Part 4
The most remarkable achievement as yet carried out by roadless vehicles is undoubtedly the crossing of the Sahara from Touggourt to Timbuctoo, during the winter of 1922–1923, by Citroën motorcars fitted with half tracks invented by Monsieur Kegresse. The distance travelled was three thousand six hundred kilometres, and the time taken was twenty days, that is on an average one hundred and twelve miles a day. All machines returned safely, and the total journey there and back was over seven thousand kilometres.
The nature of the country crossed was by no means uniform, for it was sandy, rocky, mountainous and, in the neighbourhood of the river Niger, covered with tropical vegetation. To build a railway from Touggourt to Timbuctoo would cost, at the lowest reckoning, a thousand millions of francs—possibly much more; this alone accentuates the importance of the achievement and its interest to us, for the Empire contains thousands of square miles of roadless country.
I fully realize that, though the roadless vehicle can replace the motor-car, it cannot replace the railway, if the railway is an efficient one. This is, however, not the problem. The problem is, first to bridge the gap between the producer and the railway, and secondly to create in undeveloped countries sufficient wealth to enable more railways to be built. Co-operation with existing railways, this is what must be aimed at.
[Illustration:
CROSSLEY-KEGRESSE CAR
[_Face p. 82_ ]
For purposes of illustration, I will take British East Africa as an example. A railway runs from Mombasa via Nairobi to the Great Lakes. Forty miles on each side of this railway, generally speaking, is commercially remunerative. This is the first belt I mentioned above, the second two belts are productively a gamble for any but capitalist pioneers, and the remainder of the country is but the playground of rich colonists who can afford to speculate on likely railway extensions in the future, or else of simple fools.
I will now suppose that a reliable roadless vehicle exists which can transport across country five or ten tons of produce. What do we see? We see the first belt extending from forty miles on each side of the railway to a hundred miles, and the second two belts being pushed out, in vastly improved circumstances, fifty to a hundred miles on each side of the new central belt. In fact, we have more than doubled the central belt and trebled the belts adjoining it, and, in doing so, have more than doubled the commercial prosperity of the country.
What now is our next step in the evolution of economic movement? It is, out of the wealth resulting, to extend from our main Mombasa-Nairobi railway, metre gauge lines in herringbone fashion up to the confines of the new central belt, and at the termini of these to build receiving depôts. In place of metre gauge lines, huge roadless machines, carrying and hauling from a hundred tons upwards, will in the end, I think, prove more economical. Once these depôts have been established, the smaller machines belonging to the farms and stations can bring produce to them and dump it. Thus, by degrees, will the central railway be fed by a prosperous area some four to five hundred miles in width.
[Illustration:
MORRIS ONE-TON LORRY
[_Face p. 84_ ]
To take another example. A transportation problem which faces every farmer is that of rapid door-to-door delivery. To-day, especially in such countries as Canada, what do we see? We see chain-tracked machines used for agricultural work, but we seldom see movement of the produce grown carried out save by horse-drawn vehicles, which can negotiate cultivated land if it be fairly dry.[7] Two horses cannot pull much more than a ton over a heavy field to the farm itself. At the farm, which may be fifty miles from a railway, the produce has either to be transported by cart to the station, which may take three days and two to return, or loaded into a lorry which, unless the roads are good, will take one day each way. The loss of time is considerable, and the roadless vehicle would appear to be the only practical solution. It can be loaded at the extremity of a field in any weather and condition of ground, and moved direct to the railway either by road or across country at a normal lorry speed, and carrying from three to ten tons according to size. Delivery is from door to door, and the only limitation as to load would appear to be the factor of safety of the bridges which may have to be crossed.
Footnote 7:
In Canada, snow offers a serious difficulty to movement by wagon or car during the winter months; there should be no great difficulty in producing a roadless vehicle which will cross snow almost as easily as grass land.
In waterless, as well as roadless areas, such as exist in Australia, wagons and lorries are frequently useless, and the roadless vehicle is again the solution, for it does not require a road to move along, or a well at which to seek refreshment. It carries its own roadway and its own water supply, and, if necessary, water for man and beast in districts where water is scarce.
In mining countries, such as Chili and South Africa, and in oil-producing countries, such as Mexico and Persia, the need for a weight-carrying, roadless vehicle is much felt, and in these countries, where again roads are few and bad, and water frequently scarcer, it would prove as useful as in agricultural lands.
