New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1893-12-13
FUTURE TRANSIT.

FUTURE IRA NSl1l
Be careful, said my guide; there.
is only one more step. z
Descending safely the step thus in
Dictated, |. found myself in vast hall
illuminated by the binding radiance of
electric lights, our footsteps alone sound
ing in the silence l55
Where was I? Why did come
there? Who was my mysterious guide?''
There was no response to these inter
rogations.
A long journey in the night, doors Of
iron opened and closed noisily, the.
descent of staircases deeply sunk in the
earth-that was all i could succeed in
rememb ering indeed had no leisure
to think.
You are undoubtedly asking who
I am and where you are?" said my
guide. am Colonel Pierce, at your
service, and we are in America in the
city of Boston, in station
A station?" said l.
Yes, the terminus of the Boston and
Liverpool Pneumatic Tube company
and with a gesture Of explanation Colo
mel Pierce pointed to two long iron CYL.
inders about two meters in diameter
which were not far from us. {.
gazed upon these two cy finders, set
in a mass Of masonry, having enormous
metallic obturators, from whence sew.
eral iron tunnels extended, passing
through the ceiling. And all at once
| understood.
| remembered to have read short
time previously, in an American news
paper, an article recounting an extraor-
binary scheme for uniting Europe and
the new world by two gigantic tubes
under the ocean. An invention had
! been made, and the inventor was the
very Colonel Pierce who was my pres
ent guide. again read, in thought, the
article in the newspaper.
The reporter went into all the de-
tails of the enterprise. He wrote
that it was constructed of iron, of a
length of 100000 meters, weigh
ing $4,000, 900 tons; that 900 vessels
OF 1900 tons each were necessary to
transport the material, each vessel maxi
ing SO voyages. He showed that this
scientific armada carried the steel to
two vessels at each end of the route, on
board Of which the ends of the tubes
were held. He explained that the tubes
themselves were extended under the
waves without intermission in sections
Of three meters screwed together and
powerfully bound by. a triple band Of.
steel plate covered with coat Of rosin.
In regard to the matter of its work
ing: The tubes, which resemble two gil
gantic pea shooters, carried in their in
teriors a series of passenger cars which
were impelled by powerful currents Of
air in the same manner as the present
pneumatic process.
A comparison with the steam rail-
road system concluded the description,
and the author enthusiastically enum-
Grated the advantages of the new and
audacious system. In the tubes there
are no disagreeable noises to cause nerv-
GUS trepidation, thanks to the internal
surface, which is of polished steel. The
temperature is even, the currents Of
air being modified according to the sea-
sons, and the rates for passengers or
merchandise being extremely moderate
BY reason Of the economic construction
and the comparatively small running
expenses required for working the in
vention.
And the writer went on to state, for
getting that, despite the 1865 kilome-
ters which the rotation Of the earth
makes each hour, bodies situated at the
equator are still subject to the laws Of
gravity, forgetting that it would be
necessary to be released from the oper-
alton Of these laws to have speed IL
times greater-he went so far as to as
sert that trains in consequence of the:
rapidity Of their movement and the
cu1ying Of the earth would be subject
to so small an amount Of frict ion that
they could be used ind efnitely, perhaps
to all eternity
All that came to my mind then and
there. Thus this Utopia had become
reality. and those two cylinders OF iron:
that were near me extended beyond the
Atlantic and welded together, as it
were, the two continental Despite
t.NHdI9Ai Sd ~ NidSS nOts dUl0 10 COHVluG6
myself There were the tubes truly,
but that passengers could be taken by
that route could not bring myself 70,
believe. s.
Was It possible that 9 completecurs
rent Of air could be estab lished Of that
length7 formulated this question
Ealoud.
Very easily answered Colonel
Pierce. large number Of blasts
similar TO those emana from = huge
furnace, are sufficient for the pnrp pose
/ The air ID forced back with y power 81
most without limit causing ightfnl
|swhir1wind, which has rapiidit
moresthan 500 kiloneters az hour.