The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-11
CENTURY PROB
LENS.
BY LUTHER II. HORST.

OF interest 10 all American ClLlzenS'
Some in the past few years have
attracted universal attention.
The Panama canal which is to be
built across the Isthmus of Panama
is As n miles in length, ~ feet
wide and has an average depth of
rs feet. Operations were COM
menced on this in 1881 by a
French company and after expend-
ing $266,00O,0O0 they failed and
in 1892 sold out to the United
States. The cutting of the Cordil-
leras and the building of the Gatun
dam are the chief difficulties
which the engineers have had to
battle with. This dam is to be one
mile long, one-fifth of a mile wide
and 130 feet high. This will form
lake 10 miles square through
which easy and safe navigation can
be had. This will save great ex-
! pense as we'll as labor.
! The problem of our standing
+ army and navy has called forth no
small amount of discussion. The
proposed increase in our army has
! created much opposition to the
movement by some of the best
! thinking men of our time. Our
standing army to-day is 77,2S7
men, being one soldier to every
1900 inhabitants. OF these 4O,-
I 900 are in the Philippines, thus
leaving 37,2S7 for duty in the
United States, Porto Rico and Cuba.
Comparing the organization tables
published in the army register of
to-day with those of twenty years
ago, we find the increase striking.
In 1877 we had 10 regiments of
cavalry each with $50 officers and
men; now we have 10 regiments
with 1860 officers and men. In
former years we had 5 regiments
of artillery, now we have abolished
the regimental organization of ar
tillery. 1t is a proof of good or
ganization that our army could be
raised to more than three times
it's former strength with little or no
trouble. We have now 15,S4O
cavalry, 1852 artillery corps, 3S,-
$50 infantry, 1,2S2 engineers
corps, and 2,7S3 staff department.
A total army of 77,2S7 which would
warn off all danger from any for
eign country, and a greater stand
ing army would seem to be need
less expense.
Air navigation is one of the great
problems of to-day. There have
been some wonderful inventions
made along that line, especially by
the Wright Brothers, who have the
worlds record for time, distance
) and height. A few months ago
Wilbur Wright astonished France
with the worlds record fight OF
, 13 1-2 miles, remaining in the air
~ minutes. This was beaten the
next day by Delagrange who re-
mained in the air % minutes, COW
ering 1514 miles. For two days
Delagrange tasted the joy of victory
and then his record was almost
doubled by Orville Wright who
; kept his aeroplane over the grounds
! of Fort Meyer, near Washington,
, for 81 minutes. The success OF
: such a flight can be gauged by time
rather than distance, as speed must
be maintained at all times to keeI
the heavy machine in the air. II
: the following week Mr.. Wright
! broke the worlds record five times
: On September 18th he remained ir
, the air "A minutes, travelling par'
: of the time at the rate of 80 miles
: an hour and raising to an altitude
of 25O feet. This established {
2 record for time, distance an(
t height. In Great Britain the gov
: ernment experts are contining theil
/ attention to the dirigible balloon
= rather than the aeroplane. The!
talk of a craft 1000 feet long. Th'
lifting capacity of gas bag air
e ship increases as cube of it
| length and it's resistance to thu
e wind increases only as the sQuar
= of this dimension; that is, an air
+ ship 1000 feet long could carry al
y engine eight times as heavy as on
/ 500 feet long, and it would offe
j only four times the resistance t
the wind. Therefore, it coul
e travel twice as fast, and it seem
a that the larger an airship is, tn
s more easily it is managed. Eng
J. land to-day could be raided b
e airships and her battle fleets criI
pied if not destroyed by sudde
y attack in case of war, with Gel
i many, France, or any other cont
= mental power. A swift moving all
st ship would be in a position to il
e fiict great damage within two houl
e after a declaration of war. Th
E. dirigible or lighter-than-air m;
e. chine can never have wide practic;
m use except for pleasure, surveyin
re or military operations The aer'
e. plane or heavier-than-air machine
a. while it will find it's greatest Vi
m in military operations, and as
re pleasure craft, still has much pror
es Use of practical utility for traveliI
in cross country flights, as it carries
oy high as six persons. The model
ny machines cost $1O,00O,000 and Il
n o