The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-07-21
Engineers Declare the MiIe-a-
 Minute Graft Has Arrived
EASY TO ROB THE BANKS
Alarm in Wall Street Over Increasing Thefts by EmpIoyes-Senator Plett Spends 74th Birth
 day Feeble and Alone.
BY sEWELL HAGGARD.

1 New York July 20.-While this city is preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the first steamboat, expert engineers are saying that Peter Cooper-Hewltt has giv- en to the world the mile-a-minute craft. Literally this is not true. for MT. Cooper 1 Hewitt's invention is only in it's infancy. i With only a rough model he has made l thirty-eight miles an hour on Long Island sound and he declares he will be able to build a boat that will make ffty-fve miles an hour
 This new craft, for which such amazing 1 claims are made. Is a gliding boat. It does not cut the water as do other vessels, but actually flies or skins over and clear of the surface, the body of the craft be- ing forced high enough to permit free play of the waves
 1 If the predictions of MT. Cooper-Hewitt's engineer friends come true. he will soon be going to Liverpool in thirty hours. The inventor himself says that he believes a craftt that will go 100 miles an hour Is not far off.
 MT. Cooper-Hewitt had no intention of l solving the water speed problem when he set out on his invention. His intention was to invent a. flying machine. The re- l suit has been like that in many other In ventions The inventor started for one destination and arrived at another. The new boat looks like a scow. It has q hull of mahogany which is very shal- low, merely 0 she'll to carry the machin- cry when the craft Is not moving. A strong steel frame, similar to that of an automobile extends over the sides of the shell and across either end, the cross sec- tions of the frame being equidistant from their respective ends of the craft.
 From each corner of the frame there are dropped into the water perpindicular steel arms. These arms extend eighteen inches below the bottom.
 To the arms are fastened steel planes, having a slant upward in front of about 1 in S. The bottom submerged planes have two square feet of surface and those above 1t are larger. Tho total supporting surface of the four principal planes. there- fore, Is eight square feet.
 The motor is set forward and the sin gle screw turns just back of the front sets of planes.
 On either side of the shell is a gasoline tank.
 That's all there js of the craft and equipment. .e /
 In operation the screw driving or pull ing the craft forward forces the slightly slanted planes through the water and, on account of their slant, the craft is forced upward. The greater the speed inc high l CT the craft rises,
 While gliding more than sixteen miles an hour the craft proper does not touch 1 the water but Is carried above 1t. The | effect is that of the shell being showed along on four fiat shoes, or skates. There is space between the top of the water 1 and the bottom of the craft. This space 1 is made great enough to allow for the | p1av of the waves. As the waves do not | touch the bottom of the craft and as the principal planes are below the trough Of the waves, there Is 0 gliding instead of n rocking or pitching motion. If MT. Uewitt's invention ever is applied to transatlantic vessels illness at sea will be unknown.
 Aside from the peace aspect of the craft | if has great possibilities in war In naval warfare guns aside from small arms can
 not be used accurately on vessels going
 faster than thirty miles am hour. Hence l the new craft would be available as tor
 pedo boat destroyer for 1t could do pretty | much as it pleased.
 | Bankers of this city are concerned over
 the alarming increase of thefts by em-
 ployes Since last February the records
 show that there have been 100 per cent
 more embezzlements in New York, propor-
 tionately than In any other city or the
 country Formerly the banks required
 bonds only of employees who hahdled
 large sums of money, but now many of
 them are exacting bonds of every clerk.
 Tbese bonds are furnished by surety com
 nanIes and. for self-protection as they
 have io nav the losses in case of defalca- 1 ., .Laao oomDapies co-ODerate with the