The St. Louis Republic., 1903-02-08
ENJOYS A MONOPOLY
OF BALLOON BUILDING.
Professor Carl f. Myers Dccln res
Aerial Navigation In Easy, Safe
and Cheap.
REPUBLIC SPECIAL.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
New York. Feb. Professor Carl E. NV
ers has the practical monopoly of the bal
loon building business in the United States,
1t is not monopoly which Wall street
magnate envies him. or he probably would
not have it. 1t is not a case of billion
dollar trust expressing the poor and enrich
ing the already plethoric ccffers of some
muitimillionaires. In fact. the average citi-
zen would be bit skeptical about the ex-
istence of any balloon building business for
Professor Myers to monopolize.
But 1t does exist and Myers has monopo-
lized it. What is more. he has a balloon
building plant some nine acres in extent
which was put up by one Gates-more or
less well and favorably known to the world
of finance. Not. to be truthful, by John w.
Gates, but by Frederick Gates a son of that
William Gates VINO invented the machinery
that turns log of wood into matches and
made possible the Diamond Match Company
and the Match Trust. This plant is located
in the Mohawk Valley, near Frankfort N.
Y, and was originally Mr.. Gates's country
home.
Morgan takes no stock in it, nor Carnegie.
nor Rockefeller. Neither do any of Doctor
Myers's country neiShbors-nor any one else.
unless it be few scientific Missionaries,
dreaming dreams of the future
REGARDED AS SCIENTIFIC TOY.
For. in spite of the great progress that
has been made in aerial navigation during
the last few years. the practical, hard-head-
ed Tive entieth Century citizen Is still prone to
regard the airship as a splendid scientific
toy that awakens intensely interesting Wis
ions of future possibilities. but is at best a
sort of will-o'-the-wisp for inventive ge-
muses. and daredevil experimenters to pur-
sue at the expense of their fortunes and
their lives. with small hope that success
will crown their efforts in this or any other
century.
1t cannot be denied that the popular mind
is skeptical concerning the. feasibility Of
constructing vessel that will carry freight
and passengers through the air with speed
and perfect safety, and this doubt has been
Santos-Dumont',l successful trip around the
.Effel Tower was offset by two accidents
to the. same daring aeronaut, in one Of
which he came near being dashed to death
in the streets of Paris. while in the other
he narrowly escaped drowning In the sea
off the coast of Italy. Then followed the
Dumont. whose gasoline motor airship
caught fire in midair. exploded and hurried
him to a horrible death on the pavements
eeveral thousand feet below.
With these fatal accidents fresh in the
public mind the idea of constructing a great
shipbuilding plant with blazing forges and
ships to speed through the air comparable
with the transatlantic racers of to-day
an aeronautic visionary. yet the nucleus
of such a plant already exists right In the
heart of the State of New York, owned by
a practical business man of thrty-five years
experience in aeronautics. who has built and
operated successful flying machines of varf-
Gus types without an accident: who has al
United State1 Government. and who stands
ready to build safe, dirigible, passenger
carrying aerial greyhound of a speed and
capacity only limited by the purse Of the
purchaser.
OUTPUT OF PLANT.
OF course this airship plant. like the be-
ginning of every great enterprise Is modest
in it's scope and equipment. There are no
roaring furnaces. belching smokestacks, and
changing machinery, and a stranger passing
the door would never suspect it as the birth
place of an important infant industry. yet
this plant has a record OUTPUT of twenty
airships in three days and publishes the fol-
lowing scale of prices:
0ne-man motor airshp.- .-.-..............-....$ 500
Two-man motor airship greater size and
Five-to-ten-ma motor airship (speed en-
durance. control and safety guaran-
tee0 $40. COO to e. CO.