Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-08-27
SHIPS OF THE AIR.
Some of the Complications Which x74s
Follow Their Use.


The question Of aerial navigation is
being pushed with so much vigor
NOWADAYS, it is being discussed by so
many scientific journals and is being
made the subject of experiment by so
many Scientific-not to mention I'M
scientific -men, that it begins to
look as if it were among the posi-
bilitles of the near future that the
thing which has bat1led man for so
long would at last be among the
things which human wit has con-
quered and which are to lie reckoned
as difficulties overcome. If this is to
he, it is really time that there was
somebody considering what the eff
fccts upon the country and upon the
world are TO be from a political and
from a social point of view by the in
PRODUCTION of aerial navigation. 1t
is best to look the matter over be-
fOrehand, since when the time comes
for an instant and practical applica-
ton 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-
efation which will suggest itself
when once ships begin to sail the air
rs now they sail the seas, will he 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 ,gh seas, but it is to
be remembered that in the case of
the air-sbiDs, it viii be necessary to
treat the rules in two dimensions, so
to say, instead of as one, Sea ships
are confined to one plane, and must
pass one another on one side or the
other; while crafts of the air will also
be able to go the one above the other,
so that it will be necessary to define
which has the right to go aloft in
given circumstances and which must
keep below. Very likely when enough
is known about the matter to allow
of its being done there will be some
sort of a regulation attempted in viz
tue of which the relation of airstips
to the electric currents of the world
will be as accurately defined as is
now the relation of vessels on the sea
to the wind. 1t will be inadmissible
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 inn
mensely complicated one; but it is
also one which must he fully worked
out if there is to be any safety what
ever in the case Of air travel
1t will also be necessary to define
the relation of air-ships to folks IN
derneath. If 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 60
ing to be practically impossible to
live in the tracks of the airy argosies.
To risk a thump on the head from
a bottle or tOmato-can which has
fallen through half a mile of air is
not a possibility to be contemplated
with Indifference; while the possibil-
ity of being deluged with ballast-sand
or with refuse without warrington
with warning. for that matter
would he so much the worse as it is
the more undignited.
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 limit below which
foreign air-ships could not come ex-
cept under those conditions obtain
ing in regard 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 1t 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.
This 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
below would suffer from the effect of
the ammunition of both friend and
foe. 1t is so probable, however. that
with the introduction of aerial nayi-
CATION the whole course of warfare
would be altered that it Is hardly
necessary to consider this
SUCH are but few of the compli-
cations WHICH will be introduced by
the practical development of aerial
navigation, and when one considers
how difficult it is all going to be to
bring into proper shape, one half won
ders whether it is not on the whole
better to let things go as they are
and not attempt to make our way
through the air after all.