The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-08-20
Ghe GntelE1qeneRr
WHEELING, AUGUST 30, 1891.
A Possibility Of tho Future.

So rapid and SO surprising has been
the progress Of invention in connection
with railroad building that the public
is now prepared for almost anything in
the line OF improvement in the means
of rapid transit and the increase of
speed.
When the first successful long dis
lance trip at the rate Of mile min
ute was made it was looked upon as
wonderful achievement, and many be-
lieved that the highest rate OF speed
possible had been reached. 1t was the
wonder OF the railway world and citi-
Gems could scarcely realize that they
lived in an age OF such advancement.
So rapid had been the progress from the
time of the first railroad to what they
considered the acme Of possible results
that it seemed more like dream than
n reality.
But now, when only few years have
passed, comes the startling announce
mont that shortly will be revealed, by
practical tests, hepossibility that double
the highest speed Of railwaytravcl yet at
tained can be secured, and with greater
safety and comfort than is now expert
enced. Experiments are to be made in
connection with the Worlds Fair that
will demonstrate, it is claimed, that
American skill has provided the means
OF safe transportation of passengers on
railroads at a speed greater than one
hundred and Twenty-Five miles an hour-and
that, too, at less cost than by the
present system,
1t is proposed that Gears resting on
what arc practically skates will glide
along over film of water, much as the
glasses on an apothecary's counter do
when wafer has been spilled on the
smooth surface"
A Chicago contemporary in speculat-
ing on the prospect Of the success OF the
tests, draws this picture Of what we may
witness before another decade has
passed:
To grasp the meaning OF this prospect let II he
noted that the train leaving New York at
O'Clock in the morning would land It's passengers
ut Chicago at IN the afternoon, and at OmHG9
ut little after the same day. The trip would
be made from ocean to ocean In less time than Is
now now taken by some trains from Chicago 10
New York. Measured against journeys taken by
citizens in active business IN Chicago and the re-
suit Is something approaching the incredible.
But the achievement Is In line with other results
OF the incentive genius Of the age. II Will be ac-
copied by believers In the doctrine OF evolution
as involving that progress from the simple to the
complex aud thence again 10 the simple explain
cd by Darwin. Experts stTOve in the tfst attempt
10 apply steam 10 travel to overcome We friction
on the rails that vehicles might be hauled more
cuSily They discovered that friction wns neccS.
Eary TO traction. but with this invention pro-
puiLOn Is substituted for traction, and the days
Of the huge locomotives will be numbered when
light trains skim rails covered with water, pro-
PEELED by the same liquid underprcSsure.
When these things are accomplished,
and there is little reason to doubt that
in this great age OF invention, they can
be, there will be nonecessity ior the far
more risky flying machines, and we will
have taken another long stride in the
direction OF the millennium.