COMPARISON OF BALLOON STRENGTH OF ALLIED AND ENEMY AIR SERVICES AT DATE OF ARMISTICE

ONE-STOP TRANS-ContinentAL FLIGHT.-Plans for a trans-continental flight directed by the Operations Divisions of the Army Air Service have been completed. The start will be from New York city in a U. S. Martin bomber. The finish will be at San Francisco, Calif. The total distance is computed as 2750 miles, intended to be covered in two successive days. The only stop contemplated will be at North Platte, Neb., giving a first leg of 1502 miles, and a final leg from North Platte of 1248 miles. The pilots will be Capt. Roy N. Francis and Lieut. Edmund A. Clune, Air Service, assisted by two or three mechanics. The condition of the territory passed over will be tabulated for aerial routes. The reliability and the durability of the Liberty motors will be tested. The plane will be equipped with twin Liberty-12 motors, aggregating 800 horsepower.

The route passes over 13 states in a nearly direct air line. It passes from New York over the northern part of New Jersey, central Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, southern Iowa, central Nebraska, southern Wyoming, northern Utah, Nevada and California. The large cities en route are Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, Des Moines, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake and Sacramento. The southern end of Lake Michigan is to be crossed, the Mississippi at Rock Island and Davenport, and the Missouri at Omaha. The highest land elevation en route is about 8000 feet. The last trans-continental flight made by the Air Service was that of Major Thomas C. Macauley, who doubled the southern continental route from San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville, Fla., between April 12 and 18, a distance of 4642 miles in 2655 minutes flying time. He made several stops en route. His eastern flight, with the benefit of a western wind, was made in 19 hours and 15 minutes flying time. He used a DeHaviland-4 plane with a Liberty motor.

Capt. Roy N. Francis, Air Service, U. S. A., who is attempting the onestop trans-continental flight from Mineola to San Francisco, is one of the foremost instructors of fliers in the United States. At Kelly Field, Texas, during the period of hostilities Captain Francis taught and trained more than 1500 men who qualified as military aviators, a greater number than any other American instructor so far as known, and probably more than any one foreign instructor. Since the armistice he has been performing regular flying duty and has taken on short flights groups of Senators and Representatives. Captain Francis did all that was humanly possible to have the War Department assign him to foreign service as a pilot, but his ability as an instructor was regarded as so valuable that he was disappointed in his ambition to fight the enemy in the air.-Army and Navy Journal, 6/7.

MISCELLANEOUS

JOFFRE EXPECTED 500,000 FROM U. S.-"I happened to remember the other day that when Marshal Joffre was in this country he and I had a very long, confidential conversation with regards to America's participation in the world war, and I asked the Chief of Staff if I could have a memorandum

of that conversation. I did not succeed in finding it, but I found a report of a conference between Marshal Joffre and the General Staff.

"This conference took place early in May, 1917. Marshal Joffre urged strongly that we immediately form a single division of troops and send them to France to stimulate the flagging spirits of the French. They had undertaken a great offensive, which had failed with a tremendous and disheartening loss of life; and he felt that nothing would serve to revive that flagging morale more than the appearance of the American soldiers at the front.

"He urged that we should form a great army, with the expectation of ultimately participating in great force on the western front. He said that a port would be placed exclusively for our disposal and that it would be adequate for our work for a very long time, more than adequate to land this single division and supplies-perhaps not quite adequate for our great army when it came, because, he said:

When your great army comes, you will have 400,000, perhaps as many as 500,000 men, and you will need more port facilities for them.'

"The wildest expectation of the French General Staff was that, when America finally did pull herself together and prepare to participate on the western front, we would have as many as 400,000 to 500,000 men. As compared with the performances of a great army of 400,000 or 500,000 men the thing which America finally did was that in June, one year and two months after we declared war, we were selecting, training, equipping, transporting, and maintaining soldiers in France at the rate of 10,000 a day. In the single month of June, 1918, we transported nearly as many men as the Marshal had expected us to put in our great army as the maximum of his great expectation. And, when the armistice did come to pass, we had in France over 2,000,000 men and our casualties on the western front were pretty nearly as great as the maximum expectation of the Marshal for our entire army. From speech by Secretary Baker in New York, N. Y. Times, 6/13.

