Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1892-08-26
The question Of 8
-. ..t.nd xvifi


many scientific journals and Is being
made the subject Of experiment by so
many scsentitlc--not TO mention un-
scientific-men, that II begins 70
look as il 1t were among the posi-
bslitles OF the near future that the
thing which has batfied man for so
long would at last be among the
things which human wit has con-
Quered and which are to be reckoned
as difficulties overcome. II this is to
be, IL is really time that there was
somebody considering what the ef-
fects upon the country and upon tue
world are 10 be from political and
from a social point of view by tho in
PRODUCTION of aerial navigation 1t
is best to look the matter over bo-
forehand, since when the time comes
for an instant and practical applica-
tion It will be too late to give to the
complicated problems the minute at
tention which they demand and de-
serve.
OF course the first practical consid-
Grafton which will suggest itself
when once ships begin to sail the air
as now they sail the seas, viii be the
defining and adjusting OF all those
rules which embrace the right of
way and kindred matters. In gen.
cral it will be natural that the regu-
lations adopted shall be those which
now govern the high seas. but it is to
he remembered that in the case OF
the air-ships, il will be necessary TO
treat the rules in two dimensions, so
TO say, instead of as one. sca-ships
asa ..-s,-.- -.
T lJst,s tue 1eNv on one sn
other; whAe us of the aitfe
be able to % tie one above ~
so that it viii be necessary -
which has the right TO 60 az
given circumstances and whics
keep below. Very likely when
is known about the matter toy
of its being done there win be-
sort Of a regulation attemptEed ii +,
tue of which the relation .fbf airs; IN.
to the electric currents OF A tbc worid
will be as accurately dctfned as il
now the relation Of vessels on the sen
to the wind. 1t will be insadmissible
for an air-ship under certain circum-
stances to come between another and
| the magnetic north pole, and all that
sort of thing, There can be no doubt
that the subject is going to be an i'm
mensely complicated one; but it Is
also one which must be fully worked
out If there is to be any safety what
ever in the case Of air travel
1t will also be necesS2.y &. S5ttifue
! the relation OF alr-ships to folks un-
derneath. II the voyagers through
the blue are to have the right, for
instance, to throw overheard their
empty bottles and rubbish generally.
as has been from time immemorial
the custom Of the seafarers, it is GO
ing to be practically impossible to
live in the tracks of the airy argosies.
To risk thump on the head from
a bottle or tOmato-can which has
fallen through half a mile of air il
not possibility to be contemplated
with indifference; while the possibil-
ity of being deluged with ballast-saud
or with refuse without warning-or
with warning. for that matter
would be so much the worse as it is
the more andignided.
There would he all sorts of national
complications, moreover 1t would
be necessary to define the air limit
just as it is now necessary to define
the neutral line along the sea board.
There must be a limit below which
foreign air-shps could not come ex-
cept under those conditions obtain
ing in regarl to vessels which come
within the three mile limit on the
coast
Just how this could be measured it
Is not easy to say unless it could be
sited from the top of the new thirty
or forty story buildings at Chicago;
but of course it would be necessary
| to have this matter rigidly attended
to. In case Of war it would be one
of the first points to be thought of.
The use Of air ships, it may be re-
: marked in passing, would in case of
war give an immense advantage to
the invading army, 1t would only
be necessary to give battle over
a hostile city and the unhappy town
3 below would suffer from the effect OF
s the ammunition Of both friend and
]. foe. II is 50 probable, however. that
!. with the introduction of aerial navi
CATION the whole course Of warfar
IS would be altered that it Is hardl
c necessary TO consider this
q Such are but few Of the compl
!, cations which will lie introduced /
. the practical Development of aerh
II navigation, and when one consider
Z how difficult it is all going to De Z
IS bring into proper shape, one hall Wou, s,eIo
\ ders whether it is not on the NnD.s
:, better to let things 60 as tney "a, az
I" and not attempt to make oui "''