[Illustration:
VULCAN TWO-TON LORRY
[_Face p. 86_ ]
THE ELYSIAN FIELDS
To conquer the Elysian Fields we must establish new industries at home, we must move our surplus population to the lands which are underpopulated, and we must be prepared to secure our Empire against foreign aggression. All these problems can the roadless vehicle help us to solve.
First, the vehicle itself is a new type of machine which will demand an industry of its own. Twenty-five years ago, as many of us remember, it was a rarity to see a motor-car; yet there were men who, even then, could see them in legions, and one of these men was Mr. (now Earl) Balfour. “In the House of Commons on Thursday, May 17, 1900, Mr. Balfour said he sometimes dreamed—perhaps it was only a dream—that in addition to railways and tramways, we might see great highways constructed for rapid motor traffic, and confined to motor traffic, which would have the immense advantage, if it could be practicable, of taking the workman from door to door, which no tramcar and no railway could do. Is it possible for Mr. Balfour’s dream to be realized?”—_Pall Mall Gazette._
To-day, this question is apt to make us smile, seeing that the motor-car industry is one of the largest and richest in the world; that in 1924 there were half a million cars in this country and nearly fourteen millions in the United States,[8] and that hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on motor roads.
Footnote 8:
In 1924 there was one car to every eight people in the U.S.A., and one to every seventy-four in Great Britain.
Surely then, if I be right as regards the powers of the roadless vehicle, its future should be as great as that of the motor-car, possibly greater, seeing that most of the world is still in a roadless condition. Surely, here is employment for many men, and a source of wealth which can only be guessed at in thousands of millions of pounds.
[Illustration:
GUY TWO-AND-A-HALF-TON LORRY
[_Face p. 88_ ]
And this machine will not only create industrial wealth, but agricultural prosperity, for it will enable the farmer to settle in lands which to-day are but wilderness and waste. The old means will continue, but will be pushed more and more into the beyond. The porter will bring in his small load and so will the pack animal. These loads will be collected and loaded on small roadless machines which will convey them to the depôts from which the giant machines work backward and forward to the railway, which will carry its hundreds of thousands of tons down to the sea. We shall see less porters, less pack animals and less wagons, but more railways and more ships, and these demand men to work them. The waste lands will become fertile; townships will spring up; industries will be created, and the energy of millions of men and women will be profitably expended.
Now follows a curious sequent. If, commercially, we want to expand the Empire, strategically we want to contract it. Our object is not to maintain an immense army to pursue a course of foreign wars, but to maintain law and order throughout the Empire and safeguard its existence. The fewer men we employ the less will the army cost, and, be it remembered, military expenditure during peace time is unremunerative.
To contract the Empire is not to abandon large tracts of country, this is to cut the Gordian knot in place of unravelling it; but, instead, to move over it quicker than we can to-day. What we want to contract is time and not space, the time taken in moving over ground and particularly over roadless country. The roadless vehicle will help us to solve this problem. A battalion may march a hundred miles in a week, but if carried in roadless vehicles this distance can be multiplied by seven; and what is even more important, for long periods a line of communication can be dispensed with, because the battalion can carry supplies with it for several weeks.
[Illustration:
DAIMLER THREE-TON LORRY
[_Face p. 90_ ]
The main strategical importance of the roadless vehicle lies, however, in the fact that it will, by degrees, fill the Dominions and Colonies with virile men. Australia with a population of twenty-five millions has little to fear from Asiatic races; with fifty millions—nothing. All these changes and many others will be discovered in an Empire recreated by a little iron, a little thought, and much perseverance.
THE WINGS OF PEGASUS
The wings of Pegasus are the wings of imagination—that telescope of the mind which magnifies the glimpses of the future; and, once we have focussed these glimpses, we must bring them down to earth, and chart out their anatomy, so that we and others can set to work.
Rudyard Kipling mounted Pegasus when he said: “When a nation is lost, the underlying cause of the collapse is always that she cannot handle her transport. Everything in life, from marriage to manslaughter, turns on the speed and cost at which men, things and thoughts can be shifted from one place to another. If you can tie up a nation’s transport, you can take her off your books.”
Shifting of thought, this is our first need, for the Great War destroyed an epoch, yet we still hark back to this epoch. A new world requires new ideas, and in the first half of this little book I have shown how ideas, a hundred years ago, were throttled by the protean stupidity and ignorance of man. To-day, these vices continue, but in their senile forms of apathy and indolence. Every government is faced by trade depression, unemployment and the cost of security, yet each in turn, whether Liberal, Conservative or Labour, turns from these problems and deflates itself on some patent shibboleth—protection, free trade, capital levy, etc., etc., until it is pushed out of office by a blind, but aggravated country.
