292 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
provements. Since most of the obstacles are mechanical, they apply to 
flying elsewhere as well. Once they are overcome, the Arctic will 
possess the inestimable advantage of shorter distances. Even the 
problem of fog can be at least partially overcome by the development 
of suitable radio facilities, supplemented with appropriate polar map- 
ping, which can itself be done by planes. 
As long-distance flying increases in both extent and security, there 
is little to gainsay the future of trans-Arctic aviation. Many aerial 
feats, which were believed to be visionary but a short time before the 
outbreak of World War II, are already looked upon as commonplace. 
Who can predict what will be possible within the next decade or two 
by a fleet of superplanes, such as the famous 82-ton B-19, with a wing- 
spread greater than the height of a 17-story building, with fuel tanks 
containing 11,000 gallons of gasoline, and with a range of almost 
10,000 miles—which can carry it on a nonstop flight from San Fran- 
cisco via New York to London and back to New York, or from Minne- 
apolis to Bombay. Current improvements in design and construction 
appear to herald fleets of mammoth 100-ton cargo and passenger planes 
possessing a size and flying range never dreamed of a few years ago. 
TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION 
It is such aerial potentialities as these that impel writers and gov- 
ernments to turn anxious eyes toward the appropriable landed areas 
that remain in the Far North. The successful establishment of trans- 
polar aerial communication will necessitate the construction of flying 
lanes, landing bases, and radio and meteorological stations. Since the 
ice in the Arctic is in constant motion and cannot be relied upon for 
the erection of permanent facilities, polar landed territory will become 
of supreme importance. The establishment of flying auxiliaries by 
the nationals of a state unquestionably will rouse their government to 
acquire the territorial jurisdiction necessary to preserve and maintain 
these facilities properly. The race for polar territory therefore prom- 
ises to be very close at hand. 
Under the recognized principles of international law, unpossessed 
territory (terra nullius) in the Arctic, as well as elsewhere, can be 
acquired juridically only by effective occupation or by prescription. 
By occupation is meant the intention to possess the territory in ques- 
tion and both the administration of state acts and the exercise of 
police power in sufficient strength to protect life and property and 
render exceptional a breach of the laws of the occupying state. Pre- 
scription means the exercise of state authority over such a length 
of time as is necessary under the influence of historical development 
to create the general conviction that the present situation is in con- 
formity with the international order. Contrary to popular belief, 
