North Carolina Newspapers

MARS, RUDDY PLANET NOW AT ITS NEAREST -TO EARTH Astronomers Hoping To Find Out Whether It Is Peopled, And If So, What the People Who Live On It Are Doing; Possibly There Are People There Far More Advanced In the Sciences Than Those "Who Inhabit the Earth By RENE BACHE. If you have the use of even a small telescope, take a look at Mars. It Is worth doing, for the planet has never been so near to us since the oldest human being now living was born. Not again will It approach so near to the earttr unUl long after the vear 2000, when the babies of today? the few of them that happen to survive ?will be very aged men and women. All the big telescopes In the world are now pointed at Mars, which is less than 35,000,000 miles distant. Never be fore has there been such an oppor tunity for detailed examination of its surface; for astronomers today have at their disposal such Instruments of observation as were not until very re cent years available. On this interesting occasion Mars is turning toward us his southern hemis phere, on which the astronomers will watch the progress of a Martian late autumn and early winter. They will see the southern ice-cap (correspond &e>,0s.X,Cf~mP ?f ?Ur 1WD S?Uth That in Itself is a matter of Inviting special attention, inasmuch as the Ice cap is unquestionably developed by falling snow; and snow Implies water *h'ch be carried and p". atmosphere. & ?Dly ^ an Heat, ,4lr and Water ?.?' af?me ,to settle the question hetlier there is air and water on the surface of Mars. Manifestly the planet kf.? a considerable atmosphere con taining a great deal of moisture. Water air and warmth are the three prime sh?,: "? - "Ss must be too cold to support life It Is 1 4 o, 000, 000, 000 miles from Ike sun (Average distance), whereas the earth only 93,000,000 miles from the central l?1"/' But Mars, thanks to his thin atmosphere and lack of clouds gets fuli benefit of at least 90 per cent of the heat delivered by the sun, where as the relatively dense and vaporous ear^h 6 11? ga8e9 that envelop^ *e through ?Dly 60 Per Cent 10 Furthermore, observations of freez ing and melting on the surface of Mars appear to Indicate that temperatures Clouds' B8me " 0D the earth. . e 8een from time to time floating in the atmosphere of Mars rnni,n?l 0 For that reason teles cop ic observation of its surface suffers no interference; and hence It is .w already we know more about the planet than we do about any other heaven?, body, the moon excepted. neavenly tiV" tar. that reason that we come to be so Intensely interested in Mars whereas little attention is paid to veeryU8iwlnOUo? ^ ',at,er ls the eartbs very twin, of nearly the same Bize toown to be well watered, and an ouhfitl r eni?ying a11 conditions re quisite for habitability. But Venus is always covered w|,h a thick envelop writlenC'"Th.YOUng' ?f Princeton, has ali /h?; Th"e are <""r two among J h''avenly bodies seen with our reatrialPen,r ?hl,c,h Mythin? like ter JMtria, llfe COUI() exist ? Venus and llm?e temPerature In Mercury (the io ne incandescent. All the ably?rnost "o? IfiS"* P~ Planets, but the latte atfendant to the teUscope, tton,b ?t 'h" and Inhabited by Inte" l^t^ We A limit belnr ?J ! beings. Ot obserratton V. * ?'U' facl,ltlM fntlonT^n '^er,CO!^ntrate onr ?" within the n?r7 ? hopl that learn much abont '* ?onU,? ** shall tfjzsr&srjx >32 ? Is only one-ninth the >iu ?? terrestrial globe- th?. f . our forces ot gravity * ?f lta Z'Wr o^ Mara fiSST&IES? ^ "hon,d b' bulk Proportionate ?trong BDd ^ \l ^rreaprfndlngly ErfeSfflS ?iiilT "prynenB if iJd th?m K ^Umbel,? Which. tui, Z^S~2?A?ech older planet ot 7^r? ahead Ml . 'tfiltflrji Wta'hJSrf'lvft !? **"?. 'V radio. uuE. generally accepted is that they may be strips of vegetation. Some of them | are as much as 180 mile* wide. The canal idea seems nonsense. Schlaparelll, an Italian astronomer, who originated th? canal theory, wrote: "All the vast extent of the Martian continents Is covered with a network of dark stripes, some of them thousands of miles long, that do not at all resemble the winding course of streams. Sometimes where one of these canals opens upon a sea. It widens out into a great bay. as in the case of the so called Syrtls Major, formed by the vast mouth of the Nllo syrtis. That gulf is not less than 1,100 miles broad, its surface nearly equal in n/1-eet to that of the Bay~of Bengal." This is worth quoting because of the picture it gives of the "surface J of Mars as It appeared to Slhiaparelll. But his inferences are highly specula tive. The dark patches which he took for seas may not be wcter at all. Observations at this time, when Mars Is relatively close at hand, ought I to shed much light upon this and . other questions. Plant Life On Mars If the stripes in question are actu ally strips of cultivated vegetation, it I i would account for