‘MY
Doubleday, Doran & Co.
RELIGION
Helen Keller
ws
Copyright by
WNU Service
If you can enjoy the sun and flowers and music where
there -is nothing except darkness and silence you have
proved the Mystic Sense.—~Helen Keller.
i
§ an
Helen Keller, whose absorbing story starts
{Delow, was born June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia,
| Als., the oldest child of Captain Arthur H.
and Lucy Helen (Everett) Keller. Her mother
belonged to the same family as fdward Everett
| Hale. When nearly two years old, Miss Keller
suffered a serious illness, which resulted in
1 ghe loss of her sight and hearing. The faculty
lot speech was not destroyed, however, and
that has been developed through the years.
i When Helen Keller was seven years old, a large
"public became interested in the educational
{ problem presented by her blin ', deaf and dumb
{ condition. In Miss Anne Sullivan, a graduate
of the Perkins Institution, Boston, Mass., &
| teacher of rare genius was found, and for
{over forty years she has been teacher, guide
and friend. An ever increasing public has
| been interested in the steadily developing edu-
, eation and creative genius of this “wonder
woman,” as Miss Keller has been called.
When Helen Keller entered Radcliffe College
as a regular student, her courage almost
startled those who realized her handicaps. Yet
she took the full college course and graduated
with distinction, no special concessions having
been made to her in any way. Never since
thas she ceased her careful studies and her
wide reading. Never since has she lessened,
_but rather increased, her writing and public
address. Several literary works of distinction
stand to her credit.
When Helen Keller conquered her dumb lips
wand learned with almost endless difficulty to
speak plainly and in public, a larger audience
marveled at her courage and ability. Thou-
| gands and thousands of Americans have heard
her public addresses, only to be astonished at
the near-miracle she had accomplished. But
the more thoughtful wondered still more at
| the depth of her wisdom the beauty of her
style and the force of her personality.
Today, at the age of forty-eight, Helen Keller
4s world-famed. What she says carries conviec-
{ gion. She is a recognized literary genius. She
iis a true philanthropist, giving herself’ and
{all she has to help others. She has become a
' poet and philosopher, with a message of both
| wisdom and comfort to an every-widening cir-
ele of readers and hearers.
Asked the secret of her life, she has replied
“My Religion.” She has made her “confession
of faith” in a bock of that title “My
Religion,” is an effort to tell her many friends
of the treasures she has found. In a letter
of November 14, 1928, she wrote *“I shall pray
in my soul that a few others may gain light
and peace from the message of him whose
wision I have tried to portray.”
PAUL SPERRY
CHAPTER 1
Hans Anderser describes in one of
his beautiful tales a garden where
giant trees grew out of pots that
were too small for them. Their roots
were cruelly cramped; yet they
lifted themselves up bravel; into the
sunlight, flung abroad their glorious
branches, showered their wealth of
blossoms and refreshed weary mor-
tals with their golden fruit. Into
hospitable arms came all singing
birds, and ever in their hearts was a
song of renewal and joy. At last
they burst the hard, cold shackles
that confined them and spread out
their mighty roots in the sweetness
of liberty.
To my mind that strange garden
symbolizes the Eighteenth Century
out of which grew the Titan genius
of Emanuel Sv.edenborg. Some call
that century the Age of Reason, and
characterize it as the coldest, most
depressing time recorded in human
history. It is true, progress was won-
derful everywhere. There were great
philosophers, and statesmen, and fear-
less investigators in science. Govern-
ments were better organized, the
feudal system was held in check, and
the public highways rendered more
safe than they had ever been. The
fiery passions of medievalism were
curbed by a severe decorum and the
iron sceptre of reason.
But at that period, as in the Dark
Ages before it, there was a sinister,
. oppressive atmosphere of sadness and
sullen resignation. Able writers like
Taine in his history of literature have
noted how a bitter theology treated
man as a despised child of sin and
gave the world over to the wrath of
- God. Even the rentle angel, Charity,
whom the :zaints of old had wel-
.comed, was driven from man’s side;
faith alone was c::alted, and not faith
either, but a self-centred assumption
‘ that belief alone was necessary to
salvation. All useful work seemed
a vanity, all physical misfortunes
were looked upon ag punishments, and
the darkest of all nights, ignorance
and insensibility, lay upon the heart-
starved world.
