The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-08-29
FATE OF A WORLD
Its Course From Chaos to Its
Hopeless Death Struggle.
THREE ACTS IN THE TRAGEDY
The First Is Shown by Jupiter, the
Second by the Earth and the Third
by Mars, While the Moon Shows the
Empty STAGE After the Play Is pone.

No stag WAS ever set Tor Such
tragedy as the planet Mars presents.
1t is tn last act In the drama of a
worlds history!
The first act in such drama consists
Of scenes from chaos. The huge plan
ct Jupiter offers rs spectacle of that
kind in its streaming belts of thick
clouds and its whirling vapors, glow
ing like steam above Il furnace,
The second act is represented by the
earth. with its fertile crust. its cool, IN
vigorating atmosphere and its life sus-
taining seas that give birth to the
clouds which. condensing on the
mountains. furnish the rains and set
the rivers lowing.
The closing act is the role of Mars.
where the seas have vanished. the at
mosphere has thinned out. the rivers
have disappeared, the continents have
turned into deserts, and life. driven into
corner, is battling against final ex-
tinction.
That there is yet intelligent life on
Mars is the universal belief of all the
observers whom Mr. Lowell has gath
cred about him at his Flagstaff OBJ
servatory where the extraordinary phe-
nomena of that wonderful planet are
studied as nowhere else in the world
More than that. they tell us with
ever increasing emphasis that the peo-
pie Of Mars. compelled by necessity.
have developed command over natu.
raj forces which would seem miracu.
lous If exhibited upon the earth.
With them it has become simply n
question OF brain power against the
inanimate powers Of nature.
They have nights and days of the
same length as ours. They have sea
| sons almost precisely corresponding
with ours. except that they are each
twice rs long But their oceans are
dried up, no rains fall Though there
may be dewsi. aad nearly all the at
mospheric moisture is alternately lock
ed up In one or the other of the polar
snowcaps
In such q situation no vegetation can
! flourish unless artifcialy stimulated
by n gigantic system Of irrigation AID
without vegetation animal existence Is
impossible.
But whence can the inhabitants of
! Mars derive the water needed for irri-
CATION: The answer given is that they
/ get it periodically from the melting of
! the polar SHOWS Being without seas
and rivers they have no other source
Of supply
| On Mars the reign Of universal peace
must have begun ages ago. introduced
not by moral or sentimental consid-
eratons. but by the necessity of unit,
! ing all the engineering skill. all the in.
Ventiye powers and ali the physical
forces of the entire population Of the
| planet In q common battle for life
The only thought of their inventors
is of improved means for controlling
the slowly lesseaing supplies of mois-
ture that once in about two of our
years may be drawn away from Que
of the poles while the summer sun
shine is dissolving its thin SHOWS
This universal concentration of men
tai energy upon a single aim is con
ccved as huying developed upon Mars
knowledge of the hidden forces OF
nature such rs has mp TO the present
merely been dreamed Of on the earth
We have just begun to learn how IL
use electricity III the mechanic arts.
but they may have unlocked the secret
forces incloScd in the atoms Of matter
which our science has recently assured
us exist without showing Us how TO
utilize them
Only by such suppositions can the
canals" hundreds Of miles wide and
thousands of miles long be accounted
for. IT, MS the Flagstaff observers In
sist. those objects are really OF arti-
icial origin 1t should be said. how.
ever that In Mr. Lowel's opinion the
bands called canals are. In fact. irri-
gated belts
The real canals within them are In
visible, while the progressive darken-
Ing Of these belts. as the polar melting
increases. is due TO the growth OF veg
citation. stimulated by the water
After the world life drama closes
there IS left m empty stage. and this
is represented by the moon The lunar
world has lost all its water. Its trag-
edy is finished The actors are all dead,
Millions of years ago there may have
been battle for life there like that
which now appears to be raging on
Mars. And millions of years in the
future the stage Of the earth will prob
ably he set for a similar tragedy. For.
TO the eyes Of the overlooking gods ito
change little Shakespeares dgureG
All the sky's a stage.
And all the worlds and suns are merely
actors.
Garrett p Serviss in New York Jour
nal