386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



cans. Despite political obstacles to free migration, it is believed that 

 such trends will quadruple before the turn of the century. Our 

 shrinking globe and the resultant style of international living, marry- 

 ing, and working is bound to create a reciprocity of movement which 

 would be quite unbelievable to the citizen of 1920 or even 1950. If 

 Western culture should rub off on the Soviets faster than the reverse, 

 so that Eussian barriers to general intercourse are lowered, this trend 

 may also find its way into northern Eurasia. 



An equal, and perhaps earlier, phenomenon arising from the press 

 of population along the world's seaboards will be the jump to island 

 living. Presently there are thousands of coastal islands which are 

 deserted or only sparsely inhabited. They offer an attractive alterna- 

 tive to crowded mainland living, and the forecasters are convinced 

 that in the decades ahead these islands will turn into much sought- 

 after real estate. 



A third result of the spreading out of the population is expected 

 to be a migration into land areas within the boundaries of the home- 

 land which at present are only margmally desirable or convenient. 

 This movement should be made feasible by teclmological innovations 

 already in process and on the verge of practical utilization. 



The effect of these trends on sea-related activities, and vice versa, 

 will be marked. 



With the swift surge toward world travel which is expected to be 

 crucial within 25 years, comes the need for additional sources of rapid, 

 long-range transportation. Air travel has expanded to meet this 

 requirement, but air lanes are by no means likely to be able to handle 

 the needs of the future. Relatively speaking, the air is already more 

 crowded than the sea and its problems of adequate termini are more 

 difficult. 



This means a much revitalized demand for ocean travel and for 

 new types of fast, oceangoing transports, and there is little doubt that 

 when the demand is great enough such craft will be made available. 

 We cannot see exactly how tomorrow's sailors will navigate, but 

 we can guess that the naval architects and oceanographers will have 

 hydrofoil craft sailing accurately predicted currents at speeds here- 

 tofore reserved for land vehicles. As the techniques grow, they will, 

 in turn, stimulate their own use. 



Potential island dwellers who are currently discouraged by the 

 inaccessibility of remote coastal areas will find that smaller versions 

 of these same craft would make an island home feasible and commut- 

 ing easy. Or the air-cushion vehicle, which rides a few inches or feet 

 above the surface of the water, may be used. Some of the latter are 

 presently in ferry service between English Channel ports. With re- 

 finement and simplification, this vehicle, too, has significance for ex- 



