into Danish: "When 66 Christian the "Fourth was King, Statholder, (Imperial "Chancellor,) Jacob Ulfeld church di war at the instigation of Die Deutsche "Evangelische Kirche Ausschuss, (the "German Evangelical Church Committee,) this year we also appeal to the "honored clergy to call upon God's bless"ing for a bountiful harvest in these "hard times of war. The experiences of "the last years of the war have constantly brought home to us what sig"nificance a good harvest has for a suc"cessful and victorious termination of "the war. We therefore ordain that our "national church shall touch upon the great national importance which this year's harvest will have for our people. "At the same time, we request the min"isters to pray for a rich harvest in the "church prayer every Sunday until harvest time." 66 P $640,000,000 for American RESIDENT WILSON on July 24 signed the war aircraft bill appropriating $640,000,000, a sum greatly in excess of the combined army and naval expenditures of previous years and larger than any sum for a single project ever voted by any Congress. With these funds it is hoped that the United States will be able to fill the air along the western front in Europe with thousands of aviators and military airplanes. The aviation corps is ultimately to consist of about 100,000 men with about 22,000 airplanes. As soon as the bill was signed Howard Coffin, Chairman of the Aircraft Production Board, stated that the board was prepared to go ahead at once, but results should not be expected too soon. He added: Under ordinary conditions at least a year would be required for the industrial preparation which this program demands. Yet we have no such length of time in which to perform the task now. In every other country there is a shortage of materials for aircraft construction. In every other country there is a shortage of the type of men required for the air service. In spite of our previous inexperience in quantity production of fighting planes, we must have thousands of them for next year's use to make the contribution which the Allies expect of us. The design and construction of jigs, tools, and gauges will require weeks, and even months, no matter how rapidly we work. It must be remembered, therefore, that a few months will necessarily elapse before the outward results of our industrial effort will show in the shape of quantities of finished fighting machines. Most gratifying progress on the preliminary organization has been made during the last few weeks. If it progresses in the future at the stride that has been developed there need be no fear as to America's position in the aircraft field by next Summer. The difficulties which apply to the production of high-powered machines for fighting and bombing purposes fortunately do not apply with equal force to the training program. Within a comparatively short time we shall have enough of the type required for training the thousands of men who will con stitute a contribution to the winning of the war equal in importance to the production of machines. America is the last great reservoir of material for war pilots as well as for airplanes. Already three of the twenty-four big new training fields are completed and instruction on them has begun. Others are being rushed to completion. Orders for training machines were placed weeks ago, and shipments of the first output already have been made. The output of this most necessary type will continue to increase rapidly, as we already have plants experienced in their manufacture. In considering the size of the appropriation it must be borne in mind that less than half this amount is to be expended in the purchase of airplanes alone. Personnel, training, equipment, overseas maintenance, spare parts, flying stations, armament, and scientific apparatus, all are to be provided for, and are equally as important as the manufacture of the machines. One hundred and ten thousand officers and enlisted men-an army of the air greater than our standing army of a few months ago-will be needed. Some idea of the magnitude of the task before the Aircraft Production Board may be gathered from the statement on British progress in manufacturing warplanes made on July 12 by Dr. Christopher Addison, who was then Minister of Munitions and who has since been appointed Minister in charge of reconstruction. Since January, 1917, when the Munitions Ministry became responsible to the British Flying Services for supply, the program had been steadily and largely increased; and it was still expanding. Dr. Addison added: No fewer than 1,000 factories are engaged on some process or other connected with the construction and equipment of the flying machine. If for the purposes of comparison you put the number of airplanes produced in May, 1916, at 100, then in May of this year the number rose to rather more than 300. Even this rate of increase is being accelerated. The output in December will be twice what it was in April, and the December total will be far surpassed in succeeding months. The number of airplane engines turned out monthly has been more than doubled this year already and this total will be doubled again before the close of the year. What these figures involve in organization will perhaps be appreciated when it is stated that a single cylinder of the rotary engine involves forty-eight different operations in its manufacture. As for spare parts, an enormous number has to be manufactured, as, owing to the fragility of the machine, its parts require frequent renewal and “ spares must be ready to hand whenever and