stop flights around the
world.
Throughout the na-
tions there are now 73,-
300 miles of air lanes, 15,-
667 of these being in the
United States. Uncle
Sam’s 22 postal and com-
mercial routes bring
direct service to 103 of
our great cities represent-
ing nearly a third of our
population, and carry
eight tons of mail daily.
To facilitate night travel
along the completed air-
ways, mighty beacons
are located every ten
miles along the path on
the highest obtainable
elevations. The lights
swing in a circle, making
six revolutions a minute,
and radiate beams of
light that can be seen
for fifty miles in a clear
atmosphere. Under
favorable conditions,
several of these beacons
may be seen at once, and the heart of the skyrider
is cheered as he looks ahead to the illuminated path-
way. The lights are automatically adjusted to go on
at sunset and off at sunrise, and if a bulb burns out
it is instantly replaced without the aid of human
hand.
Concerning our future in the air, we find that
pioneers and engineering experts in aeronautics,
famous fliers and commanders of huge dirigibles,
and heads of vast airway systems — men of many
nations throughout the world — generally concur
that aviation is but in its infancy. Assistant Sec-
retary of War F. Trubee Davison asserts that the
airplane is ‘destined to play an increasingly promi-
nent part in national and international transporta-
tion.” Rear Admiral Moffett observes that ‘‘the
field for expansion is practically unlimited,” and that
erelong he expects to see aviation ‘‘as standardized
as railroad lines of today’; while De Havilland, the
aircraft designer, predicts that ‘“we are rapidly
approaching the day when flying will be the safest
and most universal method of travel.”
nal Newsreel
LEVIATHANS OF THE AIR
“Y AM sure,” writes the president of an aircraft
company, ‘“‘that in a comparatively few years
we will look back with curiosity at the type and size
of even the largest and most powerful of present-
day transports.” Another aviation expert declares
that planes “carrying 50 to 100 or more passengers,
with excellent accommodations, will certainly appear
very soon,” while another looks forward to providing
APRIL, 1929
The Los Angeles, great American dirigible,
on a flying jaunt over New York City
space for as many as fifty
passengers in each wing.
In Colonel Lindbergh's
dip into the not-distant
future, he visions air
transportation connect-
ing all the important
centers of the world. And
now, for a final word in
this little symposium
from aviation authorities,
we turn to Commander
R. E. Byrd, now flying,
or perchance traveling
by dog sledge, about the
ice fields of the Antarctic.
He says: “That work
which the Wrights
started has been carried
forward gloriously, and
the limit is not yet ap-
proached. Speeds of 300
miles an hour will be
exceeded, safety through
design and greater
strength will be an
obvious result, and loads
will be carried which
have not yet been an-
ticipated. The day is quickly coming when planes
will crisscross the country, bringing harmony of
national thought to other countries that may make
understanding and friendship a substitute for war.
When that time comes, the ocean will be bridged
by large multi-motored planes navigated as safely
as liners and the world will shrink to a point where
men must be brothers or bring upon themselves
disaster.”
FORESIGHT AND FULFILLMENT
HERE is yet another highly significant aspect.
We open the grand old Book to this ancient
prophecy and read: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up
the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the
end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall
be increased.” Daniel 12: 4.
For twenty-three centuries after those words were
penned, the world jogged on in the same old ruts
and at about the same old pace that it had traveled
since the days of Noah and Abraham. Then suddenly
and miraculously the mind of man was energized
to investigate, to invent, and to discover; and lo,
a new intellectual and industrial era dawned! First
the hidden powers of steam, then the marvels of
electricity, physics, chemistry, and other sciences
were unfolded, until almost every line of thought
and activity was completely revolutionized.
Daniel did not write those words by chance. The
infinite God gave him a vision of the future, reveal-
ing to him that at ‘‘the time of the end” knowledge
would be “increased,” and (Continued on page 28)
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