The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-17
THE MILLIONAIRE
 AND AUTOMOBILES Grease Teaches Respect for
 Skilled Mechanics A REVOLUTION IN GAS Feature in Coming Trahic-Lewis Nixon Tells of Y. M. c. A. Motor
 Boat SchooI-Great Hu-
 man Movement.

New forki NoVem0er 16.-tSpeclaL)-
 The grease smeared hands and smudged
 face of the young society man who de-
 serts afternoon teas and cotilons to run
 his own fleet motor boat, instead of being
 funny are, according to the head of one
 of the largest ship building concerns in
 the United States, significant of a great
 industrial and mechanical revolution in
 America. Similarly he holds that the
 millionaire flat on his back underneath his
 luxurious touring car, getting his hands
 dirty, is taking part in great human
 itarian movement which will lessen tho
 terrors of marine warfare. emancipate
 the stokers from their infernos on the
 great transatlantic Lusitanias
 These opinions were expressed by Lew
 is Nixon, former head of the ship building
 trust, at the opening session of the Motor
 Boat school of the West Side Young
 Mems Christian association, the first Of
 it's kind in the world, and adjunct of
 the Y. NJ. C. A. automobile school. The
 school had announced that it was pre-
 pared to teach the theory and practical
 operation of gas engines and the actual
 building of motor craft in shop special
 ly equipped for this purpose MT. Nixon,
 in referring to this entrance into the field of industrial education, said:
 Changed Sentiment.
 ~It is a matter of significance that men. who formerly looked down upon tho steam engineer because he was dirty and his occupation was hot and unpleasant, today are getting their own hands dirty
 and their clothing smeared with grease
 in making repairs to their own automo-
 piles and motor boat engines. These men are coming to realize that there is some
 thing useful and fine In coming into per- sonal contact with mechanical devices. And if they are proud of their own abil- ity to make repairs, they also are coming to look with admiration on the skilled
 workman who can handle gas engine
 better than they themselves. Moreover,
 these men who are themselves learning
 the gas engine are taking part In devel- opment making for humanitarianism in
 commerce and in war.
 Any young man who qualities thor
 oughly in the handling of the gas engine mot merely in the theoretical side and
 the application of theory, but in its prac-
 tical management, will undoubtedly be
 in line for one of the great mechanical developments. For anything which cuts
 a nations coal bill in half is a great de-
 velopment. The West Side Y. M. C. A,
 in opening a motor boat school shows it's
 foresight and ability to develop along
 useful lines. For the development of the gas engine has worked one of the mar
 vels of the century in the new attitude of the people toward the grime covered steam engineer. Those going In for mo- tor boating are not dealing with a tenn porary fad-motor boats are going to stay, grow and develop, just as the au- tomobile will. The gas engine Is still under development. If the earlier exper- imenters with gas engines had had the p<oper mechanical adjuncts, the gas en- zine of today would be marvel and the flying machine a necessity.
 Engine in a Boat
 '"The steam engine in a boat takes up weight and space, is dirty dusty, hot and it's smoke dsagreeable. It takes human strength and endurance to run it. Think of what it would mean to be able to replace it with gas engines without boilers, which spare strength, do not tax endurance with heat and need chiefly brains to operate Anyone who has been in the boiler room of one of the high speed Atlantic liners knows the strain the men are under, how they work with soot and dirt and precipitation matted on their faces, and go out into the cold air and shorten their lives. If we can eman- cipate these men it is a great develop ment. There are already about 2s000 gas driven boats in the United States. The largest of these is the 4000 ton North land, which brings the rolls of paper for the New York newspapers from the Maine pulp mills A strange development is large power fishing boat which now puts out for Gloucester to the banks. She gets there ahead of the sailing craft, atan move about at will. But if the catch IS running light, when she gets her tanks half full of fish, the fishermen hitch up the engine to a dynamo, start wireless apparatus working, pick up Boston, and if the market for fish is high, run in and all hnr ha1f nJ1 at htcyI
 Tn Holland, on the canals there are 5000 such boats, many of them used as freighters. maker of automobile bodies tells me he can load chassis on one of these boats and ship it 12 miles for 20 cents.
 The Gas Engine.
 "In war the gas engine also offers an opportunity for humanitarianism. The steam torpedo boat or destroyer, is fitted | with high pressure steam pipes and ma | chinery, and the slightest break in these may mean an escape of steam which will | kill the whole crew. Stealth is also im- | portant in a torpedo boat. the smaller | the bulk the less the liability of detec- | ton or damage from shot. With gas l engines displacement can be reduced one | half and the same efficiency preserved. | The Russians. for instance, wanted | boat that could be loaded on a single flat | car, be seaworthy. have a speed Of 20 | knots and a power radius of 1000 miles. l After English and German firms said it | could not be done, an American ship | builder constructed boats % feet long which made A knots, could travel 2o00 | miles and carry more guns than were required. To prove 1t, they sent one over under It's own power.
 Gasoline today is much maligned l substance: it is really ideal for mans pur- poses-a liquid gas. We have other gas l giving substances, crude oil and kerosene, l though kerosene engines. because 1t takes 1 time to start them, are not as popular with hurrying Americans as with English 1 men. There is also alcohol which can
 be made out of any vegetation which will l ferment, like pumpkin rinds or old grapes There is still another gas, called l producer gas.' made by drawing air
 through a banked coal fire, washing 1t 1 and using it to run gas engine The | geological survey has found that the | poorer varieties of coal and the lignites l answer admirably for this gas. Wnlch