Evening Star Newspaper, April 5, 1925, Page 24

24 DECLARES LONDON * ATPLANES MERCY British Officer Says England Is at Mercy of Foe With Ships Helpless. While the British navy is command- ing the seas, London can be destroyed from the air without the navy being nbl«'}g}(&re a single shot in defense of the city, Maj. Sir Archibald Sin- clair, member of the House of Com- mons, declared in an address several days efore that body, and a ooy Oreh tas Just been received | here by the Army Air Service. Speaking on the estimates for the air ffrce, ®ir Archibald said: “Tt is quite true that in 1914 to 1918 the navy whinigtfll our sure shield. Aero- planes could come over London and drop bombs and cause a great deal of alarm, inconvenience and damage. How much alarm and damage. it is dangerously easy to minimize at this distance of time, but, still, so long as the navy held the mastery of the =eas our vitals were protec . “Today,” continued the speaker, “the navy holds supreme command of the seas, and yet London can be de- stroyed without the navy being able to fire @ shot. It is quite possible within & few hours of the declaration of war for a fleet of acroplanes to ap- pear over London, to drop high ex- plosives and incendiary bombs ten times many in one sit as were dropped by the Germans in the worst month of the war, and the navy. al- though it held command of the seas, eould do nothing to prevent that And every one of our great cities would be liable to similar visita- tions.” Air Service Grows. Assuming it is agreed that “it is quite possible for our industries to be entirely deranged and our ROV- ernment paralyzed and all this while the navy still holds command of the seas and yet incapable of firing a shot in our defense,” Sir Archibald de- clared, “the only possible defense against such formidable contingen- s as I have ventured briefly to scribe, is that which can be pro- vided by the air force and by no other fighting service. In the second place, there are few members who will not agree that the relative value of the three factor: the air force, the army and the navy, in the stra- tegic equation is constantly changing and that the air service is gaining rapidly at the expense of the other two services.” The time is inevitably coming when airplanes will be able to dominate by sea, t any rate in the , and will be able to make it impossible for surface ships to exist within their radius of action, a radius which is constantly increasing. Would Hit Supplies. “I do not contend that that is what would happgn, if by any misfortune we were to be engaged in war in the near future. I do not suppose if we were fighting a great air power in Europe that sinking battleships would be the principal task of aero- planes. Aeroplanes would strike the first blow. They would come over the docks and bases, the stores and com- munications and the main fleets at sea would find themselves paralyzed and incapable of effective action, on account of aeroplane bombardments of their bases, docks and stores, with- out their being able to fire a shot or without their having seen & hostile aeroplane. “These are the contentions upon which I base my belief not only that the air force is gaining rapidly and enormously at the expense of the other two services, but that it is one of the duties of the government to make it clear that it is even now our first line of defense. It follows from that that it is of paramount fmportance that the development of the air force should not be cramped or hindered or in any degree ob- structed by the conservative tend- encles and prejudices of the chiefs of the other two fighting services, and that control over the expendi- ture of any money we may vote should not be intrusted to officers of the other services, whose view of the air force is merely that it should be ancillary to these older services, and that the officers responsible for the training, promotion and discipline of air force units and of the officers and men composing them should not be men who are soldiers and sailors who do a little flying in their spare time, but they should be keen air- men—alrmen first, last and all the time—who 1look to the air service for their careers and are determined to make it play a preponderating role in any war.” e Albertus Magnus College, the first institution in America for the higher ‘education of Catholic young women, will be opened in New Haven next Fall. Five Passenger 250,000 Americans May Go to Europe, Setting New Total Best Year Since 1913 Is Seen by Ship Men. Rates Are Lower. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, April 4—Shipping companies expect to carry 250,000 Americans to Europe this year and break the record of 245,592, set in 1913, the heaviest year in the history of eastbound transatlantic trgnspor- tation. The companies bank upon the heavy holy vear pllgrimages to Rome this Summer to speed recovery of their prewar stride “White collar” travel in third cabins has been developed to offset the'loss in steerage business caused by immi- gration quota laws here. Tourist third-cabin rates, agents of the companies say, have been placed within reach of patrons previously unable to afford a trip to Europe. Professional people, artists and uni- versity students figure principally in this new clientele. - It present indications are fulfilled the financial turnover in 1925 should far exceed 1924, when some $130,000.