A possibility realized.
Eight years ago this quotation appeared in the July Register—
Flying chariots in fields of air
with this observation:—
The realization to these I willingly leave to the people of the future.
Terra firma is good enough for me. There are possibilities in airships and submarine boats, however.
Perhaps the Historical Society, fifty years (or less) hence, may consider them.
It occurred that on the very day on which that July, 1909, Register was issued the daily press told the story of Bleriot's flight over the
English channel, thus early realizing the conquest of the air.
[p. 63]
The ‘possibilities in submarine boats’ have developed rapidly and their consideration forced upon the attention of the world.
Twice the merchant under-sea boat
Deutchland made the passage across the
Atlantic to our shores, returning with valuable cargo, and awakening in thoughtful minds the query, ‘What next?’
The answer was not long delayed.
The ruthless use of the U-boats in the war by the Germans, and the torpedoing of unarmed vessels and without warning, has forced our nation into the World war, now three years in progress.
And so it comes that we wait anxiously some new and opportune invention to overcome the deadly menace that in those few years agone seemed but a possibility.
From whence shall it come, from air or sea?
