Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-10
Speed Possibilities
Declared LimitIess

1.-TWO questions seem to be the most
important problems Of the age.
d They are 'Where is the speed
limit and How fast is 1t possible to
travel a given distance
"Latter-day miracles" persons whose
memory carries them backward half
century or more have named the automo-
bile and the five-day ocean liners; TWEEN
tieth century marvels" our flying ma
chimes and lightning expresses have
been christened; but to the men of genius,
whose active, fertile brains have evolved
these vehicles of rapid transportation,
they are but firm steps toward the reply
to the overcoming query or Is TINS
to prove the unbeatable record or speedy
travel?'
When the first automobiles reached such
perfection that speed Of twenty-five
miles an hour was reached without INJURY
to machines or drivers the pubic sdSpeu.
Yet, little bv little, this record mas oeen
changed until recently Barney Oldheld'
the widely known chauffeur, dasheo reck-
lessly around a mile course In twenty
seven seconds. the equivalent or one nun,
dred and thirty-one miles an nour Anu
this remarkable rate of speed barney
coolly promises to exceed the next lilhe
he enters a contest.
Already it is possible to leave New
York on Monday morning and take an
ner on Friday in Liverpool. Naval men
experimenting with oil fuel predlct tilat
within six months or a year the trip Will
be reduced from five days to three
Small craft burning oil fuel nave
ploughed through the sea on test runs al
the rate of fifty miles an hour
Aeroplanes are showing astonishing
rates of speed. Bleriots triumph In
crossing the English channel leaving far
Iaft INra ot q l.
most the same moment, has shown the
scientific world what is possible, and his
record may be broken at any time
The bird-like flights of flying machines
at recent exhibitions show clearly that
these devices will one day rival the high
est rate of speed motion attained by We
hicles on the earth's surface. 1t may
be that they will exceed them.
Tremendous speed means the saving of
time and this is time-saving era. Time
is money and every second saved means
dollars to the hustling business men Of
this generation. This probably is the
real reason for the eternal striving for
faster methods of transportation.
In England there is in operation
queer-looking vehicle which, it is claimed
by the inventor, can be run over a single
rail with absolute safety at the incredible
speed of 40 miles an hour. Already the
monorail system is talked of as the most
likely successor to our present railroad
methods, and plans to try out the Eng
lish inventors time-saving train here In
America are already under way.
With the monorail a success the trip
from New York to Philadelphia could be
accomplished in about twenty minutes.
The Twentieth Century Limited, which
runs from New York to Chicago In six
teen hours, would then be about as mod
ern as Conestoga prairie schooner"
in the heart of Broadway.
Our grandfathers would stand open
mouthed If they could witness a train on
the German Berlin Zossen electric line
traverse a mile in thirty-five seconds, yet
this is done every day on a section of
that company's system, and any day at
all the record may be exceeded by Amer
lean railway men, who are experimenting
with similar methods.
France is one Of the first among nations
to recognize that the flying machine Is
here to stay and the first to prepare leg
islation for the regulation of aerial
traffic.
The adoption Of such apparently useless
laws as France is preparing to enact
will be nothing less than an acknowl-
edgment that that country expects in
the near future to find them necessary
because OF the improvement of the ma
chimes by scientific men.
France will make it unlawful to travel
through the air within city limits" at
a rate of more than forty miles an
hour, and this speed must be developed
at height of not less than 1,6D feet
above the earth. At night she will re-
quire that airships be fitted out with
port, starboard and stern lights. similar
to q ship at sea. Owners of high build
inss will be required to illumine the
roofs Of their properties to prevent reck-
less navigators Of the air from crashing
though skylfghts, and telegraph compa-
MES will be warned to hang remnants
and danger signals from their wires.
Germany, quick to see the advantage
gained in time of war by having in
readiness an air feet equipped for action,
has prepared an armada Of fourteen
ships and is building nine others. This
fleet could beat the fastest railroad to
France by taking ''short cuts" through
the sky at the rate Of fifty miles an hour,
and, lowering out of range, could demol
ish at will any town it chose. The Ger
man nation Is superlatively happy over
it's supremacy thus far as regards aerial
dreadnoughts. and enthusiastically the
German people have christened their
country mistress of the air.
Barney Oldfeld, who has been making
automobile records for five or six years,
is as happy as child over his last ac-
compliShment of a mile in twenty-seven
seconds Nothing ever projected into
space except a bullet has ever travelled
$3.50 feet in America at equal speed.
The best speed ever made by a locomo-
tive was in 1901. when five miles were
onds.
Oldffeld confidently predicts that the end
Is not yet, and that there is much more
power in his car than he has yet sue
ceeded in getting out Of 1t. The fastest
time ever recorded before Oldfleld's