Machines, not Men, A.D. 2005

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 February 1905, Page 368

Machines, not Men, A.D. 2005

By W. EDWARD LUSH.

0 those who have been watching and studying] the changes which have taken place in warfare, it is evident that, whereas in days of yore it was the intention of combatants to kill as many of their enemies as possible, it has now become the object to

destroy as much of the enemy's most valuable war property, whether it be ships, or forts, or towns, and to treat the loss of life as a necessary though inconvenient accompaniment which ought to be avoided as much as possible consistently with the object of victory. Now, it was with this knowledge firmly fixed in his mind that the great Military Engineer, Colonel Lyddite Electron Smith, brought out those modern inventions which have, in this year of our Lord 2005, so completely revolutionized all modern warfare. Finding it possible, after much patient investigation and many tentative inventions, to gain by a special electric machine the power of aiming a gun without beino- near it, but only by beina' connected with it by an electric current, either on wire or ethereal, he at last brought out his marvellous invention which was duly commended by the Hague Conference, bought up in dozens by the great Powers, and now is used instead of the old-fashioned armies, the costly artillery, and so forth. It is unquestionably of the p-reatest advantage for a General to be able to sit in his explosive-proof mine,

with his electric communicator like the console of a modern organ in front of him, and not only actually light, but also thoroughly enjoy the whole battle himself. For the sake of those who are not military experts, it may be as well to explain the whole working of the machine, how it was invented, and how the many other inventions of the day entered into its evolution. The usefulness of a motor-car at a review struck Colonel Smith, and then he built one to carry a Maxim gun. After some time, by a careful adjustment of ball-bearing riflings in his modified Maxim, he found it possible to make the very explosions of the gun help the motor-car forward ; it then occurred to him that it would be possible to work a motor-car for battery purposes withJ electric power to run out a definite distance of, say, not more than a mile, and return, coiling up its own cable. At last he reached the electriccontrol of the car so perfectly that he could on a high hill, and by a variety of electric appliances, notonly run, stop and steer the car, but also to a certain extent aim the gun and set it into action, doinggreat devastation among the things which he had erected to practise at. This in itself was a remarkable engine of war. But a system of wireless electricity with many currents and different sets of instruments, attuned as it were to each to pick up the current meant for it, gave him a still greater power, until on the summit of his inventions he hit upon the greatest of all, one

that would transform a ray of light focussed on a certain kind of plate into an electric current, and then where it is received again transform it into light, so that the image appears on the plate before the eye, just as it does from the telescope at the other end. This at once made it possible for him to make the engine do all its work at the opposite side of the hill, and finally made it possible for him to put the electric general at the bottom of a pit or anywhere else out of all danger, and

i>'ive him full command of the lighting- engine. But it may !:e asked, wherein comes the principle that warfare is the destruction of valuable fighting property '{ By the time the whole invention is corrmlete, the amount of money in each of these electric war-chariots fully accounts for where that comes in, the machinery Is most exoensive, the armour has to be light and yet effective, and the whole object of each General is

to upset, break, destroy, or otherwise incapacitate the electric warchariots of the enemy. There is now no life lost at all, it is simply a war of skill with two powerful machines of great value, or in some battles, a whole line of chariots pitted against a similar line of opponents. The sport of modern warfare has thus become much more entrancing, and the clanger only great to newspaper reporters and others who persist in looking on.

The facility with which the machines can be worked and sent through difficult manoeuvres is the beauty of the invention. The idea was laughed to scorn, as many new ideas are, till it was exhibited in action, and the doughty Colonel, being much laughed at by the Naval authorities, invaded their domains with new torpedoes, which could be sent for thirty miles under water and made to go through any evolutions desired, rise and shew

themselves if wanted, dive, steer, and so forth, and also a system of submarines and small surface craft, which could be either worked firom the shore, or from a powerful ship at high speed without anyone being an board of them. The object of modern warfare is easily attained in this manner, property is presented for destruction and is destroyed, and the one who destroys the most gets the victory. What can be more satisfactory ? And who could be designated as n greater benefactor of civilization than Colonel Smith ? The invention allows all the necessary outlet of feeling which nations require when they make up their minds to fight one another, and yet it conserves human life. War can be carried on for little more expense than the cost of these truly wonderful and elaborate machines, and the nations are not now required to reduce the producing power of the people, or to endanger their lives on the Held of battle. After the machines had been well tested, and the costs had been duly voted by their respective Parliaments, the Enylish War Office picked a suitable General, and sent a challenge to France to experiment with the inventions one against the other, for as no lives could be lost, except those of reporters a nd military experts and critics, who would, of course, come to look on at their own risk, it seemed worth the expense to try the game in reality. First, there were many exchanges of politenesses to reassure one another that the battle was nothing more than a test of scientific engineering and military skill ; then it was agreed that if the Fnglish General won, he should be at once decorated with the highest badge of honour that the French Government can give, and vice versa . These preliminaries settled, and a suitable plain with distant hills surrounding, selected for the operations, the harpy idea occurred to a -very mercantile Englishman that the whole country round should be