the sensational *li;rkening and subsequent fading of the canals" ? a phenomenon for which Schiapareili confessed himself unable to account. In that case the lime of the fading must be harvest time In Mars. The vegetation, to correspond with the supposed stature of the people of Mars, may be of gigantic luxuries If so, its production may be adequate 'to maintain proportionate numbers of i people and plant-eating domestic anl-i nials that furnish food. ',.Are we w"nessing. cn Mars, in a and near-sighted way, the doings of rational beings immeasur ably superior to mm and capable of dealing, by engineering and other means, with thousands of square miles of territory as easily as we can culti vate a garden patch? We kno--: that Mars is a desert ph et. It looks red. even to the naked eye. because most of its surface is reddish in color, though in parts yellowish. That means red and yellow sands and rocks. On this background appear dark and well-defined brownish and grapnish patches, some of them very large, others small and scattered. Do these patches represent seas and lakes? Nobody can say. Specially conspiclous Is a vast in land "sea," somewhat triangular in shape, which is called the Lake of the Sun. Another alleged water area of : great siie Is the Lake of the Moon. | But are these really water at all? Too much guesswork. But it is the | best that has been possible up to now. | By observations now being undertak en some of it may be converted into definite knowledge. i On Mars the seasons are much I longer than ours. If the vear be re jgarded as equally divided between summer and winter, each is of 11 months' length. Thus the Snow cap at each pole has time to be so far melt ed as to be reduced to a small rem nant. As each snow-cap melts, a dhrk area encircling it is seen to growl steadily, and" It Is reasonable to infer that this is water. A season of flood I due to the melting, has evidently ar rived. Thereupon, or not long after j wards. the above mentioned stripes begin to appear, in lines so straight! as to appear geometrical. They are from twenty miles to 180 miles in width. How is one to account for them? why are they temporary, reappear- 1 |ing and again fading at seasonal in-! jtervals? Is there any rational expla- ! nation except that the work of intelli ! gent beings is somehow concerned? j Tnese are fasts, mind you. There Is not a word in this story that as far as it goes, has not authoratlve en j dorsement. You are at liberty to' draw your own conclusions. I Shall we not suppose, as a tenable' j theory that the water from the melt- 1 ;ing polar Ice-cap ? from each pole at! i.s recurring summer season? flows down over the surface of the planet, and. by the help of scientific irriga tion on an enormous scale, Is used for the growing of Martian crops? Mars, as alreary said. Is a desert planet. But what do we do with our own deserts up to now, we haven't done very much, but we are beginning to learn? as witness what we are do 1? reclamation projects of the w est. PoKslbfUtlen of Irrigation . " th*re Ia<* of water for the and, anywhere, there is plenty of It not far away, usually. The most hope less desert in the world, as one might suppose. Is the vast depression In the Western part of the Sahara. Even the Arabs, with their caravans of camels anxously avoid it. Yet the French en gineers are going to torn the Atlantic ocean Into It and convert It Into a sea over which ship, will voyage straight from Europe to Timbuktu and the re on of the Niger. The Martians, apparently have Bound themselves confronted with ?antly more formidable obstacle* But they have overcome them. They hare had to do so in order to survive What n?l '"telllgeht creatures accom ? JlUrrlTal ln OOMtlon? The Martians may. as already sug gested, be far more Intelligent crea T"UZ How fortunate It would be If we cdotd establish com munication with them, and so obtain from them knowledge which other wise we might need many thousands of years to acquire! * '*w vears ago there appeared on the surface of Mare what teemed to h* ? rfry brt?,>t hlrtf , ,i*t\r*1Ir "jested W M .wT ^V^uceTvable that by the use of electricity we might, at enormous excuse make a signal light of some sort that would be visible 'to high power Martian telescopes. Necessarily it would have to be of immense size. X Problem In Geometry* \ A mere illumination would not suf - , lice to convince Martian astronomers that the earth was Inhabited by in telligent beings. But suppose that such abeacon were of certain recog nizable design? with a form, say, re presenting the forty-second P???81"1 tion of Euclid. Any high school boy knows that proposition, the '"n?