The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1913-07-25
FATE Of A WORLD
II. Course From Chaos to Ito
Hopeless Death Struggle.

II, Course From Chaos to Ito
Hopeless Death Struggle.
Three ACTS IN THE TRAGEDY
Tn. First 10 Shown BY jupiter me
Second BY the Earth and the Th'rd
BY Mars, While the Neon Shows tne
Empty stage After the Play 10 Done
No stage was ever set for sucn q
tragedy az the planet Mars presente'
II IL the last act in the drama OF a
worlds history!
The first act in such a drama CONSISTS
Of scenes from chaos. The huge plan
ct Jupiter offers US a spectacle OF tnat
kind In it's streaming belts OF tnlck
clouds and its whirling vapors. glow
ing like steam above a furnace.
The second act is represented by q
earth, with its fertile crust, Its COOL In
yieorating atmosphere and its life sus-
tanning seas that give birth to the
clouds which. ~condensing on the
mountains, furnish the rains and set
the rivers flowing.
The closing act is the role OF Mara
where the seas have vanished. the at
mosphere has thinned out, the rivers
have disappeared. the continents nav
turned into deserts, and life. driven INTO
a corner, is battling against final ex'
tnction.
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 a command over natu-
raj forces which would seem miracu-
lous If exhibited upon the earth.
With them 1t has become simply o
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 as long. But their oceans are
dried up, no rains fall Though there
may be dews). and nearly all the at
mospheric moisture is alternately lock-
ed up in one or the other Of the polar
snowcaps.
In such a situation NJ vegetation can
flourish unless arti6cially stimulated
by a gigantic system Of irrigation. And
without vegetation animal existence 10
impossible.
But whence can the Inhabitants Of
Mars derive the water needed for irr1.
cation? The answer given is that they
get It periodically from the melting OF
the polar snowA. 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 constd-
erations, but by the necessity Of unit
ing all the engineering skill, all the In
ventive powers and all the physical
forces Of the entire population of the
planet in a common battle for life.
The only thought Of their inventors
IL Of improved means for controlling
the slowly lessening supplies Of mois-
ture that once In about two Of q
years may be drawn away from one
Of the poles while the sumner sun
shine is dissolving its thin SHOWS.
This universal concentration Of men,
tai energy upon a single aim is n
ceived as having developed upon Mars
a knowledge Of the hidden forces OF
nature such as has up to the present
merely been dreamed Of on the earth.
We have Just begun to learn bow to
use electricity in the mechanic arts,
but they may have unlocked the secret
forces inclosed In the atoms Of matter
which our science has recently assured
% exist without showing % bow to
utilize them.
Only BY such ~suppositions can the
Canals" hundreds Of miles wide and
thousands Of miles long, be accounted
for. II. a. the Flagstaf observers in
sist those objects are really Of aru-
fcial origin. 1t should be said, how
ever. that in Mr.. Lowell's opinion the
bands called canals are. In fact, irrt-
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 an empty stage. and this
10 represented by the moon. The lunar
world has lost all is water. Its trag-
edy ia finished. The actors are all dead.
Millions Of years ago there may have
been a 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 win prob
ably be set for a similar tragedy. For.
to the eyes Of the overlooking gods Ito