The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-06-01
BATTLE FOR LIFE.

The Pla ct Mars Is Said to Be Short
on Water
AND IS SLOWLY DRYING Up.
The People Up There Have Dug Huge
Canals and bitches for Con-
veyins Water to Their
Parched Fields.
The following article, which is copy
righted by the New York American,
is copied from that journal:
There has been great to do lately
among some of the astronomers over
the canals of Mars. AS subject
for speculation and dispute these mys
terious objects refuse as obstinately as
Banquo's ghost to be put down. Mr..
Walter Maunder, the English o5serv-
er, insists that instead Of being con-
tiruouS, independent lines they are
only rows of spots and edges of dark
shaded regions. But Mr.. Psrciyal
Lowell, at his Arizona observatory,
stoutly defends his theory that they
seem to be, unbroken lines, and he
becomes every day more convinced
that the inhabitants Of Mars have not
only produced them, but are at work
upon them at the present time. He
has lately discovered as be thinks,
fresh efforts Of the Martiars to keep
small portions Of their almost driedup
planet still green and productive. 1t
seems to be struggle like that of the
Russians at Port Arthur, inspired by
desperation and the grimmest neces-
Sity. Cold, empty, Implying space
surrounds the Mertians on every side
as relsntlessly as the japanese fleets
and armies surround General Stoes-
sel's garrison. They have no rains,
springs or rivers to supply them With
moisture. Their only source OF wa
ter supply come from the annual
melting of the polar SHOWS. This
water, says Mr.. Lowell, they train off
across the temperate zones Of the
planet through thousands Of irrigation
bitches. Since the general slope OF
the planets surface is uphill from the
poles toward the equator, these tire
less engineers. battling for the life Of
a world, are compelled to pump the
water up from level to level, and al
though his telescope is unable to show
the great locks that must exist in the
canals in order to render such a sys-
TEN practicable. Mr.. Lowell is conf
dent, from the general appearance OF
things, that such locks and such a
succession Of levels exist.
he even believes that he has detect
ed evidence Of organized cooperation
among the inhabitants Of neighboring
districts on Mars, whereby the supply
of water is husbanded and shared turn
and turn about between two such dis
tricts, one taking the water one sea-
son and the other the next season.
This extraordinary conclusion Is
based ON the alternate appearance and
disappearance Of adjoining dark bands
and expanses in certain localities on
the planet. Having utilized the water
for che season to grow and ripen their
crops, the inhabitants of a district
may store up supplies sufficient to
carry trem through, the next season,
while their neighbors are in turn Ell.
joying the presence Of the precious
water in their irrigation bitches.
Perhaps the strongest argument
employed in support of MI. Lowell's
theory is the tact which, if his obser-
vations are correct, seems indisput-
able-that the shaded bands supposed
to represent vegetation only make
their appearance after the melting Of
the polar SHOWS is well under way,
and as the melting proceeds the dark
bands extend further and furthur
across the temperate zones.
The strong element Of imagination
in this hypothesis does not destroy it's
interest or serve to put it entirely out
side the bounds of possibility. IN
doubtedly in the later stages OF it's
evolution world may dry up, and il
such world continues to be inhab-
tied after the desiccation Of its surface
going on before our eyes in the SKY is
sufficient to hold the attention chain
ed. What is a besieged city containing
a few thousand soldiers to a death
beleaguered wo-ld crowded with mil
lions Of inhabitants anxiously watch
ing the slow, irresistible encroach-
ments Of lifeless deserts that spread
all about the narrow tracts and cases
where a little vegetation can yet be
maintained?
At the very worst such speculation
furnishes as good food for the imagina-
uion as any novel can do, but it has in
addition the attraction OF being pos
sibly true. With the moon all dried
up and airless, though it has not
always been thus; with Mars almost
in its death throes; with Jupiter
bursting with energies not yet concen-
trated into the forms OF an animated
world; and with the countless stars
beyond, each perhaps possessing a no
less variegated system Of worlds re-
voiving in it's light-surely the uni
verse around US can save US from
ennui whenever we get trifle weary
OF grinding our noses on this gritty
little ball.
Fire Near Augusta,
The Augusta Chronicle says the
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