Such was the age out of whose
harsh environment the genius of
Swedenborg grew, and whose fetter-
ing dogmas he was destined to shat-
ter, as the zianu trees in the tale
burst their bonds. When such a
thinker is “let loose upon the world,”
it is of special interest to recall some
of the: historic events and personali-
ties centred 1ound his own time.
Swedenborg was born not long after
the death of John ‘Amos Comenius,
the “heroic champion who dealt the
first effectual blow at the giant of
scholasticism thet had for so long a
"time stalked through the Old World.
‘The year of Swedenborg’s birth, 1688,
was the year of the fateful though
{ bloodless revolution in England. He
lived during the most magnificent
part of the reign of Louis XIV, and
the memory of La Rochelle was still
raw and bitter in the minds of all
Protestants. He witnessed the aston-
ishing expeditions of Charles the Mad
of Sweden. He was a contemporary of
Linnzus. During his last years, Ros-
seau in France preached his great
doctrine of education according to
nature, and Diderot developed his
philosophy of senses and declared to
the world that the blind could . be
taught. Perhaps no man was ever so
precariously situated between tradi-
tions of a crumbling civilization and
the sudden onrush of a new age
toward which his forward-looking
mind yearned. The more I consider
his position, the less I can see how
we are to account for him, except as
a miracle, so little did he have in
common with his church or the stand-
ards of his century. I have not been
able to discover anything about the
circumstances of his birth and early
training which seems to explain the
most independent movement ever
‘started in the history of religious
thought. Thousands of others have
been born of devout parents and ad-
mirably educated just as he was, and
they have not contributed a new
thought or increased the happiness
of mankind! But then, is not it ever
thus with genius—an angel enter-
tained by us unawares?
Swedenborg’s home was in Stock-
holm, Sweden. His parents were
earnest people. His father was a
Lutheran bishop, a professor in the
theological seminary and a man of
spiritual insight. It is known that
Martin Luther, in his monkish days,
saw spirits and heard their voices,
and many of his followers observed
severe fasts and vigils so that they,
too, might have glimpses of another
world. It is ‘said that the boy
Emanuel had some such experiences.
In later life he wrote to a friend:
“From my fourth to my tenth year
1 was constantly engaged in thought
upon God, salvation and the spiritual
experiences of men; and several times .
I revealed things at which my father
and mother wondered, saying that
angels must be speaking through me.”
Though the father may have been
sympathetiz, his mother interposed
with decision and told her husband he
“must stop all such celestial excur-
sions,” and Emanuel did not see a
light or hear a sound from the
spiritual world until he was fifty-six
years old. From all his religious
writings it is’ clear that he had no
use for that kind of experience for
children or for unfit men and women.
Of all men he was in a position to
realize the danger of seeking visions,
and he frequently warns his readers
against this most harmful practice.
His childhood was as beautiful a
beginning as could be desired for a
marvelous life. He and his father
were consiant companions. They
climbed the hills around Stockholm
and explored the fjords, collecting
mosses, flowers and brightly colored
stones. © When they returned, the
child wrote long reports of their out-
door experiences. For he was a
scholar from a child, and his mind
always outran the limits of his body.
But, unlike many precocious young
people, he grew strong and healthy,
and his nobl?, manly bearing was
much commented upon. :
He received the best education th
age and his country afforded. He
attended the University of Upsala,
anc it is said that his earliest pro-
ductions display much poetical talent.