TO SURVEY NORTHERN PACIFIC WATERS.-There entered the Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal recently the Government's new vessel built for the Coast and Geodetic Survey, very properly named the Surveyor, en route for Alaska from Norfolk, Va. She is probably the most modern ocean-going surveying vessel in existence. She is a steel, steam vessel of 1000 tons displacement, of 1321 indicated horsepower, and has a speed of 12 knots. Her complement is II officers and 56 men. She was designed along lines that would give her the maximum possible seaworthiness, steaming radius, and maneuvering qualities in a craft of her size. High speed was not considered essential, but was sacrificed for steadiness and seaworthiness.-Nautical Gazette, 6/14.

CURRENT NAVAL AND PROFESSIONAL PAPERS

Civil Engineering in the War. Work overseas. Major-Gen. Sir G. R. Scott-Moncrieff. (Times Engineering Supplement, May, 1919.)

Panama Canal-Zone Dry Docks and Repair Shops. R. D. Gatewood. Illus. (American Machinist [European Edit.], May 3, 1919.)

The French Army Motor Service: Its Organization and Working during the War. (Génie Civil, Apr. 12, 1919.)

New Orleans Army Base Improves Facilities of the Port. G. H. Davis. Three concrete warehouses tied to 2000-foot wharfhouse on river by bridge permitting access to all floors. Rail and water connections and storage facilities make peace-time use important. Illus. (Engineering NewsRecord, Apr. 24, 1919.)

Railway Gun Mounts. Lieut.-Col. C. M. Barnes. Illus. (American Machinist [European Edit.], May 3, 1919.)

New Express Locomotive with "Uniflow" Cylinders, North Eastern Railway. A class "Z" 3-cylinder engine which will provide a useful comparison with others of the same series, but having ordinary ported cylinders. Illus. (Railway Gazette, May 9, 1919.)

Special Train for the Commander-in-Chief in France. Illus. (Railway Gazette, May 9, 1919.)

Ford Methods in Ship Manufacture. Electric rivet heating and welding, flame cutting and boring propeller shaft bearings. Serial. F. E. Rogers. (Industrial Management, May, 1919.)

The Building of Concrete Ships. The "Monolithic" and "Unit" systems. Illus. (Modern Transport, May 17, 1919.)

The Kitchen Reversing Rudder. Illus. (Engineering, May 16, 1919.) War-Time Repairs in the American Navy, Boring and Lining Operations. This article explains the principal features of the system for taking care of the many jobs handled by the repair ship. Relining a set of connecting-rod brasses is also described, together with details connected with the necessary boring of the lining. The method of setting up the work on the horizontal boring machine is given. Serial. Illus. F. A. Stanley (American Machinist [European Edit.], May 10, 1919.)

Electrically-driven Ships' Auxiliaries. Illus. (The Engineer, May 16,

1919.)

Marine Boilers Standardized. Some critical comments. (Times Engineering Supplement, May, 1919.)

Water-Tube Boilers for Cargo Ships. (The Engineer, May 16, 1919.) Modern Marine Engine Economies. Some notes on the efficient operation of ships' engines and boilers. (Shipbuilding and Shipping Record, May 8, 1919.)

Civil Aviation and the Air Routes of Great Britain. Map. (Flight, May 1, 1919.)

Air Navigation. The most important of the unsolved problems relating to aviation. Major H. E. Wimperis. Map. Diagrams. (Aeronautics, May 8, 1919.)

Medical and Surgical Aspects of Aviation. H. Graeme Anderson. (Aeronautics, May 8, 1919.)

Engineering Achievements of the U. S. Army, (Mechanical Engineering, April, 1919.)

Reorganization of the American Engineering Standards Committee. Serial; Erit. B. Rosa. (Engineering News-Record, May 1, 1919.)