[Illustration:
F.W.D. THREE-TON LORRY AND TRAILER (Six tons useful load)
[_Face p. 92_ ]
The crucial problem to-day is movement in all its forms. If to-morrow you can move twice the speed you can to-day, you will have twice the time at your disposal to work in. It is not gold standards and other such humbug which produce wealth, it is work; and if, to-morrow, you have twice as much time to work in as you have to-day, your existing wealth will be doubled.
This is the problem which George Stephenson saw quite clearly, and solved within the limits of the conditions he worked in. He gave the world a one-dimensional movement of a superiority never dreamt of before his day, and this superiority recreated the civilized world. To-day, we can expand this movement to cover two dimensions and recreate the world again. One day it will be done, because the world is a roadless planet, but for us, as an Empire, it may be done too late. No government minds spending millions of pounds on some pet hobby—doles, pensions, cruisers, naval bases, worn-out coal pits, etc., etc., but no government so far has spent sixpence on roadless vehicles. A hundred thousand pounds or so judiciously expended on research and experiment might well result in the production of half a dozen efficient types of cross-country machines. Has no government the intelligence to understand this, or the imagination to see what it may lead to?
Pegasus without his wings is a very ordinary animal; with them—most extraordinary, for he flew to Olympus, a land fit for heroes to live in, and not one in which no one but a hero can survive. Why not follow his example, why not look around us and discover the pivot of our difficulties, and then, why not from the mountain top of reason gaze into the future and conjure up the images of things to be? Then, let us descend into those tumultuous and dismal valleys below, and to Laughter and Perseverance add Wisdom. With this trinity to lighten our way, surely will our way grow straight and broad, and the clouds which are gathering around us, disperse; and surely then shall we discover those Fortunate Islands which to-day we are so blindly seeking.
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_Each, pott 8vo, 2/6 net_ _Occasionally illustrated_
TO-DAY AND
TO-MORROW
This series of books, by some of the most distinguished English thinkers, scientists, philosophers, doctors, critics, and artists, was at once recognized as a noteworthy event. Written from various points of view, one book frequently opposing the argument of another, they provide the reader with a stimulating survey of the most modern thought in many departments of life. Several volumes are devoted to the future trend of Civilization, conceived as a whole; while others deal with particular provinces, and cover the future of Woman, War, Population, Clothes, Wireless, Morals, Drama, Poetry, Art, Sex, Law, etc.
It is interesting to see in these neat little volumes, issued at a low price, the revival of a form of literature, the Pamphlet, which has been in disuse for 200 years.
_Published by_ KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD. Broadway House: 68–74 Carter Lane, London, E.C.4
_VOLUMES READY_
=Daedalus=, or Science and the Future. By J. B. S. HALDANE, Reader in Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. _Sixth impression._
“A fascinating and daring little book.”—_Westminster Gazette._ “The essay is brilliant, sparkling with wit and bristling with challenges.”—_British Medical Journal._
“Predicts the most startling changes.”—_Morning Post._
=Callinicus=, a Defence of Chemical Warfare. By J. B. S. HALDANE. _Second impression._
“Mr. Haldane’s brilliant study.”—_Times Leading Article._ “A book to be read by every intelligent adult.”—_Spectator._ “This brilliant little monograph.”—_Daily News._
=Icarus=, or the Future of Science. By BERTRAND RUSSELL, F.R.S. _Fourth impression._
“Utter pessimism.”—_Observer._ “Mr. Russell refuses to believe that the progress of Science must be a boon to mankind.”—_Morning Post._ “A stimulating book, that leaves one not at all discouraged.”—_Daily Herald._
=What I Believe.= By BERTRAND RUSSELL, F.R.S. _Second impression._
“One of the most brilliant and thought-stimulating little books I have read—a better book even than _Icarus_.”—_Nation._ “Simply and brilliantly written.”—_Nature._ “In stabbing sentences he punctures the bubble of cruelty, envy, narrowness, and ill-will which those in authority call their morals.”—_New Leader._
=Tantalus=, or the Future of Man. By F. C. S. SCHILLER, D.Sc., Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. _Second impression._
“They are all (_Daedalus_, _Icarus_, and _Tantalus_) brilliantly clever, and they supplement or correct one another.”—_Dean Inge_, in _Morning Post_. “Immensely valuable and infinitely readable.”—_Daily News._ “The book of the week.”—_Spectator._
=Cassandra=, or the Future of the British Empire. By F. C. S. SCHILLER, D.Sc.
