ng for the Fatherland, and his
unselfish patriotism appealed to one and all. Such an attitude deserved
hearty national appreciation, and the members of the great German public
emptied their pockets to such a degree that within a few weeks a sum of
L300,000 or $1,500,000 was voluntarily subscribed.

All financial embarrassments and distresses were now completely removed
from the Count's mind. He could forge ahead untrammelled by anxiety and
worry. Another Zeppelin was built and it created a world's record. It
remained aloft for 38 hours, during which time it covered 690 miles,
and, although it came to grief upon alighting, by colliding with a
tree, the final incident passed unnoticed. Germany was in advance of
the world. It had an airship which could go anywhere, irrespective of
climatic conditions, and in true Teuton perspective the craft was viewed
from the military standpoint. Here was a means of obtaining the mastery
of the air: a formidable engine of invasion and aerial attack had been
perfected. Consequently the Grand Idea must be supported with unbounded
enthusiasm. The Count was hailed by his august master as "The greatest
German of the twentieth century," and in this appreciation the populace
wholeheartedly concurred. Whether such a panegyric from such an
auspicious quarter is praise indeed or the equivalent of complete
condemnation, history alone will be able to judge, but when one
reflects, at this moment, upon the achievements of this aircraft during
the present conflagration, the unprejudiced will be rather inclined
to hazard the opinion that Imperial Teuton praise is a synonym for
damnation.

Although the Zeppelin was accepted as a perfect machine it has never
been possible to disperse the atmosphere of disaster with which it has
been enveloped from the first. Vessel after vessel has gone up in smoke
and flame: few craft of this type have enjoyed more than an evanescent
existence; and each successive catastrophe has proved more terrible than
its predecessor. But the Teutonic nation has been induced to pin its
whole faith on this airship, notwithstanding that the more levelheaded
engineers of other countries have always maintained the craft to be a
"mechanical monstrosity" condemned from its design and principles of
construction to disaster. Unshaken by this adverse criticism, Germany
rests assured that by means of its Zeppelins it will achieve that
universal supremacy which it is convinced is its Destiny.