Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1919 — In the Piping Times of Peace Will It Be Airplanes or Motor Cars? [ARTICLE]

In the Piping Times of Peace Will It Be Airplanes or Motor Cars?

By FRANK F. TENNEY

Will the airplane supplant the auto in future? Is there a future for the aircraft industry when we are back on a peace basis?. Yes and no. That is, it is not likely that the auto will be wholly superseded but that it will have to yield to the airplane for all long-distance trips is sure. No one can foretell how great the growth of the aero industry will be, but there is every assurance that it will be as phenomenal as the auto manufacture. That the aerial tin Lizzie is a surety is the belief of many automotive engineers; the only uncertainty is as to who will henryford the aero. Flying requires no superhuman powers or abilities. Anybody can fly, except the poor fellows who get sick riding in a trolley or steam car. The few cannot stand any kind of motion, and of course could not fly. Yes, anybody can fly—if he has the price. What about the terrifying sensations of flying? There ain’t no such bird. It is just like sitting down in a comfortable rocking chair and then lifting it off the ground, and one is just as comfortable as if on the earth. But airplanes of the future are not to be confined to the individual or family types, for there will be excursion passenger planes and probably regular service between cities. It ought to be possible very soon for a business man to take a plane for Washington, lunch there, dine in Pittsburgh after meeting the steel board, and get back to New York in time for the theater, and excite no more attention than by a railroad trip today. With the uncertainties of flight removed and the cost cheapened, it is certain that there will be much business for the airplane factories and distributers. Auto manufacturers understand this and are preparing for it. The fact that every auto factory today is at work on aero engines or planes or some part will make it easy in the future to establish- the aero as a part ts-the automotive industry on a thoroughly commercial basis. The possiMities of the airplane in mail service are being tested now, and it is thought the mail route in years to come will be aerial. Light package transportation also will be aerial, and this will relieve congested railroads. Newspapers will have aerial service. Then, too, the places untouched by the railways can have the morning papers and be otherwise connected with civilization. The aero has been demonstrated as an aid to civil engineering in the war zone. Pictures may be used in platting inaccessible areas, forest lands'could be patrolled much more quickly and thoroughly by the fire wardebs. But the possibilities are too numerous to recite. Whether the dreams of some artists and writers all come true, and there are landing stages on every skyscraper and plane garages like those for autos, is another thing. But surely we are to have an age of flying. As the auto succeeded the bicycle the aero will succeed the auto. •«