- 000 in. trvelers’ checks were sold here for Americans going abroad. Letters of credit carried millions more. SPANISH WAR VETERANS Comdr. Print E. Shomette of Gen Nelson A. Miles Camp, No. 1, at the ecent meeting instituted a drive to secure every veteran eligible for membership by forming committees, who will, in turn, form groups. The ways and means committee, With Samuel R. Gates as chairman, report- ed back to the camp for action the desirability of holding an excursion to Chesapeake Beach, which was in- dorsed. Jake Stahl, who informed the camp of dates and terms, was placed in charge of the excursion. A buffet luncheon was served. Commander-in Chief Chauncey W. Herrick, in recent general orders, calls the attention of camp commanders throughout the organization to the matter of recruiting. He says: “Camp cammanders’ attention s again invited to the fact that every camp in the organization has been supplied with a list of pensioners re- siding in their city. Some camps have complied with the request con- tained in the letter accompanying these lists; many others have not. 1t is the desire of national headquarters that these lists be utilized to ‘heir fullest extent for the purpose of re- cruiting, and camp commanders are hereby requested to make a report as soon as possible as :o the progress being made with these lists of eligibles.” Washington Temple No. 1, National Lineal Society of the Spanish War, will give a benefit dinner at North- | east Masonic Temple, Eighth and ¥ streets northeast, ADpril 15 from § to 7 p.m. The meetings of the camps and auxiliaries for the week are as fol- lows: Gen. Nelson A. Miles Camp No. 1, Thursday night, Grand Army Hall, 1412 Pennsylvania avenue northwest; Gen. Henry W. Lawton Camp No. 4, Tuesday night, 821 Pennsylvania ave- nue southeast; Col. John Jacob Astor Camp No. 6, Monday night, Stanley Hall, United States Soldiers’ Homc; Admiral George Dewey Naval Camp No. 7, Friday night, Masonic Temple, Eighth and F streets northeast; Col. James . Pettit Auxiliary No. 6, Thursday night, Potomac Bank Build- ing, Georgetown; Col. John Jacob Astor Auxillary No. 7, Wednesday night, 921 Pennsylvania avenue south- east. FRENCH RHINE DAM PLAN BRINGS STRONG PROTEST Germans and Swiss Offer Counter Proposal at One-Tenth of Estimated Cost. By the Associated Press. 2 FREISBURG, Baden, April 4.—A big protest meeting was held today in opposition to the French plan to deflect the course of the Upper Rhine to the Alsatian Canal by the construction of a huge dam close to the Swiss border, thereby diverting the wagers of the Rhine into a canal exclusively French, The carrying out of this project would guarantee France 700,000 hy- draulic horsepower. Switzerland and Germany offer a counter proposal to regulate the Upper Rhine at one- tenth the cost of the canai and the dam construction and enabling a jsmooth passage between Strassburg and Basle in half the time that would be required by way of the canal. [ — The shortage of apartments in Co- logne is estimated at 21,000. The Packard Eight )A,&W } Sedan-Limousine Long Life Chassis Deserve Long Life Bodies Packard knows no compromise with quality—in either chassis or in body. There are no grades of Packard bodies. Each isbuilt to the unchanging Packard standard of twenty-five years. Every Packard body retains the onfinl i beauty, distinction and comfort which assures much of the contentment and most of the joy of motoring. Every Packard is a unit in excellence. Packard Washington Motor Car Company Connecticut at S North 600 Ask the Man Who Owns One P A CKAR 1 . ,'. JUmti (7 A iu' I LT g ST _/,.c _. - ] ; HI l":r Seventh and'Eye Streets. We are counting another birthday this month—our fortieth. Behind us are thirty-nine years of commercial constancy and consistency. We have held steadfastly to the course we charted for ourselves at the very outstart, when we asked the Washington public to have faith in our methods and confidence in our merchandise. Times have changed: our business has expanded and grown—-but it is the same store today in its lofty aims and its fundamental policies that it was then. Success came, quickly, and has continued uninterruptedly. But we like to feel that is has been earned by sincere endeavor—that we have woven into this business that old-fashioned brand of integrity which feels responsibility for every patron’s satisfaction; and looks by virtue of right service rendered for continued customership. Before us lie the years to come. We enter upon them more capable through experience; more earnest in purpose; more determined in endeavor. May we at this time mingle with our thanks a re- avowal of our sénse of obligation to those who have favored'us with preference; and pledge to those whom we hope will join the ranks of our customers our best efforts to' serve superiorly. s . Appreciatively, /2-@% o pregidcnt