Just published. The book questions the power of the British Empire to-day. Naval supremacy has been abandoned, the labour situation at home is critical, England is entangled in European affairs, and (consequently) the Dominions have more sympathy with the American rather than the British view-point. The probable outcome of this situation is indicated.
=Quo Vadimus?= Glimpses of the Future. By E. E. FOURNIER D’ALBE, D.Sc., author of “Selenium, the Moon Element,” etc.
“A wonderful vision of the future. A book that will be talked about.”—_Daily Graphic._ “A remarkable contribution to a remarkable series.”—_Manchester Dispatch._ “Interesting and singularly plausible.”—_Daily Telegraph._
=Hephaestus=, the Soul of the Machine. By E. E. FOURNIER D’ALBE, D.Sc.
“A worthy contribution to this interesting series. A delightful and thought-provoking essay.”—_Birmingham Post._ “There is a special pleasure in meeting with a book like _Hephaestus_. The author has the merit of really understanding what he is talking about.”—_Engineering._
=Lysistrata=, or Woman’s Future and Future Woman. By ANTHONY M. LUDOVICI, author of “A Defence of Aristocracy”, etc.
“A stimulating book. Volumes would be needed to deal, in the fullness his work provokes, with all the problems raised.”—_Sunday Times._ “Pro-feminine, but anti-feministic.”—_Scotsman._ “Full of brilliant common-sense.”—_Observer._
=Hypatia=, or Woman and Knowledge. By MRS BERTRAND RUSSELL. With a frontispiece. _Second impression._
An answer to _Lysistrata_. “A passionate vindication of the rights of women.”—_Manchester Guardian._ “Says a number of things that sensible women have been wanting publicly said for a long time.”—_Daily Herald._ “Everyone who cares at all about these things should read it.”—_Weekly Westminster._
=Thrasymachus=, the Future of Morals. By C. E. M. JOAD, author of “Common-Sense Ethics,” etc.
“His provocative book.”—_Graphic._ “Written in a style of deliberate brilliance.”—_Times Literary Supplement._ “As outspoken and unequivocal a contribution as could well be imagined. Even those readers who dissent will be forced to recognize the admirable clarity with which he states his case. A book that will startle.”—_Daily Chronicle._
=The Passing of the Phantoms=: a Study of Evolutionary Psychology and Morals. By C. J. PATTEN, Professor of Anatomy, Sheffield University. With 4 Plates.
“Readers of _Daedalus_, _Icarus_ and _Tantalus_, will be grateful for an excellent presentation of yet another point of view.”—_Yorkshire Post._ “This bright and bracing little book.”—_Literary Guide._ “Interesting and original.”—_Medical Times._
=The Mongol in our Midst=: a Study of Man and his Three Faces. By F. G. CROOKSHANK, M.D., F.R.C.P. With 28 Plates. _Second Edition, revised._
“A brilliant piece of speculative induction.”—_Saturday Review._ “An extremely interesting and suggestive book, which will reward careful reading.”—_Sunday Times._ “The pictures carry fearful conviction.”—_Daily Herald._
=The Conquest of Cancer.= By H. W. S. WRIGHT, M.S., F.R.C.S. Introduction by F. G. CROOKSHANK, M.D.
“Eminently suitable for general reading. The problem is fairly and lucidly presented. One merit of Mr. Wright’s plan is that he tells people what, in his judgment, they can best do, _here and now_.”—From the _Introduction_.
=Pygmalion=, or the Doctor of the Future. By R. MCNAIR WILSON, M.D.
“Dr Wilson has added a brilliant essay to this series.”—_Times Literary Supplement._ “This is a very little book, but there is much wisdom in it.”—_Evening Standard._ “No doctor worth his salt would venture to say that Dr Wilson was wrong.”—_Daily Herald._
=Prometheus=, or Biology and the Advancement of Man. By H. S. JENNINGS, Professor of Zoology, Johns Hopkins University.