But he devoted himself chiefly to
mathematics and mechanics. He sur-
prised his instructors by simplifying
some most difficult processes in
calculus, and often they could hardly
follow his swift mind as it threaded
the mazes of learning. They re-
garded him with awe, and the students
spoke of him in low tones. It seems
he was an unconscious mirror of
strait-laced tenets and solemn ways
amid which he was brought up. His
1709, when he was twenty-one years
of age. Afterwar ‘he traveled in
foreign countries,
but to learn. = Robsahm
Memoirs says of Swedenborg, “Qf for.
eign languages, in addition to the
learned languages, he understood well
French, English, Dutch, German, and
His father wished him to enter the
diplomatic service, but he chose in- !
stead the paths of science. He was
given letters of introduction to the
sovereigns of Europe, but he calmly
ignored them and sought out the
day.
nounced—and ask for an interview!
him which inspired their respect, and
they never declined his request. His
one desire, his mission, was. to know,
and he levied tribute upon every one
who had new ideas or methods or
processes to impart.
His profound learning brought him
into close association with Christopher
Polheim, who seems to have enjoyed
the entire confidence of Charles XII
of Sweden. In this way Swedenborg
was introduced to the King who in
1716 appointed him assayer in the
Swedish College of Mines, that is, an
official who gives advice as to the
best methods of working mines and
smelting ores.
ment Swedenborg entered upon a
period of amazingly prodigious and
diversified activity. Not only did he
discharge the duties of his office faith-
fully and with wisdom, but he also
pursued his studies in every depart-
ment of science. As an independent
thinker, he followed the urge of a
powerful and original genius to dis-
cover, if possible, the deepest secrets
of nature. He was as familiar with
forge and quarry, workshop and
shipyard, as he was with the stars
and songs of birds in the morning.
The flowers he found blooming in
obscure nooks spoke to him secrets as
marvelous as those of the majestic
mountains he trod. His was a rare
blending of the practical and the
beautiful, mathematics and poetry,
invention and literary power.
In 1718 he turned his mechanical
skill to account at the siege of Fred-
erickshall when he constructed ma-
chines by which to transport several
leys.
chanical carriage, very complicated
inside, for a flying carriage, and for | ¢5 converse with him on some of the
a vessel to travel under the sea, thus
foreshadowing the automobile, the
aeroplane, and the submarine, He
worked on plans for new machines
for condensing and exhausting air by
means of water. He tried to produce
a universal musical instrument on
which one quite unacquainted with
music might execute all kinds of airs
| that are marked on paper with notes,
“and he contrived a way of ascertain-
ing the desires and affections of men
by analysis.
He devised an air gun capable of
discharging a thousand bullets a
minute! He had plans for draw-
bridges, and various other mechani-
cal devices. In him was prefigured the
wonderful system of interrelated
sciences and arts to which we owe the
extraordinary. progress of modern
times. He showed how the decimal
caught marvelous glimpses of knowl-
edge and theories that would be de-
velopeC a century and a half later—
palzontology, biology, mercurial mag-
netism; he outlined the atomic theory
and the nebular hypothesis years in
advance of Laplace.
Swedenborg was not blind to the
great wealth and influence which
these manifold attainments and abili- -
ties would bring within his reach. But
he refused the cup of happiness lifted
to his lips. The sorrows and oppres-
gion of mankind lay heavy upon his
heart. Humbled, shamed in his soul,
he beheld the. cruelties of a theology
that rained damnation upon myriads
of human beings. Jonathen Edwards
at the same time in New England
preached hell-fire and fear, and count-
less babies that died without repent-
‘ance were consigned to everlasting
torment! We moderns cannot con-
ceive how the ingenuity of evil was
‘exerted to turn God’s Word into a '
curse. Heaven was monstrous, “hell !}
‘unspeakable, and life one long misery.
Swedenborg said to himself, “What
js the use of all the knowledge I
have gained when such a hideous
shadow lies vast across-the world?”
He turned away from the splendors
of fame and spent twenty-nine years
—one-third ‘of his life—in compara-
tive poverty, comforting the hurt
souls of ‘his fellow men’ with ‘a
humane, reasonable doctrine of faith
and life.
Besides all his other labor, he wrote
every spare hour he could crowd in,
toward Genesis.
