Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-01-13
ONE CENTURY HENCE.
THERE is A MiLLENNIUM OF MOTION
IN PRosPECT.
By That Time Aerial Travel VIII super
sede All other Means of Intcrcom-
munication-Thc Electrical Force
Completely Controlled.

1t is only relative. Yet the nneteentf
century can be considered only as q
mere intiator an eXperimenter a fever
ish seeker, a sower of ideas and of pro.
jects. which the twentieth century
more positive more scientific, better bal
anced and less sentimental and idealis.
tic, must realize. The men of the TWEEN
tieth century. says a writer in the New
York Recorder. will understand nothing
OF our agones, our complexities, oui
anxieties, our trickeries our Chauvin-
isms. In spite of documents that we
have pleased ourselves to accumulate
for them, they will make no attempt tc
understand our state of mind and soul
/ They will feel the absurdities of looking
| backward; they will have rather poor
idea of us as well-meaning fools pre-
tending to impossible scruples and ideals
lin a word, much the same sort of per-
sons that our fathers of 1880 seem to us
| good old-fashioned folk, Philistnes of
the deepest dye. vain and narrow
| dreaming of utopias and knowing moth
| ing of immediate action.
| Three methods of traction dominate
the present. Each is comfortable, speedy
| and economic. They are steam. cleo
tricity and cyclism, the latter represent
| ing automatic motion in still unde-
| veloped stage. All indicate the greatest
| triumph of man over mere brute force,
| as represented by the horse, and offer
| advantages so real and so appreciable as
to give indubitable evidence that in the
| immediate future our coursers will be
reduced from the rank of necessaries to
that of luXuries. Then, the horse rele-
| gated to the same leisure enjoyed by the
| bovine species there would no longer be
heard along the highways the rhythm
| of trot and gallops no joyous neighings,
no sterterous breathings of nags op-
pressed with burdens. In their place
would resound the heavy roll of wheels.
| the whirr of machinery, the scream of
| warning whistles E'vpII-\ybarp N
or electric carriages. everywhere coal
| ing or petroleum stations, everywhere
water tanks for the boilers, restaurants
| for travellers, blacksmith shops for re-
| pairs in the machinery, villages trans
| formed into miniature towns and hay
| seed" into sophisticated townfolk, the
entire landscape invaded by automatic
cars and aerial voyagers, flying like
birds through the air
Such vehicles will not be without
character. and will lend individuality to
the scene. Specially remarkable will be
| the large family car" or excursion
carriage, fitted with all conveniences.
meals en- route, for the boiler utilized
as a sort of homely kitchen, will facil-
| itate the concoction of succulent stews,
| of hot pastry and of smoking coffee.
The country doctor will adopt a con-
| venient "petroleuse" run, as it's name in
dicates, by petroleum and furnished with
small drawers for medicines, where the
| heat will keep at a wholesome tempera-
ture his sudoritic doses, his antiseptic
| potions, his prophylactic vaporizers and
| injectors. The matron will rejoice in
a three-wheeled wicker basket wagon,
not larger than an Indian sofa, which
she will manage alone in the byways
| and the woods. a great sight will be
| the electric cobwebs," whose two prin-
| cipal wheels, lightly and delicately in
| terwoven with thin copper wire, will
| have "a diameter exceeding even that of
| the body of the vehicle, while the di-
rectng wheel, more substantial in APP
pearance, will be reduced two-thirds, so
| as TO assist the evolutons of those who
work il. These cobwebs will he suited
| for long journeys, and will, therefore,
be extremely swift They will attain II
| speed of from seventy-iiVe TO ninety
miles an hour,
Travelling statesmen will speed along
in drum cars" very giddy in color, and
open at the sides so as to exhibit show
cases full of tempting bats for village
| coquetry or country dudedom, while
others will have "bargaln cars" replete
with strange bits OF bric-a-brac in the
shape of bottles, pots, cans or bales, ac-
cording TO the particular line they rep
resent. There will be campaign cars"
for candidates electioneering tours
tabernacle cars dark and mysterious
for clergymen on their parochial rounds;
'antitie cars" cheap little vehicles,
whose wheels will be SO fixed as ex-
actly to bestride the ordinary broad
gauge railroad, and viii be mainly de-
signed for actors and trsrnps; and Jour
nalistic joggers," elegantly mounted in
brass and fitted with a typewriting ma
chine and,if necessary, pretty type
writer girl, who will supply the motion
with her legs at the same time that her
hands are busy taking down dictation
from the master mind who accompanies
her.
The streets of all the great cities
New York, Chicago, San Francisco,
Paris or London-will be far indeed from
the comparative calm and quiet of the
present, Merely human voices of dis
credited cOachmen and car drivers VIII
he drowned in the prodigious and never
ceasing tumult of the whistles the bells,
the gongs and other alarms from all
ing steam at each accident or collision,
the ihunderous roll of wheels, the inter-
minable clicking of machinery. The
spectacle Will be picturesque, though
dangerous to the pedestrian.
Following one another hurredly in the
midst of the deafening clamor OF trum-
pets OF warning will appear the cars of
the Metropolitan Electric Company.
They will not run on rails, pneumatic
tires enabling them to dispense with
those relies of the past. Interspersed
among them will be heavy carts and
draSS run by steam and loaded to the
height OF a second story window by
means of a mechanical crane, which
Will he ready at any moment to unload
the merchandise upon the sidewalks.
From all these vehicles ,there will float
a heavy odor of burned grease and of
sulphur In order not to disturb the
rich and elegant quarters of the town,
streets which form the promenades or
driving places of the aristocracy will be
forbidden To electric or steam carriages.
wrose use viii be confined to common
and ordinary people, with whom haste
is more important than comfort, The
fashionable vehicles of the beau monde
will be rich carriages with daintlly dec
GRATED panels mounted upon springs, the
motive power being furnished by liv-
cried suite of fottmen, two Wallets be-
hind in gala costume, moving with a
quick, nervous action of the magnih-
Gently developed calves the pedals of
the wheels. while in front the conductor,
skillful bicyclist, will give to the
equipage a fast, certain and distinguish
ed gait
No horse viii appear, save in certain
little riding roads in the suburban parts
Magnificent bicycles, run by the aid Of