guarded, and every point of vantage from which a telescope could command the scene of 'battle could then be charged for, and the proceeds devoted to paying the expenses of the fight, thus relieving the English and French Governments of the cost. He was at once decorated with minor orders of knighthood by both countries,, allowed a decimal percentage on the receipts, and arrangements were made with all speed, ftach General was furnished with three chariots, which were placed in two lines about three miles apart, and behind them the respective Generals sat snugly, each in a large chamber some twenty feet underground. A signal in the form of an explosion half-way between the two lines announced to the many thousands of distant soectators that the trial war was declared. Immediately the lines of war chariots were seen to advance, keeping well in line as far as natural irregularities would allow, rushing occasionally forcibly at fences, and bursting them aside with their armoured and pointed noses. When within about a mile of one another they opened lire, and fortinvtelv the smokeless nature of the explosives used enabled the whole action to be seen, The centre machine on each side was armed not only with a quick-firmg 1 gun, much of the maxim type, but also with a heavier g-un to throw a heavier shell of an explosive nature. The shots from the quick-firing guns rattled on the armour of the adversaries with a precision of aim which amazed the critical experts. Then the heavy centre guns boomed out, and it was soon evident that English big <>un had ruined the left hand and smaller French chariot, for it started off at full pace, firing wildly in a way which seemed to endanger the distant hills, and plainly showed that part of its controlling pear had been broken up. Finally it dashed into a stubborn cliff of rock, and retired from existence with a threefold ex-

plosion. This had the effect of making the French General somewhat reckless, for he began again to advance, apparently with the object of dashing his cars into the English ones in order to try a process for which the cars are admirably fitted, similar to that of ramming at sea. The English General stopped his fire immediately, divided his cars so as to keep the heavy one in front, and made the two light ones approach at angles. As soon as they were in a favourable position they poured their shots into the fianks of the French chariots. A million of French money was already blown to atoms with the loss of the first car. The eyes behind the telescopes on the distant hills were scarcely able to see for excitement, as the momentary silent but swiftly - approaching chariots went through their movements. Now they fired a few shots as if to try the efficiency of their present vantage ground, then with a sudden turn the heavy French chariot rushed one of the lighter English chariots. It was a< (question of clever steering, of avoiding and firing on every momentary advantage. Skilfully as the English chariot replied by movement and fire, the superior weight of the French machine bore down upon it at last with such a terrific rush that it succeeded in smashing the back wheels. Tn doing this the French General demonstrated the complete control in' which he held the machine— had he struck the side anywhere but where he did, a violent explosion would have resulted, and both c?rs would have been wrecked. As it was, the French chariot turned the English one round, rendered it useless, and then proceeded to attack the heavy English chariot. The combatants were at least again equal in strength, and their general appearance from a distance Avas not unlike that of two laree pigs rushing at one another. The power of the chariots, and the ad-

vantage of making use of the naturei of the ground was evident now, for as the heavy French machine was turning to dash at the heavy 'English machine, to everybody's surprise the latter darted away and opened fire upon the light French chariot, which was just preparing again to attack the light English one, when it darted off up a slight incline, and succeeded in getting its nose under the side of the French chariot, lifting it oil' the ground, l.ut was itself in a measure pinned down by the weight. Now. if the heavy English chariot could only stop the light French one, and then get round and ram the heavy Frenchman on the lifted side the battle would he won. But could it ? By a fortunate shot the English chariot with its heavier mm got an explosive shell right under the light French chariot. This caused trouble in the magazine of the French chariot and disarranged the machinery sufficient to put it out of action. Thereupon, the victor wheeled round, received some little superficial damage from the tilted \w Frenchman's guns, and succeeded, not by a fierce run, but rather by stead v i; res sure in making the French machine " turn-turtle." Thus the battle was won, and two millions of French property and one million of English made quite a formidable scran heap. The inverted French chariot was not much damaged. Ten thousand pounds covered the cost of repairs. The fees Daid for vantage points on the hill sides, and the specially laid telegraphs from the battle-field amply repaid the two nations f : or their outlay. Not a life was lost. The news of the success of the trial flashed across the wires, and all the nations of the earth rejoiced together over the hipjhly successful test of an invention which had solved such a mighty problem, robbed war of all its horrors, and made the lone 1 hoped for universal peace entirely unnecessary.