However, there was something about !
and he produced. altogether some sixty
books .and pamphlets. before the be-
ginning of his inquiries in the field
of religion. Among the great works
of this period were “The First Prin-
ciples of Natural Things,” “The
Brain,” “The Economy of the Ani-
mal Kingdom,” and “Rational Psy-
”
face was described as stern, though
not forbidding. = He was rather
statuesque, but very handsome and
commanding in his personality. He
was never known to unbend to the
gayeties and sports of youth, he could
not even in later life make love to
the shy young girl who inspired the || ,
only passion he ever knew. He went ichology.” wv.
tier tho distingaished Pol | , Speaking of thors scientific pro.
heim, ‘instéad of to her, and would iductions, Emerson says: It seems
have proved his love as if by means [hae he anticipated much of the
of cliarts and diagrams, The father | [science of the Nineteenth Century.
was willing, ‘and gave the young man | °°‘. His ‘writings would be a suffi-
a warrant for the girl returnable in cient library to a lonely and athletic
three ‘years, but the girl was ®0 ‘student; and ‘The ‘Economy of the
frightened that her brother finally | Animal Kingdom” is one of those
persuaded Swedenborg to give her up. books which, by the sustained dig-
But his love for her he never sur- | (Mit¥ of thinking, is an honor to the
rendered. [hema ig The Suis) Riugdony
He graduated from the University | 18 8 book of Woncsric, etie
of Upsala ‘with honors; Yeveiving the | |Waso written’ with: the ‘highest end—
degree of Di £- Pl to. put science and the soul, long
eioe: of “Riflosephy in estranged from each other, at one
er
again. It was an .aratomist’s account
"of the human body in the highest
not for pleasure |
in his
style of poetry. Nothing can ex-
ceed the bold and brilliant treatment
of a subject usually so dry and re-
. pulsive.”
Elbert Hubbard says of the “First
" Principles of Natural Things” that
Italian, for he had journeyed severa' rinelpe = a
“times in these countries.”
Darwin seems to have read it with
the most minute care. At any rate,
Swedenborg divined something of evo-
lution when he saw in a tiny lichen
' on a rock the beginning of a forest.
He also waived the literal account of
| creation in the Bible as a contradic-
| tion of scientific facts.
most distinguished scholars of his
Sometimes he would call unan- |
It should be
added that he never in any of his re-
ligious writings changed his attitude
In fact, he ridiculed
and tore down the time-honored shrine
of literalism, and at the same time
discovered in Scripture what he called
a most ancient style of narrative that
had nothing at all to do with the
physical creation, but was a ‘long-
forgotten parable of man’s soul.
Besides mathematics, mechanics,
and mining, Swedenborg shows in his
works an intimate ‘knowledge of
chemistry, anatomy, geology, and a
fondness for music. His philosophical
subjects were almost equally varied
and extensive. Yet he always had
time “to render himself in all things
useful to society.” For many years
_ he was a member of the Swedish
With this appoint- !
Congress, and on account of his dis-
tinguished services to his country he
was highly honored. Many distinc-
tions were conferred upon him as
time passed. In 1724 the Consistory
of the University of Upsala invited
“him to accept a position as professor
of pure mathematics; but he declined.
He was admitted a member of sev-
eral institutions of learning, in St.
Petersburg, Upsala, and Stockholm.
His portrait is in the hall of the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, as
one of its distinguished members,
hanging near that of Linnzus.
Swedenborg’s life, in a word, seems
to have been nothing but work, work,
always work. He became financially
independent, but this only spurred
him on to accomplish more. All per-
sons of high and low rank bore tes-
timony to his noble character and self-
less devotion. As he grew older, his
kind ways endeared him to all his in-
timate friends, and the sternness
. which characterized his young man-
large vessels a distance of fourteen ! young
miles overland, across hills and val- °
He worked on plans for a me- :
hood melted away. But real com-
panionship he never knew. He had
climbed too high on the ladder of
thought even for his fellow-scientists
subjects with which he was familiar.