“This volume is one of the most remarkable that has yet appeared in this series. Certainly the information it contains will be due to most educated laymen. It is essentially a discussion of ... heredity and environment, and it clearly establishes the fact that the current use of these terms has no scientific justification.”—_Times Literary Supplement._ “An exceedingly brilliant book.”—_New Leader._
=Narcissus=: an Anatomy of Clothes. By GERALD HEARD. With 19 illustrations.
“A most suggestive book.”—_Nation._ “Irresistible. Reading it is like a switchback journey. Starting from prehistoric times we rocket down the ages.”—_Daily News._ “Interesting, provocative, and entertaining.”—_Queen._
=Thamyris=, or Is There a Future for Poetry? By R. C. TREVELYAN.
“Learned, sensible, and very well-written.”—_Affable Hawk_, in _New Statesman_. “Very suggestive.”—_J. C. Squire_, in _Observer_. “A very charming piece of work. I agree with all, or at any rate, almost all its conclusions.”—_J. St. Loe Strachey_, in _Spectator_.
=Proteus=, or the Future of Intelligence. By VERNON LEE, author of “Satan the Waster,” etc.
“We should like to follow the author’s suggestions as to the effect of intelligence on the future of Ethics, Aesthetics, and Manners. Her book is profoundly stimulating and should be read by everyone.”—_Outlook._ “A concise, suggestive piece of work.”—_Saturday Review._
=Timotheus=, the Future of the Theatre. By BONAMY DOBRÉE, author of “Restoration Drama,” etc.
“A witty, mischievous little book, to be read with delight.”—_Times Literary Supplement._ “This is a delightfully witty book.”—_Scotsman._ “In a subtly satirical vein he visualizes various kinds of theatres in 200 years time. His gay little book makes delightful reading.”—_Nation._
=Paris=, or the Future of War. By Captain B. H. LIDDELL HART.
A companion volume to _Callinicus_. “A gem of close thinking and deduction.”—_Observer._ “A noteworthy contribution to a problem of concern to every citizen in this country.”—_Daily Chronicle._ “There is some lively thinking about the future of war in Paris, just added to this set of live-wire pamphlets on big subjects.”—_Manchester Guardian._
=Wireless Possibilities.= By Professor A. M. LOW. With 4 diagrams.
“As might be expected from an inventor who is always so fresh, he has many interesting things to say.”—_Evening Standard._ “The mantle of Blake has fallen upon the physicists. To them we look for visions, and we find them in this book.”—_New Statesman._
=Perseus=: of Dragons. By H. F. SCOTT STOKES. With 2 illustrations.
“A diverting little book, chock-full of ideas. Mr. Stokes’ dragon-lore is both quaint and various.”—_Morning Post._ “Very amusingly written, and a mine of curious knowledge for which the discerning reader will find many uses.”—_Glasgow Herald._
=Lycurgus=, or the Future of Law. By E. S. P. HAYNES, author of “Concerning Solicitors,” etc.
“An interesting and concisely written book.”—_Yorkshire Post._ “He roundly declares that English criminal law is a blend of barbaric violence, medieval prejudices, and modern fallacies.... A humane and conscientious investigation.”—_T.P.’s Weekly._ “A thoughtful book—deserves careful reading.”—_Law Times._
_VOLUMES JUST PUBLISHED._
=Euterpe=, or the Future of Art. By LIONEL R. MCCOLVIN, author of “The Theory of Book-Selection.”
Shows the considerable influence which commercial and economic factors exert on all branches of art—literature, painting, music, architecture, etc. It analyses the various factors responsible for the present low standard of popular taste and suggests methods for improvement.
=Atlantis=, or America and the Future. By Colonel J. F. C. FULLER, author of “The Reformation of War,” etc.
In the turmoil and materialism of the United States the author sees the beginning of a new civilization which, if it can find its soul, is likely to exceed in grandeur anything as yet accomplished by the civilizations of the Old World.
=Midas=, or the United States and the Future. By C. H. BRETHERTON, author of “The Real Ireland,” etc.
A companion volume to _Atlantis_. Four main sections deal with the U.S.A. as a Melting Pot, the Future of American Government, the Future of American Character, and the Intellectual Future of America. The conclusion deals with Industrial Potentialities.
=Nuntius=, or the Future of Advertising. By GILBERT RUSSELL.
Shows that advertising has become, not merely an economic necessity, but a real benefit to social life. Examines its present position as a factor in civilization and outlines its potentialities, not merely as a commercial, but as a social and political, influence.
=Pegasus=, or Problems of Transport. By Colonel J. F. C. FULLER. With Plates.