Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1928-03-03

This is century of wonders.
PERHAPS some of our readers have
not followed the trend of the times
&c obs. ryed the astounding dtsccv-
ev.es ard practices of modern times
Jules Vernes, in his novels told about
travelling under the waters of the
sea At that time, he had no idea
than this dream would become q
reality and that men in submarines
would be able to sport in the mighty
deep in a manner closely akin to
that of the whale. The invention OF
the telephone, the use of the tel
egraph, the laying of cables thors'
ands of miles across the seas were
considered the last word in this kind
of progress.
Then came the wireless telephone,
the writing on a typewriter in one
city and by magnetic action the
writing of the same letter hundreds
of miles away, was considered re-
markable. This has been superseded
bv other modern devices. Wires and
cables are not essentially necessary
to conducting a conversation over
vast expanses Of space. You can hear
sermons, operas. conversations, in
faca anything, even though it be
thousands Of miles away. More re-
Gently il has been discovered that
q telephone can be utilized in con-
Quoting a conversation with Europe
by the use Of radio.
Then has come to us method by
which pictures can be reproduced
thousands of miles away without
wires, simply by magnetic impulses.
II is now possible to talk to a friend
and relative hundreds Of miles away
and look into his face and note his
every movement as he talks or sings
in your ear and it is possible for
him to hear and see the one, WHO
may be talking to him.
The aeroplane or monoplane,
heavier than air machine is now
used and also the biplane, to carry
passengers and mail hundreds OF
miles and the service is as prompt
as that of the averoge railroad train
and in Europe is just as safe.
These air machines are driven at
a rate of speed, sometimes which
may well be said to be terrific and
in special test flights they have ex'
ceeded two hundred miles per hour
This was wonderful in the air where
no friction with the earth existed;
but within the last two weeks m
Engiishman in an exhibition race
with a specially built automobile
made a record Of 2o7 miles per hour
on Daytona Beach, Florida. He was
gambling with death" so to speak,
but he won the stakes.
A New England owner has dog
that can talk very much like. a par
rot. The artists in the colorsd
sheets of the metropolitan neus'
papers gave pictures ola mechanical
man several years ago with the
bracketed remark. Brains he has
nix. Now an inventor has shown
I'D with a real mechanical man that
when spoken to over telephone IN
a certain tone will do what he is
told to do, and notify his employer
when the task is completed. He can
turn the gas on OF. OFF and he can DO
the same with electric lights ard
can perform other feats with remark
able efficiency He unveiled mon
ument OF George Washington on
Washington's birthday.
The Fighter than air" ship is
how a reality In being controlled
and sent long distances, All modern
eonveniences are furnished aboard
these air.liners. In fact, the mono
plane and the dirigible are Compel
ing for practical service in the air
Despite all Of this progress, no
inventor has been able with nearly
forty million dollars being expended
annually to find way to rigfdiy
and effectively enforce the Volstead
Act and the Eighteenth Amendment
to uhe Constitution of the United
States. When held up at one corner
it drags at the other.
Similar conditions exist in the
effort to carry into effect other need'
ed reforms and 1t emphasizes tha
fact that the human race is as prone
to sin as the sparks are to ny up
ward. Radio Is said to be IN lts
infancy. A light has Just been COM
pleted in Chicago, which will be
visible to the naked eye three hun
dred miles away and it Is 80 pow
erful that a person thirty miles away
can see plainly enough to read a