New Britain Herald Newspaper, March 16, 1916, Page 10

NEW, BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 1916. Photos by American Press Assocfation. %—French battery well concealed in the forests of the Argonne. 2.— Heavy Italian artillery, completely hidden, in operation against the Aus- tr 3.—Russian rapid firing gun Invisible on account of the trees. 4.— Austrian siege gun which is elevated to high angle to shoot over the hills which conceal it. 5—French guns well hidden. 6.—Belgian cannon cov- ered with bushes to conceal it. 7.— Russian decoy gun, used to deceive enemy aviators. 8.—French gunners that escape the eye of the German aviators. 9.—Heavy French gun cov- ered entirely by brush to escape at- tention of foes. HE war has developed a bat- tle of wits between artillery- men: and aviators over the goncealment of the big guns which are playing such an important part in the conflict, and the gunners have found it dlfficult to hide their| cannon o that the high power glasses of the air men cannot find them. Along the long line of the western battle front, from Switzerland to the North sea, thousands of cannen are in use by the opposing armies, 4nd 'most | of them .are in concealed positfons. | The artillery almost invariably is to| be found well in rear of the line of trenches, scattered in definite arrange- ment by units and groups. | These artillery units are all connect- | ed with one central station through a| ramification of lesser points of concen- | tration, and the fire of a given sector | r can be controlled and directed upon any | e, desired point. A complex system of | wire communication is established, position, ection of aim, is at once communicat- d to each gun employed in the attack. As the guns, owing to their rearward are therefore secure from | usually with two or more lines in case| ground reconnoissance, the aeroplane | of damage occurring to one of them. h and from the observation stations range and direction are glven, with the ob- | g as taken over the former duties of the | terrain of the enemy’s position unfolds| not concealed in some way from Each battery has its field telephones, | cavalry and patrols, which were sup-|like a wonderful relief map beneath} Z b lassi Today an aeroplane ING OF ARTILLERY ART | plemented by the magnification of field | Equipped With high power glasses each| for this neces . soars gun and ammunition supply station Satahaie e Many expedients have been utilized ary concealment. In mountainous regions emplacements for Jective, and the result of fire, for cor- |aloft, a mere speck in the blue, and the | would be clearly discernible were they' the guns are sometimes blasted from 1 | the solid rock and the embrasure pro- tected by cemented rock. At one place in the Alps the Austrians actually tun- neled a steep crag in order to gain an| opening overlooking a valley in which N WAR OF TODAY the T*alians were operating. Gun and| gunners had unusual protection in this way from the opposing shell fire. Afield, behind the battle lines, the ar- tillery chain is concealed by various expedients designed to give as casual| and natural an appearance of innocence as possible—especially from aloft. t might present the imhsrru[ahle’ appearance from an aeroplane of a| fleld of grain freshly mowed, with the | cuttings being stacked, is probably a line of guns, above each of which a shock of grain is coned on a skeleton frame. Beside it, carefully covered | panying gun pit, is [ bomb proof in which the gun crew lives, |eats and sleeps. with deceptive appearing material and 1ken into the ground like the accom- to be found the Sometimes these shel- tered earth caves are ten feet beneath the surface of the ground. Brush and shrubbery piled about ané over the guns are common expedients in a wooded country, and often ingen- fous devices are used to give the shields a natural appearance. When operating near towns that have been under shellfire boards, stones and | othier building debris are piled about the guns, so that it looks like a pile of wreckage at a distance. The reconnoitering aeroplanes have adopted the habit of suspecting every- thing except a body of water, and wherever a protuberance exists within the enemy lines upon location of it by an air craft a hail of high explosive shell is apt to land immediately. In the protection, whenever an aero- plane is flying above a position, it has become the rule for the gun crews to take shelter at once, unless the forward line is engaged in either direct attack or defense. And when an artillery po- sition is once suspected of having been located by the enemy the gun is shift- ed under cover of darkness. _— « RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION FALL! OFF. Last year, for the first time in more than half a century, new railway con- struction in the Uniteq States fell to less than 1,000 miles. In 1914 the total of new mileage built was 1532 and in 1913, 3,071. s, Terrific Speed and Heavy Gun of Fokkers Make Them Most Dangerous Monoplanes PROPELLER (TRACTOR)| A cowL / sy “GERMAN - IMITATION GNOME - ENGINE " ABOUT MAIN LIFT CABLES UPPER PYLON GUN POSITION [ . MAIN . P ed / Lo WARP CABLE. PYLO! { SLIDING SPRING |CHASSIS MEMBER 3 Photo by American Press Assoclation. LIFT RUDDER INTO MACHINE == AR [STEP TO CLiMB Lo, N MYNHEER FOKKER AND A GERVMAN FOKKER MONOPLANE. of the fighting in the| assert that the| art of the damage| craft is not being | German battle aero- | #okker monoplanes. d builder of these| heer Fokker, is a Dutch- | y has, however, lived for many H i quite at- an in his sym- ral years ago| Ber-| wonderful uncapsizable long before the scientists in other coun- tries had produced uncapsizable ma- |are fitted chines, or “stable” aeroplanes, as they are properly called There was at o tion of Fokker machines being import- ed to England by one of the services, but, despite their flying qualities, they were so. badly made that who examined them were unwilling to | take the risk of recommending them. The latest Fokker machines are, how. them to anything son of their s o have seen a good|lin, where he. constructed welrd and ever, built very strongly. aeroplanes | in fact, entirely under the control of which certainly flew uncommonly well | the pilot, and it is this same controlla- bility, coupled with the fact that they enormously engines, which makes them as succe: | ful as they are. time some ques- | with The power of the outelimb and else in the which ability swering their controls. my’'s machin engines air, by They are, powerful enables outpace almost while their extreme controllability makes it possi- the officers ble for them to outmaneuver the ene- 3 rea- less quick in an- The Fokker monoplane is almost a copy of the French Morane monoplane and is very similar to the little fast racing machines flown by the late