wherever wanted. " A growing number of workers is employed in the airplane factories, the increase in the last five months being 25 per cent. on the previous total. Along with this the replacement of skilled workers by women has gone on, the dilution having risen from 19 per cent. to 37 per cent. To meet the demand for labor special schools have been started all over the country, where a training of about two months qualifies a pupil to carry out some simple process in airplane manufacture. About 100 qualified workers are supplied each week under this system. Yet the demand is not satisfied. More and more women are wanted, both in London and in the provinces; and women of good education and good physique can render the nation no better service at the present time than by undergoing the training which is offered in these schools. The Ministry of Munitions has had special difficulties to overcome to reach the present degree of output and efficiency. The technical development of the airplane has presented peculiar problems. New types are continually being evolved. Those responsible for the manufacture of our flying machines have always had to allow for a new invention coming along and revolutionizing all their projects. Speed, climbing power, armament, have continually increased and improved since the outbreak of the war. An engine that can develop up to 350 horse power, for example, and a single-seater scout able to travel at 150 miles per hour are built on very different lines from their prototypes of August, 1914. Where there is no finality there is a limit to standardization, except in small details, and the problem of supervising the manufacture of our airplanes is correspondingly complicated. The variety of materials used in airplane construction, again, has been a great source of anxiety to the Ministry. Linen, timber, chemicals for tightening the fabric of wings, alloy steel, light alloys, thin tubes are among the essential requirements of the industry. Even if these were wanted in normal quantities, there would be difficulty in getting enough in view of other necessities. But the needs of the airplane program are enormous, almost passing belief. For our present program of construction more spruce is wanted than the present annual output of the United States, more mahogany than Honduras can supply-and Honduras is accustomed to supply the requirements of the world. Besides this, all the linen of the type required made in Ireland, the home of the linen industry, and the whole of the alloyed steel that England can produce can be used. As for flax, to meet the needs of the air service the Government has actually to provide the seed from which to grow the plant essential for its purposes. Still, despite the magnitude of the demands, all the needs of airplane manufacture will be met. The program before the Ministry of Munitions is that of a maximum production. In Germany the Zeppelin has been practically discarded and all energies are being directed to an enormously increased production of airplanes, with the object of taking up the Allies' challenge for the supremacy of the air. A Recent Attacks on London and Paris, and the Advent of Giant Machines in Aerial Warfare IR raids on a large scale were made in July and August by German, British, French, and Italian aviators. Harwich, a seaport town on the east coast of England, was visited on July 4, 1917, by twelve or more German air raiders who dropped bombs, killing eleven persons and injuring thirtysix others. It was a misty morning, and the machines could be distinguished only at intervals when they appeared from behind cloud banks. Bombs were dropped in rapid succession. British airmen intercepted the Germans and broke up their formation, causing them to return toward the sea. Their retreat was marked by a series of duels with British aviators. Two of the enemy machines were brought down ablaze and a third was damaged. Greatest Raid on London The greatest air raid on London up to the present writing was made by twenty-two German airplanes on the morning of July 7, 1917. The total number of persons killed in the metropolitan area and the Isle of Thanet was 43; injured, 197. The raiding machines were of the new Gotha type, which is about three times the size of the singleseated machine. Three of the airplanes which took part in the attack were brought down at sea on the return trip. British airmen at Dunkirk prepared to intercept them, but they took a more northerly route. The Dunkirk fliers, in the course of their patrol, brought down seven machines of another German squadron. The battle in the air was an engrossing spectacle. Despite official appeals to the population to take cover in case of another raid, millions saw some part of it and hundreds of thousands watched it in all its phases. The raiders were plainly visible during most of the time. Their arrival was favored by a thick Summer haze, which assisted them in their manoeuvres over the metropolis. Their plan of action had evidently been worked out to the smallest details and their formation was maintained throughout. They crossed London from northwest to southeast. Shrapnel was bursting all around them, but they flew, as one spectator put it, like a school of crows following a leader. The simile was inaccurate in respect to color, for the raiders were shimmering white in the sun. A little later their course might have been compared to the flight of swallows, for anti-aircraft guns seemed to get their range as the northern districts of the capital were reached. The machines