DIPLOMATIC NOTES

FROM MAY 20 TO JUNE 20

PREPARED BY

ALLAN WESTCOTT, Associate Professor, U. S. Naval Academy

GERMANY ACCEPTS PEACE TERMS

DISCUSSION EXtended to May 29.—At the request of the German delegation, the time accorded for discussion of peace terms was on May 20 extended seven days, from May 22 to May 29. The request was based on the ground that the German delegation had in preparation several notes containing suggestions of a practical character which could not be completed in the period of 15 days originally allotted. These were listed as follows by Count von Brockendorff-Rantzau in his request of May 20:

First-a note concerning territorial questions in the east; second, a note concerning Alsace-Lorraine; third, a note concerning the occupied territories; fourth, a note concerning the extent and discharge of the obligation undertaken by Germany in view of reparation; fifth, a note concerning the further practical treatment of the question of labor laws; sixth, a note concerning the treatment of German private property in enemy countries. These notes were submitted, but their contents were for the most part covered in the general reply sent by Germany on May 29.

In the American press of May 24 appeared the full text of the German communication (May 16) regarding the effect of the peace terms on the German people, and also the reply of the Allies (May 22). To the complaints of Germany, the Allies replied: (1) That the peace terms reduced the population of Germany from 67 million to 61 million; (2) that the four million tons of shipping taken from Germany constituted less than one-third of the tonnage sunk by submarines; (3) that Germany could import goods and still be prosperous; and (4) that in general the hardships laid upon Germany were the result and just punishment of her

own acts.

The text of the German note on boundaries (May 15) and on the Sarre Basin (May 16), together with the replies of the Allies (May 24), was published in the American press of May 26. Certain alterations in these matters appeared in the final terms.

GERMAN REPLY OF MAY 29.-The German reply to the peace terms submitted on May 7 was received on May 29. The covering letter of Count von Brockendorff-Rantzau appeared in the American press of June 2, and a summary of the entire note on June 16. The note contained about 60,000 words.

The covering letter was in effect a summary of the entire reply. It declared that the terms were "impossible," more than the German people can bear," and that "Germany, thus cut in pieces and weakened, must declare

herself ready in principle to bear all the war expenses of her enemies, which would exceed many times over the total amount of German public and private assets."

The reply begins with an analysis of the legal basis of peace, alleges a flagrant series of contradictions to this basis and points out that the results would be the complete enslavement of the German people and the betrayal of all the world's cherished hopes of peace.

In the counter proposals Germany demands immediate admission to the league of nations as part of the spirit of the armistice agreement and as necessary for the acceptance of the proposed military, naval and air terms. She then analyzes the territorial changes demanded, claiming that the right of self-determination has been wilfully violated throughout.

Germany bitterly assails the abolition of all German rights outside of Europe as irreconcilable with the preliminary negotiations and as wholly impossible to a great people, who not only have supreme needs for markets and supplies, but who have shown themselves capable of sharing the world's colonization.-Associated Press, June 15.

FINAL TERMS SUBMITTED ON JUNE 16.-The reply of the allied and associated powers containing the final terms to Germany was handed to the German delegates and made public on June 16, with a period of five days (extended later to seven) for acceptance or rejection. The principles of the original terms were followed out, with modifications in detail and explanations. The changes included:

A plebiscite for upper Silesia, with guarantees of coal from that territory. Frontier rectifications in West Prussia.

Omission of the third zone in the Schleswig plebiscite.

Temporary increase of the German Army, from 100,000 to 200,000 men. Declaration of the intention to submit within a month of signature a list of those accused of violations of the laws and customs of war.

Offer to cooperate with a German commission on reparations and to receive suggestions for discharging the obligation.

Certain detailed modifications in the finance, economic and ports and waterways clauses, including abolition of the proposed Kiel Canal Commission.

Assurance of membership in the League of Nations in the early future, if Germany fulfills her obligations.

CONDITIONS FOR ADMISSION TO LEAGUE OF NATIONS-The conditions for Germany's admission to the League of Nations were inserted in the treaty on the basis of a report submitted by Lord Robert Cecil and Colonel House, as follows:

First-The establishment of a stable government.
Second-The signing of the treaty of peace.

Third-The loyal execution of the peace treaty.

A proposed fourth condition relative to Germany's abolishing compulsory military service was finally omitted on Premier Clemenceau's suggestion. It was considered that the treaty sufficiently provided for Germany's disarmament.

GERMANY'S REPLY.-Immediately upon receiving the final terms, the German delegates left for Weimar, where a meeting of the German cabinet was held on June 17, in preparation for submitting the German answer to the national assembly.