They did not attempt to read his
works, but preferred to recommend
them. No one seemed able or willing
to follow his giant strides into the
upper realm of speculation. He was
an eye among the blind, an ear
among the deaf, a voice crying in
the wilderness: with a language they
could not understand. Possibly my
own partial isolation from the world
of light and sound gives me this keen
sense of his peculiar situation. But
I cannot help thinking he was lonely
with more than earthly loneliness, and
the world seemed strange to him be-
cause he had already outgrown it.
Perhaps no one had ever endured such
a pressure of soul against the prison
bars of flesh as he did, and there was
no reassuring nearness of equal in-
: | telligences to lighten his burden. He
system could be of practical use. He
had given his life to learn, and what
i could he do with his colossal treasure :
of knowledge? He was naturally glad
when more of light, more opportunity
was let into his difficult days; but I .
question whether he ever felt quite at |
home on earth after his “fllumination.” |
In about the year 1744 a great
change came to Swedenborg. This
keen observer of natural facts and
analyser of things of the mind was
given from on high powers of obser-
vation of. things spiritual; the senses
of his spirit were quickened to recog-
nize realities in the spiritual world.
His contemporary, Robsahm, records
a conversation in which he asked
Swedenborg “where and how it was
granted him to see and to hear what
takes place in the world of spirits, in
heaven, and in hell.” The answer was
that in the night one had come to
_ him and said “that He was the Lord
God, the Creator of the world, and
the Redeemer, and that He had
chosen me to explain to men the
spiritual sense of the Scripture, and
that He Himself would explain to me
what I should write on this subject;
that same night were opened to me,
so that I became thoroughly con-
vinced of their reality, the world of
spirits, heaven and hell, and I recog-
nized there many acquaintances of
every condition in life. From that
day I gave up the study of all world-
ly science, and labored in spiritual
things, according as the Lord had
commanded me to write. Afterward
the Lord opened, daily very often, my
eyes so that in the middle of the day
I could see into the other world, and
in a state of perfect wakefulness con-
verse with angels and spirits.” In
September of 1766, Swedenborg wrote
to C. F. Oetinger, “I can solemnly
bear witness that the Lord Himself
has appeared to me, and that He has
gent me to do that which I am doing
now, and that for this purpose He has
opened the interiors of my mind,
which are those of my spirit, so that
I may see those things which are in
the spiritual world and hear those
who are there, and which privilege I
have had now for twenty-two years.”
This privileged intercourse continued
to the date of his death on March
29, 1772, while temporarily resident
in London.
Ih ‘considering this phase of Swe:
denborg's experience, I feel that Iam
peculiarly ‘able to grasp his meaning
at ‘léast partially. - For nearly six
years I had no concepts whatever of
| seven books,
' name;
nature or mind or death or God. I
literally thought with my body.
. Without a single exception my mémo~’
_ ries of that time are tactual.
For
thirty years 1 have examined and re-
| examined that phase of my develop-
ment in the light of new theories, anid
I am convinced of the correctness of
what I am saying. I know 1 was
impelled like an animal to seek food
and warmth. 1 remember crying, but
not the grief that caused the tears; I
kicked, and because I recall it physi-
cally, I know I was angry. I imi-
tated those about me when 1 made
signs for things I wanted to eat, or
: helped to find eggs. in my mother’s
farmyard. But there is not one spark
of emotion or rational thought in
these distinct yet corporal memories.