^ ??asses' bridge," proving tiat the square on the hypoteause of a right] Tgle triangle la equal to th. sum of ^squares on the other two sides. If a Martian scientist saw thatdesign on the earth's surface, outlin^ i>, light, he would recognize its meaning '"whe^e visable signals from earth j to Mars are concerned, however, there , Is a difficulty of which we are lobe f reminded. Our own terrestrial glob?, as viewed from Mars, is continually covered to a great extent by clouds. Even when cloudB are left ( out of Question, our relatively dense atmosphere, with much dust ln lts, lower levels, must to a considerable, extent obscure the earth as a visual. Not very long ago Marconi was con vinced that signals of some sort were coming through from Mars by radio. His Instrument perceived them mes sages cairied by waves of enormous length? but he conld not translate them. Possibly he was. right but It | seems much more likely that his imagl | nation deceived him. 1 The mystery of Mars has naturally , Inspired the imagination of romancers^ If the planet possesses Inhabitants more or less human llkfe, how vastly j Interesting it would be to gain com-| munlcatlon with them. They may have . reached a stage of civilization ai.d en lightment so advanced that our own is by comparison a benighted barba- 1 rism. ' The typical Martian may hare a hug6 brain, with a head of size to \ correspond, and spindly legs. For lo comotion on that planet where the force of gravity Is so small^e womld require Uttle muscular effort. Indeed, he may have given up walking. Why walk ?hra there are easy mechanl- , cal means of getting about? We our selves are advancing In that direction, as evidenced by the Invention and de velopment of the automobile. Beta* Different From C*. \ We are accustomed to consider that conditions as we find them In thls| world are established to fit our re quirements. We are air-breathing ani mals; therefore an atmosphere Is pro rldfd for our use. So likewise with ?vermin* else that goes to make op loot enrlroment. . . Thin, howerer, l? a totally mistaken View; the fact Is exactly the opposlU. We human beings are products of our envlroment, created and developed to fit It. Conditions on More are very different; hence It Is to be presumed that the people there (II there are belntfs properly so to be oalted) are very different from ourselree. ?? certainly need to know them. Th?* might teach us IMS of ttatap rl5r J5SV thl**vMt indy nM of the Sahara, In Africa, were agri culturally fruitful within historic time The earth seems literally to be dry ing up Its surface water* being ab sorbed by the underlying rocks Bat Mars has been a desert !>'*** for ages. If it Is peopled by intelligent Jbrfnga, they Met not lo?? a*o learn ed how to deal with the pfohtetn. To r water ia the prime fundamental re quisite of animal and plant life. As for air to breathe, the Martians must be able to get along with much less of It than we require. Perhaps th^r lungs are of huge capacity, ao that we may figure to our imagination the typical Martian is a human-like creature with a big head, a mighty chest, and spindly legs. Taking into view his great presumable stature., he would seem to us a gigantic goblin endowed with super human intelli gence. TCCKEB^FILL OPEN A CLOTHING \ 8T0BE J, H. Tucker, who has been in the Baarehandislng business In Header- 1 sob fpr the past fourteen years, has an nounced that he will open a cloth ing stode in this city on September 6. The business will be known as the Tucker Clothing Company, and will carry a lull lino of clothing; hata, haberdashery and1 men's wear in j general. It will cater only to men and (heir needs. Mr. Tucker left Thursday for New York markets to buy additional stock for store. He has already done some buying, and the new goods are arriving now. Only selected lines of advertised good will be stocked, it is said. Mr. Tucker has had many years of experience in the clothing busi ness. He has been in Henderson for the past 14 years, the last ten of which have been with the Anchor Stores Company, and part of time as manager of the local store. He has had expressions of regret at his going, coming from officials of the I store, as well as well wishes from ' many of his friends of the outside, | who have learned that he will go Into I business for himself. The new store will be located In the quarters In the Hbwkins build ing 05 South Gamett street, former ly occupied by the Vance Plumbing and Electric Company, next to the Paragon Drug company. The build ing 1|, to be overhauled, new metal ceiling put 1n, new light fixtures and modern fixtures for the dUplay of hats and clothing. ? Henderson Dis patch. NEW CAFE We, wish to announce to the people of LiOOlatrorg and Franklin county that we have arranged and fully equip ped and hewly furnished a modern cafe la a room next to our barber shop. We have secured the services of Ada Stegall, who Is one of the beat cooks In town to have charge of the cook ing. W? expect to serve the best bill of far* (hat can be made up In Louls burg. Ton can order what you want and have it served right. We expect to make a specialty of a business maba lunch. ilia Cafe will be mn exclusively for whit* people and every courtesy end accommodation will be extended those who pay us a visit ?