The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-12
Al the Restaarants.

Au etlQ0nce that the last signs or the panic disappeared with 1908 and that New York is once more fairly on the high road to prosperity was at- forded by the size and 1avishness of the New Year crowds which broke all previous records for size and fairly swamped the fashionable hotels and restaurants with the golden flood of coin poured out in the course of their rejoicing over the advent of 1909. Al- though the capacity of public dining rooms in this city is doubled every three years, 1t never is sufiicient for the, enormous throngs that are anx. ious to spend anoney dining and win. ing on such occasions as this. The Now Year carnival has become such an established feature of New York life that it attracts thousands of rer- sons from other places and of course no New Yorker worthy of the name thinks of staying at home on such an occasion. Before the next year an- ing facilities of the Great White Way and one designed especially for such gatherings aas, thie.- and for banquets at which a thousand or more guests assemble, will be opened in the new addition to the Hotel Astor which this year served. more than six thous- and persons during the last twenty four hours of the old year. The new hall is to be larger than most of the city theatres and will accommodate three thousand diners at one time. It IS to be the largest room in any hotel In tho world ana win present remark able features of decoration and IIlu,ni- -l nation. There may be a limit to the multiplication of public dining facili. ties required by New York. but there is no indication that 1t is likely to be reached for many years to come.
 The question of air franchises. A terr, now unknown. is likely in the near fu- ture to become one of serious import. arce not only to this city, but to the whole United States, and one which will eventually have to be settled by the Supreme Court of the United States, The matter has not to. do with sky scrapers. as might be expected, but with the fast Approaching realization of the practical air ship. Neither has 1t to do with the rules of the road" for such craft, but with the much more serious fundamental problem of their right to fly over the land of any objecting per- son. Indeed, the old expression free as the air"'Would seem to need remodeling for investigation shows that the air Is not free at all@-at least not for air. ships Under both the Roman and Eng lish common law, upon which our code is isifounded, an owners title to his prop erty Is conceded to extend from the center of the earth to the infinite heav- ems. Such being the case a man has no more right to fly oyer the land owned by another person than he has to dig a tunnel under it. The right to travel over, a city in an aeroplane would apparent ly seem to be as taxable as the right to run an automobile on its streets. Simi- larly the operation of line of airships would seem to be subject to an air franchise or charter as Is that of e street car line. The coming of the air- ship will bring up other equally com plicated problems most of them invoIv- ing the need of air police. Without such an agency smuggling would be come simple. while immigration laws would be only dead letter. Altogether the development of afr craft promises to bring up some very delicate prob. Iems, and also to establish the commer. cial value of air.