I was like an unconscious clod of
earth. Then, suddenly, I knew. not
how or where or when, my brain
felt the impact of another mind, and
I awoke to language, to knowledge, to
love, to the usual concepts of nature,
of good and evil! I was actually
lifted from nothingness to human life
—two planes as irreconcilable as Swe-
denborg’s earth experience and his
- contacts with a realm beyond the cog-
nizance of our physical senses! Since
I did not receive even the lowest con-
cepts in those empty years from my-
self or from nature, I took upon them
as a revelation; even if only from a
finite mind. Swedenborg looked upon
his highest concepts as a revelation
from the Infinite Mina. In fact, from
his own words, it is clear he did not
regard his conscious presence in the
spiritual world as an end, but as a
means of developing the other half of
his understanding which as a rule is
dormant in us, and seeing more com-
prehensively different kinds of con-
cepts of good and evil, of cpirit and
matter, and translating the Word into
principles instead of mere words and
phrases. He did not say he was the
only person who had had that kind of
vision. Far from it. What he did
say was, he lived twenty-nine years
in full consciousness of the real
world where all men live at the same
time they inhabit the earth. He be-
lieved it was his mission to search
out and interpret the “spiritual
sense,” or sacred symbolism, of the
Scriptures, and that his experiences
in the other world were to help him
to understand truly the Word of God,
and convey the most wonderful and
beneficent truths to mankind. There-
fore Swedenborg devoted himself with
all his former energy and courage to
the investigatior of the facts and
laws of the soul realm. He took up
the study of Hebrew, so that he might
read the Old Testament in the orig-
inal language and gain a first-hand
knowledge of the religious forms and
parables and “mysteries” of ancient
times. It is evident that for many
years he had endeavored to grasp the
meaning of countless obscure pass-
ages in the Word, and had constantly
felt baffled! Many things had troubled
him, tradition and the almost uncon-
querable habit of sectarian interpre-
tation, the coldness of an age that
left out of Christianity its very heart
of love, the witchcraft of a church
literature ably and brilliantly advo-
cating tenets that were never dreamed
of by any prophet or Apostle, and
finally the obsessing illusions of the
senses. But at last the light broke
_ upon his mind—the Truth made him
free—and ke gave all his magnificent
powers to the release of the world!
In 1747, Swedenborg asked and ob-
tained leave of Frederic, then ‘King
of Sweden, to retire from the office of
assessor, so that he might not be
disturbed in his new work. A higher
degree of rank was offered him, but
' he refused, fearing that it might be
an occasion of inspiring him with
pride. Thus he withdrew quietly
from the splendors of a notable so-
ciety and the honors that had crowned
| him to the seclusion of his little li-
brary, where he produced twenty-
was to make Christianity a living
veality upon earth.
Whatever may be the opinions of
those who read Swedenborg’s re-
ligious books, one cannot but be im-
pressed by his unique personality. He
did everything gently and deliberate-
ly. There was nothing of excitement
or elation about him. The farther he:
traveled in the spiritual realm, the
more humble and composed he be-
came. He refused to appeal to the
weakness or credulity of the ignorant.
He did not attempt to make any
proselytes; nor did he wish to have
his name connected with the New
Church which he said the Lord was
about to establish in the world. He
felt that his message was for pos-
terity rather than for his generation;
and as his works—the result of long,
hard years of labor—left the press in
large Latin folios, he distributed them
free among the universities and the
clergy of Europe. Walt Whitman
“we convince by our pres-
ences,” and that is powerfully true
of the Swedish seer as he ‘worked at
his colossal task. He fully realized
the incredulity and hostility with
which many of his statements would
be viewed, and he could have ren-
dered them more attractive by omit-
ting or softening down. unpleasant
truths in a charming and entertain-
ing manner. Yet he never flinched
or turned aside from his high trust.
When he passed out of the body which
had become, so painfully inadequate
to his soaring mind, a degree of
obloquy fell upon his illustrious
7 and for a time one of the
noblest champions true Christianity
has ever known was nearly forgotten.
The ‘only reward he ever knew in bis
growing isolation upon éarth was the
consciousness that he was giving his
full measure of devotion to the wel-
fare and happiness of all men,
says that
I —m——— —
There are some lines by John Drink-
water in Lis “Lincoln” which always
bring Swedenborg vividly béfore me:
Lonely is the man who understands.
Lonely is vision that leads a mar
away
From the pasture-lands,
From the furrows "of corn and
brown loads of hay
To the mountain-side,
To the high places where contempla -
tion brings
All his adventurings
Among the sowers and the tillers im
the wide
Valleys to one fused experience,
That shall control
The course of his soul,
And give his hand
Courage and continence.
Yes, with matchless constancy the
seer possessed his soul in loneliness:
and vision!
