Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-12-30
Land Prices and
Fuel Problem
BY EDGAR LUCIEN LARKIN.


Q.-"where is destined to be the high
est priced land in the world in the future
OF our race?"-W. l.. L, Chicago.
A.-This IL a question OF very great i'm
portance. My emphatic answer: Every
arabic square foot Of land between the
tropics OF Cancer and Capricorn will be-
come almost as valuable rs present city
lots
This belt around the earth is twenty
three and ono-half degrees on each side
ot the equator. or band OF forty-seven
degrees width. Humanity in due time
must crowd toward the equator for solar
warmth. All OF the surface coal will be
mined and then deep mines will be the
only source OF supply. This will greatly
increase the cost. In the fullness OF time
only the wealthy can hope to use coal.
This problem OF fuel must be faced.
There viii not be land enough TO grow
wood for fuel and food also. The sunny
southland must soar in prices so that IL
will be sold by the square yard or foot
Equatorial sunshine will then be worth
az much as the precious metsl-lron-
tho magnetic metal-the most valuable
OF all
Unless science shall find a way or TAX
ing electricity directly from the cosmic
store. unless the heat OF the sun shall be
made available mechanically in solar
heat engines to run dynamos to generate
electricity, or unless solar energy can be
transformed and stored In accumulators.
l. c. storage batteries, TO be surrendered
as flows of electricity: unless these con-
quests of nature are made by discovering
laws the fuel OF heat problem will tax
the human race. Then the chilled mil
lions will go ever toward the south-not
westward viii the course OF empire
take its way"
II the energy OF the sun now wasted on
Sahara and all other arid areas can
finally be conserved as electric heat,
light and power by electro-magnetic In
duction the rapidly becoming fuel prob
lem will be solved. II not from Gun.
winds and waves, running streams or
cosmc source then man must secure
heat in some other way when coal has
vanished.
This other way cannot even be surmised
now. Coal and iron consumed in the
manufacture of one Audaoious dread
nought, II all heaped mp In a pile, as a
real object lesson, would startle the most
thouEhtless at mans awful waste of
precious materials. Enormously in
creased value of land must ensue in be-
tween latitude 30 degrees and the equa-
tor.
Houston. New Orleans and st. Angus
tine are In the vicinity OF the aoth paral-
lei. Mexico must become by far the most
valuable land on earth, and Florida, with
southern California, also.
q. ''If a. solid metal In made OF several
compounds and II is wanted to find what
they are and respective proportions, how
would chemists proceed? A claims that
{ no matter what metals they are they
{ can be dissolved In acids and then an
Z ally zod Il claims that TO a certain ex-
! tent this is true; but how can q metal
i such as platinum be determined when it
n cannot be- dissolved by aclds?"-R, II. p,
New York City
3 A. But platinum Is dissolved by aqua
4 regla, a mixture OF nitric and hydro
c chloric acids No acid known to chem
9 lists alone will dissolve this metal, but
+ these two combined, in the proportion OF
. one volume OF nitric and three of hydro
4 chloric, will
= Q. kindly inform me whether the
g same projectile propelled by the same
power will travel farther on a horizontal
a line four feet from the ground than IL
6 projected verticaliy."-Nat Boas. San
5 Francisco Stock Exchange.
= A. Farther vertically. Thus a bullet
}, fired vertically with a velocity of. say.
D 100 feet per second will ascend to a height
of 1893 feet; while IL fired with the same
0 speed horizontally. four feet from the
{ ground. viii strike the earth at distance
y OF fifty feet
q OFF an automobile or motorcycle
y maintains a speed Of say, sixty miles
= an hour to hold its momentum on a 100
;. foot saucer-shaped track with a s5-degreS
u slope, would the same machines hold their
e momentum on a mile saucer-shaped track
Q with the same slope, 20 degrees. and at
y 1.-THE same speed?"-C. r, Austin, Union
j. oil Co. OF California.
a Ayes. Momentum equals mass multi
h piled by velocity.
,, o-"Kindly inform me of astronomical
e telescopes. ~ What Is the size OF the
$ largest? C2l II one OF great size could be
e manufactured, would knowledge OF planets
II be increased? go Have attempts been
d made recently 10 manufacture large
y onesT'-N. w. Mohr. San Francisco.
z Ayes. knowledge OF all planets would
o be increased. and millions more suns be
n brought into view, Each increase in
{ dimensions Of lenses in the past has been
r followed by increase in the number OF
n stars made visible. 1t Is not known, how
ever, whether there is an end to the stare
- knowledge OF these stars. however. can
4 not be obtained without the spectroscope
. attached 20 the telescope TO analyze the
/ light, No telescope alone can anRlyze
: light and thus discover what incandescent
E elements emitted it.
, The largest telescope Is not finished;
I they are at work on the 100-ineh mirror
in Pasadena, two miles from this OBJ
/ servatory in the valley-that area cut out
Of Paradise-below. / can see the roof OF
I the optical instrument factory. The en-
5 tire scientific world is watching and
waiting TO see what this huge mirror will
: reveal in sidereal deeps when mounted
on Mount Wilson, nine miles east OF
Mount Lowe.