The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-06-27
AIR TRAFFIC

Ar traffic Tor commercial purposes Is a thlng OF the future
Just how near it is may not be known. Propellng vessels by
steam did not come suddenly. When the first ship crossed the
Atlantic it was looked upon as a daring experiment, on a par
with the attempted flight OF Harry Hawker, the Australian, who
made a large part of the trip in a heaver-than-air machine, 1t
demonstrated the fact that the use of steam was workable, and
il took fifty wears to establish a steamship line for business and
travelling purposes. We are further advanced in science today
and it will not take long to perfect a safe air route service
Already there is a passenger and freight route in operation
between Paris and London, and others between Paris and other
points IN france As many as twelve passengers nave beer
carried at one trip. King Albert and his queen of Belgium are
pioneers in air travel, having made several trips to and from
Paris by this method,
People must be in a great hurry who will venture on trips
through the air, but this was the case with steam, In time it
became common, and today no one thinks OF taking a sailing
ship when he wishes to make a sea voyage, Fifty years hence
the steamship will carry passengers OF the humber or leisurely
sort.
In the romance days we had air travel. When Orlando dis
covered that his beautiful Angelica, whom he had brought from
China to Paris, preferred someone else, he lost his wits for three
months, They were carried by someone to the moon, which was
then believed to be the depository for most lost things,
Misspent time, wasted wealth, broken vows, unanswered prayers,
fruiuess tears, abortve attempts, unfulfined desires and inten-
2ians and many other things were deposited in the moon, In
order to restore Orlando to his senses the valiant Astopho
obtained Eiishas chariot and made the trip to the moon, where
he was given the lost wits in a vial or urn, and when he brought
them back Orlando was restored to reason. Pure fiction?
Undoubtedly, But people believed in it as firmly as we believe
that some OF our naval officers have crossed the Atlantic in an
airplane.
And of this latter feat the ancien,s could not have been con-
WINGED. They did not know that there was any Atlantic or any
other side to il, 1t took centuries to firmly fixed the idea in their
consciousness, Fifty years ago, and, with millions, twenty years
NH dkl bNhNA III kNA MN vi VOC INV why
means conceivable was by wings affixed TO the human body,
suggested, Of course, by watching the flight of birds, and every
attempt at this method, from the days of lcarus to those of
II Darius Green, had proved abortive, A great many things had
to come, and they were slow in coming, The inflated bicycle
n wheel, gasoline as a fuel and scores of other things had to be
discovered and assembled, and made to help each other and con-
tribute to the general result We are not through inventing and
N creating. Scores of other things are to come. They are on the
Il way, and may be slow in getting here, but they will come in
i due time, Human genius is almost infinite in Its possibilities,
hut we may never travel to the moon or other nearby
planets, because of the absence OF atmosphere or other element
n to travel on, 1t is not conceivable that we can ever climb up
"A and fly through pure ether, neither was it conceivable at one
time that we could climb up and fly through the air.
Already we read of substances which when added to gaso-
4 line increase its potential power, and make one gallon do the
work Of two. This may be the herald Of some great discovery
Great things come from small beginnings,
The Alpine maidens song has caused air vibrations which
dislodged one atom of snow, and this atom has started an
avalanche that has overwhelmed towns and hamlets and whole
countrysides in its course.
nj OF one thing we may feel reasonably assured, and that is
M that air navigation is a thing of the future, 1t has already
III proved itself. The trip from New York to Paris or Londor
N will be an everyday affair. Ne may not initiate Poes hero
MA Hans Pfaal, and visit the moon, but we can circle around tn,
anupodean poles without insurmountable difficulty, Mahome
MI made the moon circle around one OF his temples in Mecca sever
III times, and then SO up his right sleeve and out of his left sleeve
Hi In his way he made many converts among unheGevers, The,
saw and believed, and in the future we may be given to SEE
many marvellous things that will cause us to believe.