A hundred and fifty-five years have
passed since Swedenborg’s death, and!
slowly his achievements have been:
winning recognition. The antagonism:
which his doctrines once aroused has.
changed to an attitude of tolerance:
and inquiry. Many intelligent people
have advocated his teachings in the-
centres of civilization and carried:
them to nooks and corners of the-
world undreamed of by most of us.
His message has traveled like light,.
side by side with the new science, the-
new freedom, and the new society,.
which are struggling to realize them-
selves in the life of mankind. I keep-
coming across instances of handi--
capped or disappointed lives which
have been enriched and brightened by
that Great Message. I, too, have my"
humble testimony, and I shall be most.
happy if through a word of mine evens
{ one individual gains a sweeter sense
of God’s presence or a keener zest.
for mastering the difficulties of out-
ward environment.
As I wander through the dark, en-
countering difficulties, I am aware of’
encouraging voices that murmur from
the spirit realm. I sense a holy pas-
sion pouring down from the springs:
of Infinity. I thrill to music that
beats with the pulses of God. Bound
to suns and planets by invisible cords,
I feel the flame of eternity in my
soul. Here, in the midst of the every-
day air, I sense the rush of ethereal
rains. I am conscious of the splen--
dor that binds all things of earth to:
all things of heaven—immured by
silence and darkness, I possess the
light which shall give me vision a:
thousandfold when death sets me
free.
(Continued next week.)
| CROSS COUNTRY AIR SLEEPER
IN ONE DAY TRIPS..
| president,
"himself as Raido Engineer of the:
{ Western Air Express, recent visitor:
|in Chicago, predicted that within the-
I next year a 24-hour sleeper trans-
| growing interest and patro
| transcontinental passeregrs, he de-
the sole object of which |
| a 24-hour service between New York
|and Los Angeles,
' comfortably enjoying a good night's
son of the:
for-
Herbert Hoover, Jr.,
launching a career
continental air service would be in--
augurated.
Young Hoover said he believed’
telephone facilities for communica-
tion between planes and ground sta-
tions would be completed by that.
time enabling business men to make"
| connections with their offices. He:
said such a service would aid pilots
in learning of weather conditions”
ahead and would avert many air prob-
lems now experienced by pilots.
Plans are already being designed’
for night flights with all the com-
forts of present day Pullman cars,
he said. These planes are to be ade-
quate for from 20 to 40 passengers"
and are contemplated for service be-
tween middlewestern points such as
Chicago to Kansas City and the
West.
The present air-1ail service must
be speeded up to keep pace with the
nage of
clared. ; : ie :
“The time is not far distant when
with 'passenegrs
sleep while the plane covers the dis-
tance between Kansas City and Los
| Angeles and other coastal cities, will
| be a regular thing in my opinion,” he
i said.
The development of telephone com-
munications between planes-and land
| stations is progressing so rapidly
that it won’t be long before passen-
gers can keep in constant touch with
| their friends and business associates:
while making trans-continental
flights. a
Young Hoover was in Chicago
with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, fa-
mous world war ace, now represent-
ing the Fokker-General Motors Com-~
pany. Rickenbacker also was ex-
tremely optimistic regarding the fu-
ture possibilities of aviation.
—————pe———
3,568 KILLED AT GRADE
CROSSINGS IN PAST YEAR..
During the past year, a report
{ from the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission indicates,
33 innocent by-
standers were injured by stones pick-
ed up from the tracks and thrown by
moving trains.
Within the same period of time 33
train men were likewise injured by
stones thrown at moving trains by
small boys and others:
One hundred and sixty-seven con-
ductors and brakemen were injured
in 1928 by freak cooking accidents—
broken dishes, glass, burning, etc.
Total casualties in 1928 were 92,~
070. Grade-crossing accidents ac-
count for 2,568 killed and 6,666 in-
jured. ;
Only 85 passengers on trains were
killed in 1928. In 1918, as many as
471 ‘passengers were killed. Total
number of persons killed was 6,022,
excluding ‘suicides. - Total number of
passengers injured was 8,463, as
compared to 7,316 hurt in 1918.
Of train employes, 70,246 were in-
| injured in 1928 and 1,328 were killed.