Gus- tav Hamel at various places in Eng- land and by Messrs. Brock, Carr, Noel and other well known pilots at Hendon before the war. It is also fitted with a German copy of the Gnome engine. A machine gun is fitted along the top of the engine cowl, and it fires straight through the propeller. Occasionally the machine gun is operated by a pas- | senger, but as often as not the pilot | fiies alone and aims the machine gun | by steering the machine to suit. The favorite method of attack adopt- led by the Foklker pilots is to let one of | the allies’ machines pass them and |then to attack from behind, flying. | straight at the tail of the enemy ma- |chine so as to get the pilot, passenger, | engine, tanks and everything else in |tine. | The attack is made either from above |or below, according to how the height |of the machines happens to be when | the pursuer gets close to his victim. The pilot on a machine which is very quick on answering its controls can |escape by doing a sharp turn and com- pelling the Fokker to shoot past him. And of course if, as in some machines, the passenger sits behind the pilot he may be able to bring his machine gun to bear on the pursuer just as soon as the pursuer gets within a range which is dangerous to the pursued machine, But where the pursued machine is big and heavy on its controls the Fok- ker always has the advantage in being able to fly quite close Up underneath the tail of his victim, so that the gun- ner on the bigger machine cannot fire at him without firing through his own tail and probably blowing his own con- trols to pieces. However, French and British manu- facturers do not allow their designers to remain idle, and there are already aeroplanes in existence in both coun- tries which will give even the best Ger- man pilots on the fastest Fokker mono- planes quite a nasty jar when they meet. But probably the Germans also will retailiate in due course with something better than they have now got, so it is up to British and French constructors to work their brains and for the em- ployees to work their hands at full pressure if the allies are to make a good showing in the HEMP EATERS. The drug hashish, or Indian hemp, for which Egyptians will pay such a high price, has given us our word “as- sassin.” These desperadoes formed orig- inally a secret society in Persia, in the eleventh century, members of which were under a vow of blind obedience to their chief. They were called upon to perpetrate the most atrocious deeds, and before these ruffians were sent out | to perform their grewsome tasks they were given hashish, by which they were thrown into a kind of ecstasy or intoxication. Hence they’ were called “hashishin,” mean the hemp eat- ers. The word became part of western language, but was changed into “assas- sins, DAVID secshe od GREAT many stories are told on men in public life. And there may as well be told a little story about David Franklin Houston, who has come to be| one of the biggest men in President Wilson's cabinet. Mr. Houston very, very seldom, if ever, writes a personal letter to a friend. His best friend sometimes goes without hearing from him for ten years. Yet when one meets him he is cordially welcomed and fur- nished with the ever present black ci- gar which is one of Dr. Houston’s fail- ings. He has the reputation of being a wide reader. A good novel, it is said, is in- tensely interesting to him. However, his favorite reading of late is Gilbert Chesterton’s essays. One of his favor- ite characters in history is Napoleon, and stories go the rounds that Dr. Houston can discuss in detail every campaign and attack that the famou general ever made and that he has been caught time after time sticking pegs in maps to indicate the positions of the Austrians and French. In appearance Dr. Houston {s very distinguished. His massive head calls for a seven and three-eighths hat. In weight he exceeds 200 pounds, although in good physical condition. Perhaps the most striking thing in his attire; pertains to his neckwear. The color of his ties is uniformly red. A friend who has known Dr. Houston intimately for twenty years says that mpon no visit has he failed to see a red tie clinging to Houston's shirt front. Born In North Carolina. David Franklin Houston was born in North Carolina forty-nine years ago. As a child he moved to South Carolina, where he obtained a public school edu- cation in every sense of the word. A stay on the farm was followed by fur- ther public school education, finished by graduation from the University of South Carolina. He was then superin- tendent of schools at Spartanburg for several years. At the end of three vears at Harvard he received the de- gree of M. A. and went to the Univer- sity of Texas as associate professor of economics in 1894. He advanced to the position of adjunct professor and full| professor of economics. e was the first dean of the academic department as well as dean of the university in 1900, which position he retained for two years. He resigned in 1902 to accept| the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical college. Three years later he returned to head the University of Texas, being inaugurated in the year 1905. Three years later he left Texas| to become chancellor of Washington university, St. Loui Dr. Houston married Beale of Austin in 1895, daughter of the late Judge Turner, predecessor to Federal Judge T. S. Maxey. Mrs. Houston, by the w: deemed the best loved woman who ever Miss Helen who was a| FRANKLIN HO | Copyright by American Press Association. presided over a professor's home on the campus at the Agricultural and Me- chanical college. There are three chil- dren, Franklin, the eldest, being thir- teen. Dr. Houston has had an unusuall successful career as an administrative office "acts seem to prove that progr has been of 1dy vancement. Bes the success Texas colleges, it may be said that his renown is recognized in larger cities than in the places of his immediate as- sociation. It is well known that .Dr. Houston was seriously considered at one time as successor to President Eliot of Harvard. Those who knew his d- one of the month or more of study which | USTON o DAVID FRANKLIN HOUSTOMN. the board of trustees devoted to choss- ing an executive to head Harvard state that Dr. Houston's name was one con- sidered among the highest three out of fifty sibilities. There was no secret concerning President Eliot's desire to have Dr. Houston take up the reins of 1dministration, for Harvard needed & broad man that could attract western and southern patrona As secretary of made an excellent greatly improved the government ulture he record and has this de rtment of He is generally ree- ognized as one of the big men in the president’s official family and will tinue to do good work for this admine tstration. ag! has con-