The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-21
uP rN rHE AIR.


 Many. if not most, people know what. fly time is. It is not merely the far mer whose horse or mule becomes rest less and often unmanageable during the fly season. but the city housewife knows what 1t Is. But there is quite another variety of fit time in the near future, if Santos-Dumont knows what he is talking about.s and he evidently thinks he does. for he is predicting that within i've years human beings will be sailing around through the air like so many bullbatss or almost any other bird. for that matter.
 While this is a4 tAere pnsitive pre- dfetion than others that have been handed out for some years, 1t is not otherwise new. Assurances that man will eventually conquer the air and be as much at home in 1t as the fowls are, and practically as safe are not at all new. All the enthusiasts on the sub- ject of aerial navigation have some thing of the same to tell us. and have been at 1t for we don't know how many years, but there's always some hitch in the proceedings. Either the ma chine falls to fly, or 1t flies well enough till something happens to it, and un- fortunately. something usually happens.
 santos-D -Dumont is not the only enthu- siastic worker In this field. Tn various other countries. including our own. there are scientists and experimenters who are devoting much of their time to the problem of safe and easy navi- gation of the air. That much has been learned and accomplished is not to be disputed, but that there Is still much to be done is equally true. As one evil dence of the unfaiths&nat still exists we may mention thatsa great English newspaper has .offered q prize of sSo.oo0l to the first aeroplane sailor who will make a successful trip from London to Manchester. a distance of 160 miles across country. This shows that not much confidence is felt in that country over what has been done or may be done. The Brooklyn Eagle. referring to Dumones prediction, says:
 Tt is worth noting by those who re- gard M. Santos-Dunonts opinion as visionary and absurd that more pro- gress has been made in aeronautics with airships and aeroplanes In the last ten years, than has been made in the science of ordinary ballooning since Etienne Montgolfier tried his, hrst ex- periments with hot air, at Avignons in 47Sa what may be achieved in the next five years time alone can tell But when we recall what has been de- monstrated by the Lebaudys, by knaD- enshlEs, .hy Count aZepelins and by San- tosr rDurhoffts who will, perhaps, be ranked hereafter as the greatest air sailor of his time, we may confidently expect the production of great snL,,s; resulIs, LocomOtion on land stood practically still from the days of the AssyEian cha riot to1 those of the stage coach. But 1t progressed with gigantic strides phenson's Rocket silenced the. 1eers of his critics by carrying trainload or passengers over the Stockton ana Dar- lington Railroad in 1s25. stepnenso9 his contemporaries to be an unbalanced enthusiast. He lived long enough to be esteemed as the most sagaciouS ana president inventor Of his day and gen eration. And yet, within the earlier days of his experimentation, he ac- complished no more than. If ay much as. M. SantOs-Dumont and ms col leagues have accomplished in theirs,
 The Eagle is somewhat enthusiastic ana hopeful sOn the subject and seems to think that the time is not distant when 1t will be. as safe to navigate tKs ssr as it is teaapd ones way along Broadway or Fifth Avenue Perhaps so but even at that it will lack sofne- thing of being absolutely safe. For many centuries men have been navi- gatfngf the waters and for more than three quarters df 3 eentury tHey have been using railroads, but any one who keeps up with the news can see that travellers are not always safe, either on land or water. This being true, we may understand how much greater is the peril of air travel. Still. so many nficuIt problems are solved these days that the present generation may see the air alive with travellers who will find 1t easier, pleasahter And safer than to stay on earth among the automobiles and other murderous inventions.