Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1908-08-20
MOI a HorseIess Aee.

Mol HOrScleSS Age.
The horseless age that has been so
persistently predicted is not merely
slow in coming; the facts seem to
indicate that it is farther away than
ever and perhaps may never come.
People must be riding a great deal
more than they ever rode before.
The automobile industry i'm this
country has quadrupled in value in
the last three years and has develop
ed to even greater rate in the num-
ber of machines manufactured. But
the statistics of horsefiesh keep on
expanding. There were more than
fourteen million horses in this coun-
try in 1897, but according to the fig
ures for the year just closed there
are 19, TAG, 900 horses In the United
States at the present time. This is
gain of nearly 40 percent. in a de-
cade, a much larger one than the
hnman element can show in spite of
our large and continuous importa-
tions. AS mechanical rivals multi
ply he rises in the scale of dignified
personality. The last horse will
probably take his leave at about the
same time as the first man. Boston
Transcript.
A Berlin dispatch says, before the
out breaking of the next war, when
ever that may be, the Kaiser Will
have added what might be called
aeriay cavalry to his fighting forces.
Since the successful flights Of the
Zeppelin airships the German
government has ordered twelve mill
tary airships built which are to be
ready for flight and fight by next
spring. At the Kaiser manoevers
from September I to 8, at Saarburg,
five dirigible airship will be used.
Speaking of the usefulness of
dirigible balloons to armies in the
field, Major Gross, chief of the mill
tary airship department, said the
other day: Hitherto generals have
primarily used cavalry to ascertain
the position of the enemy and the
movements of hostile troops. 1t is
also we'll known that at the begin
ming of each campaign each general
sends swarms of spies to report to
}tlbisn a68rnh tha4epemys,s,pal palan.s.
are assuming.
When airshils can sail safely for
long distances they will render in
valuable service in this respect. Ex-
perience, of course, can alone teach
us the exact functions of an airship
in watching hostile forces but we
may safely predict today that Officers
aboard an aerial vessle Will be able
to observe the movements of large
bodies of troops as they march
Through the country, while it will
tusther be possible to estimate the
number of troops conveyed by any
given rail road, BY watching the
number of trains dispatched to
strategic destination officers will be
able to see which stretches of the
country are free from the eneeny's
troops, thereby ticiliating in aere
markable degree the movement of
theih own side. We may by air.
ships, not merely improve, but
bring to the point of perfection the
observation of the movements of
a hostile force.
Bread continues to be the staff of
life, and American wheat furnishes
the -four that makes thebest bread.
This is to be borne in mind as An
important economic fact. 1t is
brought to public attention by re-
port of Special Agent Davis of the
Department of Commerce and Labor,
who las been looking up the mat
ter in England where he finds that
high grade American fioursis made
finer than the English Article, and
he attributes this to the superior
quality of our wheat. After giving
some interesting information AS to
the various ways in which the Eng
lish people utilize flour, he notes
the wide extent of the practice of
getting supplies from the bake shops
instead of making the bread at
home 1t is to this trade that orr