Fifty years from now Chicago’s citizens will no longer be rooted to the
ground, but will fly in the air like birds, according to Mrs. William J.
Chalmers, who has been closely identified with the city’s progress.
“As we overstepped the bounds between earth and water, so we will
overstep that between earth and air,” she declares. “Whether it will be
through some simple device which we will attach to our shoulders or feet,
or whether we will learn breath control so that we can literally swim
through the air, I cannot say. Certainly in fifty years this will come to
pass—that we will all own small aeroplanes, so perfected that it will be
possible for us to alight on the window ledges of our apartments, whether
they be ten or twenty stories high. Chicago will, fifty years hence, have
become a seaport. Steam-ships will be run electricity and will attain
tremendous speed. But steamers will be used for heavy loads and passenger
travel will be by aeroplane.”