Evening star., 1927-10-03
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

Q. What progress has the United
States made in commercial aviation
during the past year?-A. A. B.
A. A recent announcement saws.
without subsidy, without any en-.
couragement save the expectation Of
Government aids to navigation and
with the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT trans.
continental air mail route as a back.
bone. in one year there has developed
in America an airway system more
than a third as big as the 8-year-old
air net of Europe. In less than an
average of six months operation in
its entirety, the approximate airplane
mileage on these airways (4,42S.7T2
for 1929 was more than half that of
all Europe. Thirty-four hundred pay
ing passengers and 1888 900 pounds of
freight were carried. Nearly 1000, 900
miles is the airplane travel estimate
for 1927 on the present contracts. and
new routes are scheduled for early
operation"
O. Why do all the jewelers. clock
signs point to the hour of rs min.
utes past 81? 1 have noted this all
over the country with but one excep-
ton. Some one told me that it was
the hour that Lincoln was shot or
died?-E. p. Med.
A. The position Of the hands OF a
clock is one which has been selected
for the reason that it furnishes the
greatest facility to meet the require
ment for painting the longer name
above the hands and the shorter word
below. The minute hand has been
varied in position from II to 25 min.
utes after 5. Sometimes the longer
name requires to he written in semi
circle above the hands. There have
been stories connected with the death
of Lincoln that the position Of the
hands is commemorative of the hour
Of the death, but this story can be
shown to be false from the simple
fact that the hour of the death of
Lincoln was not at 8:22 o'clock.
Further, the use Of this position of
the hands of the clock is believed to
have preceded Lincoln's death.
@. How old was John Burroughs
when he wrote Waiting; Keats.
when he wrote "On Death? At what
age did Lowell write 'Threnodia" p
NJ. V.
A. John Burroughs was %; Keats
was IS; Lowell was 20.
@. Where are the highest smoke.
stacks in the world?-I. S.
A The highest is the smokestack
Of the smelter at Tacoma, Wash. (572
feet high; the second highest at Ana
conda, Mont, and the third highest
in Japan, belonging to the smelter
plant at Saganoseki.
O. How much toll has been received
from vessels going through the Pana'
ma Canal?-J. A. T.
A. The Panama Canal was opened
to commercial traffic August Is, 1914,
and from the date of opening to tho
close of business, June 80, 1926, tran
sits of commercial tollpaying vessels
of 90 tons net measurement or over
numbered 34,902, on which a total of
$142, ,134,397.95 in tolls were paid.
? @. I am experimenting on an inven.
ton of mine which necessitates the
use of wooden blocks for floats and
would like to have you inform me
which kind Of wood would be prefer
able for me to use.-N. G. G.
A. There are number OF species OF
wood which would meet your require
uents fairly satisfactorily. Cork lob
tained from the bark Of trees), balsa,
a number of frs, western red cedar
and northern white cedar would all
appear to be adapted. We presume
you are familiar with the use of cork
for floats, life preservers, etc. Balsa
wood is also used rather extensively
for this class of material. Among our
native species cork bark fir and north
ern white cedar are about the lightest
woods available. The fir is very diff
cult to penetrate with water and we
would therefore expect that it would
be extremely slow in water logging.
O. Why did the House Of Worth in