Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999Bird, Arthur
Science
Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999
Bird, Arthur
Twentieth century -- Forecasts; United States -- Civilization
In 1899 the daily that got out a morning and evening edition was
regarded as an up to date affair in every sense of the term, but
in 1999 the newspaper world moved much faster. In a large daily
office four complete editions were issued every day or once every
six hours. The news poured into these daily offices with marvelous
speed. Wireless telegraphy and ærial navigation annihilated space. On
the other hand, newspaper and letter mails in 1999 were conveyed
through much swifter channels.
The postal pneumatic tube system constructed by the American government
was [Very Rapid Mail Deliveries.] a marvel of the twentieth
century. There extended from Washington, (Mexico), a network of
underground and overground pneumatic tubes reaching throughout the
Americas, penetrating all the Northern, Central and Southern States,
from the State of Alaska to the State of Argentina. Mail deliveries
made through these pneumatic tubes were exceedingly rapid. No
electrical transit or any method of ærial navigation could equal the
rapid delivery of the pneumatic tubes. The mail pouches were forced
through these large tubes and delivered at all the principal cities
in a very short space of time. Mails from Manhattan to Washington, the
seat of the national government in the State of Mexico, traversed the
distance in less than two hours. From Mexico to the State of Argentina,
as well as the Southwestern American States of Peru and Chile,
the mail transit in 1999 required but a few hours in delivery,--in
1899 it was a question of weeks. Even ærial navigation in 1999 was
found too slow to convey and deliver the mails. The pneumatic tube
system was even swifter, and with such facilities at hand it is not
surprising that people in San Francisco received four daily editions
of the Manhattan journals, although the distance between Sandy Hook
and the Golden Gate is a matter of 3,600 miles.
The subjoined clippings from the Electrical Times, of Thursday,
August 20, 1999, [The Editorial Blades of 1999.] will give the
reader a general idea of the newspapers style and matter of that
period. It will be observed that the noble race of beings known as
editors and newspaper reporters was by no means extinct in 1999. The
subtle art of telling wonderful stories and the science of making
American newspapers the foremost in the world, had been inherited by
the children of 1999 from their lively ancestors of 1899.
In 1899 Yankee genius and enterprise was conspicuous in the newspaper
line. It led the world. The latest and the best always found their
way into American print.
FAILED TO BEAT THE RECORD.
How the Glimmerglass Failed to Cross the Atlantic in Two Days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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