-S-St . STEGADL. BROTHERS. >. WANTED Firat Qiass cotton farmer either for Wag4b ot on sharea, good dwelling, flat laAd. good neighborhood, for a p4rt of Praetwonld farm. Mecklen b*r? Cfcflnty, Virginia^ Bee ma or W. T. HUGHES, M-? f Jeffreae, Va. COR JU1B ? Om or both of m r farms , 'MrMn, la Donas township. Oood hooac fpo0 looatlom. aa jy terms BeT J. ??WU llama. W-ft ijLJ Or LJLND* , IB) vtrtM ot aa orfor of r*-aale mad* by the Be peri or Court ot rraak lln CMfkty upon 4 re-eals jnade of Aagmat It, 1114. and aa npeet bid (hare on; IU by virtue ot tile pow e* and authority conferred by that deed of trust executed by C. A. Long to Win. H. Ruffin, Trustee, dated December 21, 1915, and recorded In Book 210, page 26, default having been made In the payment of the debt thereby se cured and demand for foreclosure hay lng been made upon said Trustee by the holder of the Indebtedness so se cured, the undersigned will on MONDAY SEPTEMBER 22,1924 at the noon recess of conrt offer for I sale at public auction to the highest bidder for cash, that tract of land In said deed of trust conveyed and de scribed as follows: Situate In Cedar Rock Township, Franklin ounty. North Carolina, being that tract of land conveyed by M. M. . Gupton to Mrs. Emma Stalllngs, by 'deed dated Dec?mber 18, 1990, and re | corded In Book 8S, page 610, and by .Mrs. Mabel Suiter and Mrs. Elizabeth Stalling*- and O. B.H. Stalllngs, con Iveyed to C. A. Long, bounded as fol lows: Beginning at a hickory, G. M. Stalllngs corner, running thence S 88 1-2 E 123 poles to a small white oak, Coppedge'a corner, In W. D. Cop pedge's line; thence B1EH poles to two white oak pointers, W. D. Oop pedg?'s corner; thence 8 89 1-2 W 100 poles to a poplar and gum; thence N 81 W 29 poles 18 links to a red oak, R. R. Burnette's and O. M. S tailing's corner; thence N 8 1-2 E 86 1-2 poles to the beginning, containing 74 S-4 acre*, more or less. his August SO, 1*24. Wm. H. RUFFIN, IMt Trustee. BALE Or RMAL E8TATB V ? Under and Pursuant to an order of Court In that certain special proceed ing! JWtore the Clark of flU' Mptrior ; Court gf Franklin county entitled "Ab fthaflPL. Cooke, at al? Abraham L. Cooke, Administrator of J. L. Grant Cooks, at al.," the undersigned Com mlssloner In pursuance of said Order will on Monday, the sixth day ot- Oc tober, 1924, at 12:00 noon, at the Court ^ house Door ot Franklin County In the Town of Louisburg, N. C., offer tor sale and Bell to the highest bidder for cash the following described lots or. parcels ot land, lying and being in the Town of Louisburg, and moro particularly bounded and described as follows: FIRST TRACT: Beginning in the center of Loulsburg-Ralelgh road at an iron stake on the west side, Annie Oreen's corner; thence North 70 de grees West 10 poles to a cedar stake In Annie Oreen's line; thence North 11 degrees Bast 6 poles 4 unities to a cedar stake; thence South 79 degrees West 16 poles to the center of the road, a cedar stake In West side; thence along the road Sonth BO degrees West 8 poles 18 links, to the beginning, con taining one-half acre, Recorded 111 Book 179, Page 482, Register ot Deeds j office of Franklin County, and being 'the property conveyed by C. E. Tlra berlake, administrator of J. P. Tlm berlake, to Orant Cooke. SECOND TRACT; Beginning at a rock or stake Northwest corner ot 16t lot Laiarus Neal; thence North abodt 54 feet to a rock or stake on said Ri 1 elgh road, William L. Williams' corn er; thence East a straight line to Juli us Hayes' line; thenoe South along Julius Hayes' line about . 64 feet to Lasarus N eats' llne:mfc?friaal Prince of Wales at Polo THE LADIES SHOP NEW MATERIALS AUTUMN IS FAVORING At The Ladies Shop you can depend on finding the new and attractive in Fall .materials and trimmings. New Crepes from 59c up. Black Duchess Sfitin, yard wide, $1.75. The new Fur and Ostrich trimmings. " A full line of Novelty buttons. In Gingham <ve can give vou good cloth from 15c to 35c. Come in to see us when in town. THE LADIES SHOP Louisburg, N. 0. Mrs. R. R. Harris, Prop. Mrs. J. A. Turner, Mgr. FRED'S FILLING STATION PLEASE ACCEPT MY SINCERE THANKS FOR YOUR LIBERAL PATRONAGE THE PAST WEEK. HELP ME WITH YOUR TRADE AND I WILL HELP YOU WITH GOOD OIL AND GAS AT LOW PRICES. IF YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING BUT i . AIR AND WATER COME RIGHT ALONG. I AM ?f ? ALWAYS GLAD TO SEE YOU. SEVICE IS MY WATCHWORD ^ ? ? ' TfoUrs very truly, FRED B. LEONARD GAS TODAY 20c Gallon Wide World h*noto Tbis vtew of tbe Prtace wtkOM visit tea Bet many feminine hearts aflutur, ?kovs him In action at hta favorite apart.