dived and swerved just as swallows do. At times one or another machine would drop, and many spectators, unversed in the tricks of flying, jumped to the conclusion that one or more planes had been brought down. Experienced airmen understood these "falls" to be what has now, with the advance in flying, become a common device to change the altitude when one position becomes too hot. London again showed a spirit of phlegmatic endurance. Curiosity to see what was going on was much less general than it had been on the occasion of the June 13 raid. While the earlier phases of the raid attracted crowds to roofs and windows, and even into the streets, a marked disposition to take to cover made itself evident as the firing continued. When the raid reached its height certain usually crowded streets were left empty. The fact that a larger proportion of people took cover than was the case in June was held to explain the smaller casualty list. Details of Damage Done Subsequent uncensored reports stated that bombs were dropped in Whitechapel and killed a number of persons. A bomb was dropped in Aldgate near where hay wagons were standing, but it did not explode. From Aldgate the raiders flew over Fenchurch Street and Mincing Lane, where the tea, coffee, indigo, and spice merchants have their offices. Several persons were injured by bombs there. By this time British aircraft were coming from all directions to repel the invaders, and the anti-aircraft guns on the tall buildings near the Bank of England were also in action. Apparently the raiders were trying to hit the bank, as they had attempted on previous raids, but did not succeed. One of the bombs struck the Swiss Bank, which was full of men and boys, and several were injured. Five or six of the bombs that fell in Cheapside as the German machines continued their flight toward St. Paul's did not explode. One struck the General Post Office and set part of the building on fire. Another bomb fell into St. Paul's churchyard and destroyed the iron railings on the north side and broke several of the stone monuments. One was dropped on the west side of the cathedral in front of the main entrance, but did not explode. From there the air raiders flew down Ludgate Hill and over Fleet Street, and then made a swing to the northwest as far as Oxford Circus, where more bombs were dropped, without doing much harm. Then they changed their course and turned back to the southeast over St. Giles-in-the-Fields, down to Marconi House, in the Strand, and over Somerset House and the River Thames toward the Kentish coast, flying at great speed and followed by squadrons of British aircraft. A Defender's Heroic Charge One of the heroic episodes of the raid was the charge by Second Lieutenant I. E. R. Young, an officer of the Royal Flying Corps. His feat is described in a letter from his Major to his father: Your son, as you know, had only been in my squadron for a short time, but quite long enough for me to realize what a very efficient and gallant officer he was. He had absolutely the heart of a lion and was a very good pilot. Your son had been up on every raid of late, and had always managed to get in contact with the enemy machines. The last raid, which unfortunately resulted in his death, shows what a very gallant officer we have lost. Almost single-handed he flew straight into the middle of the twenty-two machines, and both himself and his observer at once opened fire. All the enemy machines opened fire also, so he was horribly outnumbered. The volume of fire to which he was subjected was too awful for words. To give you a rough idea: There were twenty-two machines, each machine had four guns, and each gun was firing about 400 rounds per minute. Your son never hesitated in the slightest. He flew straight on until, as I should imagine, he must have been riddled with bullets. The machine then put its nose right up in the air and fell over, and went spinning down into the sea from 14,000 feet. I, unfortunately, had to witness the whole ghastly affair. The machine sank so quickly that it was, I regret, impossible to save your son's body, he was SO padly entangled in the wires, &c. H. M. S. rushed to the spot as soon as possible, but only arrived in time to pick up your son's observer, who, I regret to state, is also dead. He was wounded six times, and had a double fracture in the skull. The same afternoon Premier Lloyd George called a special meeting of military and aerial defense experts at Downing Street in connection with the raid. A group of Members of Parliament interested in air questions also held a meeting and decided to press the Government for a definite statement of policy in the matter of reprisals on German towns. Lord Derby, Minister of War, had on June 26, in the House of Lords, stated that the Government had no intention of imitating German brutality, but would confine aerial operations to exclusively military purposes. But the new raid immediately evoked a fresh demand for reprisals on German towns. Another daylight raid over England was made on the morning of July 22. This time the east coast was visited by about twenty German airplanes, which dropped bombs on Felixstowe and Harwich, killing eleven persons and injuring twenty-six. The property loss was insignificant. An alarm was sounded in London, but before the Germans could reach any point near the city they were attacked heavily by defending squadrons of aircraft, which caused them to retreat. "A patrol of the Royal Flying Corps," said an official statement, encountered some hostile machines return 66 |