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furnished with engines of this type, and pronounced a success.
All the leading editors of New York had witnessed the trial trip, and the
Tribune made haste to declare:
The demonstration is perfect, The age of steam is closed; the age of calorie opens.
The next day it added:
Hot air will produce a deep and far-reaching change in human affairs.
It will enrich and emancipate the poor without injuring any.
But it is worthy of note that this great promise was never realized.
The
Eric.,son kept afloat for ten years or more, and was used as a transport by the government in the
Port Royal expedition, but was never a success.
The caloric engine was found to be unsuitable for sea-going ships or large power-plants, but when perfected passed into extensive use for pumping and other stations, where the maximum requirement did not exceed three or four horse-power. This instance serves to emphasize the fact that editorial prophecy is infallible neither in the world of mechanics nor in that of politics.
The
Tribune returned with increased fervor this year to the advocacy of a railroad, and also of an independent telegraph line to the
Pacific, as the most effective means of binding
California and
Oregon to the
Union.
And it never ceased to advocate these measures, no matter under what form they were proposed, till they had become accomplished facts.
Always in favor of sound money, on February 7th it came out with this interesting suggestion:
... Let it now be solemnly enacted that gold is the national standard of value, and that our present gold coin shall nevermore be debased nor interfered with.
