The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-06

Because Of the DuslneSs pua" iH patience to get his mail on his uesS quicker and quicker each day. one oI the earliest uses to which the nsins machine will be put, when perfected. ls the carrying of important mall.
 voices. legal matter. business proceeu- lngs too valuable to risk over tne wire by cipher code, and too important to be delayed by the slower processes of delivery by steam or electric tfaihs which run only fifty or sixty miles an hour, will be the things carried on the new line. The perfected aerial oe- livery system will exceed anything else yet known, for 1t can follow a inc az direct as that taken by the homins bee.
 Railroads. hampered by mountain and valley and stream, have spent Hii- lions of dollars In the attempt to make more direct the routes when carrying precious mail. perishaple packages anu impatient passengers. Tunnels. cost ing thousands of dollars for each foot, have been blasted inch b: Inch through the mountains tk .t once the trains nad zig Jagged across. Bridges or steei or concrete. that involved the work or thousands of men and the expenditure of millions of dollars have been puilt. tn order to avoid the time inVoived Tn passing around the head of a valley. Other bridges of dizzying heights nave been thrown across small mouh.a," streams, to avoid the delay In Winu- ing down the one hillside and up the other. And still a straight route has not been made. ,, lined face of Mother Earth has been too much for the railroad men. ana only the ship If tne skies can follow direct route between given points one swift, long rise, and the through -snlp on some trans-continental air nne o1 the future, will lift itself to favor able current above the clouds, and witn neyer a stop to slip undergrounu through cities that Gre abofishing the smoke nuisance of trains: with never a stop for water or for fuel: "itn never a pause to annex douDie-heA" CT for mountain climbing, or to smut o" the steam for the toboggan slide oo"h : ward on the other side; with never q nause on siding; with never a delay from snow-sIiGe or spring flood Tn riV- erways; with never fear Of collision on some sharp mountain curve. the shin of tn air will reduce distance 70 It's lowest figure and offer passenger or mall service from one-third to one. tenth that now given by steam anu electricity. . Far below would lie the cities around which the train would still grumbie and crawl, valleys across which nun dane transportation must creep along inclined planes, mountains that must he gone over by wheeled cars on | tracks that double and redouole on their courses to overcome the great grades, forests that are ever watched for fear of the engines spark. ana | lakes and seas that must be circleel by earth's common carriers. In upper air. untrammelied, save by the swift wind currents that he must master and bend to his own will, the aviator l of the future would carry the Nations most important stal items.
 The mail car of today, fitted with pigeon holes, racks and bags, carries a corps of clerks to receive and assofs 1 the mail, The successful aerial route 1 of the future would carry only closed uouches ,at special fixed rates, and have no extra men on board. Cities having I this service would have at the munl' cipal post office. slim. graceful aerial towers built of steel and taller thar l the Elffel tower. To the tops of these | electric elevators would take tht | pouches ready for the through mai | ship. and nets would automatically re- | celve and deliver the pouches design | ed for that city. Since the city ol
 that Utopian era would be one in whict
 civic pride was a primary law. the aer | fal towers would be the perfection oi | the archite' t's skill. @s
 l It may be many years beyond tht time of the aerial postal service tha
 the airship will become common carrier for perishable wares. It VII l be too expensive a nundertakinE to en ter into competition with the moderr | refrigerator cars. But since money
 has eben able to receive almost every | thing 1t asks, the millionaire of the flu ture may have his own private line. fo' the transportation of such things al his palate may crave and his plethort'
 purse afford. It would at least anort
 novel version to put on the Boston New York or Chicago breakfast table
 fruit still fresh ith the Florida dews
 picked and sent that same morning bI
 special airship.
 As a civilizer. as a means of elimin | ating ignorance and equalizing liter
 acy, the airship holds out great prom
 fse. A large portion Of t,le Ma
 tion's rural popu' ,tion is still practic
 ally inaccessible to many of the in
 iuences of higher civilization. Locked
 in by steep mountains. many pe1pi'
 know little of the world beyond thei
 own valley; pioneer groups may be iso lated on some far prairie and not ye 1 have received the blessings of rura free delivery. telephone and telegraph
 The inefficient public roads system O
 the Nation allows a meager percent age Of improved fOaQS 10 the pOpuId
 ton and winter freeze and spring
 fresht too often hem in whole town | ships.
 To these isolated ones the airshiT l of the future will come as the great l est imaginable boom. The parcels
 post, the rural delivery of mails, the | mali order service of big metropolis | tan stores-all these will be in the
 province of the airship when it will l have become common carrier for tho
 common good The remote rura
 dweller in the coming Utopia will only | have to mail or telephone Tn an order l to his dealer for certain household | goods or farm tools, and the Aeria
 Accommodation. stopping at his dool that afternoon. will leave the things
 or a special express will drop care
 fully wrapped packages in conventiona
 catch nets.
 It was the building of good road
 that allowed Paris to develop her grea
 automobile delivery system. by whicl
 shopkeepers distributed their good
 over a wider area and So doubled
 their trade many fold. It will be thu
 bad country roads of America tha
 will be a compelling factor In thu
 development of airship routes, fo
 while a good country road will ever b.
 an essential in the progress of thu
 agricultural districts, postal and par
 cells delivery will follow the lines O
 y1,fII ti