Middletown transcript., 1908-09-26
WASHINGTON LETTER

WASHINGTON, D. c., September 10Th, 1905
Is expected that the President will be-
at the White House by the time this
letter is printed. The Postmaster GEN
eral George Won L. Meyer returned to his
home in Washington yesterday. He has
spent part OF the summer outing, hunting
and fishing in the North, at the family's
summer home in Hamilton, Mass. It
was there that Mrs. Meyer lost by burg
larry fifteen thousand dollars worth of
IeWelry. Mrs. Meyer and her daughters,
Who spent the early summer abroad, are
not expected home until next month.
The Secretary of the Treasury and Mrs.
Cortelyou who have been spending the
summer at Huntington, Long Island, are
expected home next week. They have
been living on farm With all modern
improvements, it is said, and their Young
family, of whom there are four, have had
very enjoyable time. Mrs. Robert Nc
hee, the daughter of former President.
Benjamin Harrison, and the mother of
the once famous Baby Mckee, is expect
ed to spend portion of the coming sea-
son in Washington. She is now with old
friends, the family OF Senator Elkins, at
Elkins, West Virginia.
~
All the arrangements for the opening
OF the tuberculosis Congress on Monday
the 2lst, are vel! under way. The new
National Museum will be the stage for the
exhibition Of the most up-to-date appli.
ances for the prevention of the spread of
When the hundreds of
delegates from all parts of the world ar
rive, they will find the exhibits in a very
complete state OF preparation. Every ar
rangement has been made for taking care
of the delegates and for making the
gathering as perfect as possible in the
way OF accommodations. A large dining
room is being fitted up on the first floor
OF the Museum aud it is planned to sup
ply more than two thousand delegates
daily with food. Washington has had a
wide experience with conventions. In
many cases delegates and visitors have
had difficulty in finding places to eat at
reasonable price. The restaurant accomo-
dations of the city are not the best and
when the city ia overrun with visitors,
many places put their prices up and try
to rob the guests. Under the direction
OF Dr. Hickling a bureau OF information
has been established at the Union Station
and every delegate will receive instruc-
tions concerning car lines, hotels and
boarding houses. Interpreters speaking
German, French, Italian and Spanish will
be provided so that the foreign delegates
will have little trouble in securing infor-
nation.
~
There is universal sympathy in the city
for the sad accident which befell Orville
Wright and Lieutenant Selfridge, when
they fell from the rs foot elevation in
Wright's aeroplane. The past week,
of people from the city and
other parts of the country have focked
in automobiles and in carriages to Fort
Myer, where the wonderful experiments
that have filled the world with expecta-
tion have been made. Great as has been
The advance in recent months, resulting
in flying feats at which the world won-
1ered, it is now clear that the expert
mental stage has not yet been passed. A
est at the hands of go competent flyer
Is 0rvile Wright who has broken all rec
9rds, was no doubt as promising as human
ingenuity could make it, but human in
yenuity cannot prevent accident with
wagon, automobile or any machine, and
when that accident happens in midair, it
s necessarily more tragic and disastrous
han on terre frma. Skeptics with refer
,nce to the success of flying machines are
with reason-in their
disbelief, and the accident at Fort Myer
las proven almost conclusiyely that it
will never be possible to use airships for
ong voyages or for the transportation of
passengers. The slightest accident will
orce the machine to the ground and even
( the passengers escape accident, the
Machine may be miles from point where
can be repaired. Mr.. Thomas A. Ed
son in a recent interview given in Salt
AXE City predicted that in five years or
ess airships will be carrying passengers
cross the ocean making the trip in day
t the rate of two hundred miles an hour.
Ir. Edison also predicts that the North
ole can and will be reached in a forty
our trip by an airship. But imagine an
irship or an aeropane crossing the ocean
'hen some mishap occurs such as is daily
ccurring with the motor car for example.
,ither it would be thrown into the deep,
r, if it we're able to maintain itselfia the
ir, it would not be possible to move or
, repair the damage. The experiments
ill go on. They have received too great
D impetus to be arrested, but it is prob
BILE that the youngest child to-day will not
We to see the airship, whether aeroplane
r balloon, commercially successful.
TAXATION FOR SCHOOLS
A new system of taxation for school