Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-17
BALLOON: / TOURING FAD
p b -oSe
All tho !: Rage Now at the
French q Capital.
fc 10
AERIAL EXCURSIONS
SWELL you're MEN ESTABLISH
REGULAR SERVICE.
Take the Public an Well as Their
Friends-Labors Of the
Gin Club.
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.


Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
PARIS. September /. 1902.
The latest thing In Paris is to take your
ticket by the airline" It is a new ex-
cursion line established by young men of
wealth and title, at once enthusiasts of
sport and patriots convinced that young
men Of their class ought to be up and
doing. p
Your airline ticket gives you a right to
go touring in the comforts able basket Of
spherical balloon. Already it is such a
well -established Zine" that the balloons
go off on schedule time two days a week,
on Wednesdays and on Mondays; but the
great feature of these new excursions IS
their unknown destination. Thus last We'd
nesday. Mrs. Weldon Finch, wealthy
lady from Australia, and her party in the
Eros, captained by Monsieur lie Comte de
Castillon de Saint-Victor, came down. at
Conde-sur-Vire. in Normandy, 200 miles
from Paris as the bird flies; while the party
that went on last Monday, all Partisan
young men and members of the Gin Club,
captained by their President d'Aerostatiaue,
Monsieur lie Comte de Ia Vaulx, in his
famous Centaure. landed somewhere In Ba-
varia!
The new idea is due M Louis Olivier,
who edits the Revue Generate des Sciences.
Each autumn for the last six years he has
led what have become very successful
scientific and archaeological cruises into
Syria, Greece, Palestine and Egypt. To la
Vaulx and Castillon de Saint-Victor. two
OF the most active and prominent members
Of the Paris Aero Club. he unfolded the
new project.
The time has come" said Mr.. Olivier,
"to organize balloon excursion lines whose
balloons will take up the public on the
scheduled day and hour with the same
- -a1l1~ Al~2A All
to the seaside! 1t will be good thing to
familiarize the public with the safety Of
balloons. 1t will add to the renown OF
Paris Here Is useful work for young
men like yourselves. Your ancestors were
leaders in war. Be leaders you, too. but in
peace! ...- .
1t is a new. characteristic of the swell
young man of Paris that he Is no longer
ashamed ito do things" Since the Marquis
de Dion has shown how a clubman and
aristocrat may make himself a f1rst-class
automobile manufacturer. the new idea has
made great progress. I'VE must no longer
sulk in our tents" say the young aristo-
Gratis; considerations Of this character led
even the young Castellanes to get them
selves elected deputies.
As to Safety. .
"But will. it be safe in reality?' was
asked of the promoters Of the scheme the
moment they announced 1t. Dare you
into those vast: aerial solitudes? When
you go up alone. you risk your own lives
only; will you-dare take the responsibility
for others?..
"a balloon II never dangerous" they an
swered except when you seek to force it
to sgo on a .siveB- course. Let it go where
the. wind -listeth and 1t makes the gentlest,
safest means Of travelling yet devised by
man. Attempt to force it, and you have
tragedies like that of the unfortunate Sc
vero- or plain failures like that Of Count
Zeppelini." ...- ..-s
by the authorities of the Paris Aero Club
The Aero Club felt the loss of the bril-
liant young Brazilian. Its first years were
very brilliant. During the exposition sum-
mer it's longdistance competitions and its
trials Of altitude won 1t much glory, in
spite of the handicaps inflicted by the mill
tary specialists on all competitors. Then
Santos-Dumont's famous trials that ended
in his winning of the Deutsch prize came
as a new proof Of the clubs activity. But
at the beginning Of the present summer the
club found itself in dilemma. 1t is
always an ungrateful task 10 be forced to
go on beating ones own record; and the
Santos umont record had the awkward
ness to be extremely personal to Santos.
The club has fine grounds, with balloon
sheds, gas plants and all kinds Of up-to-
date accessories. 1t owns half a dozen
first-class new balloons, besides the private
balloons of its members. 1t has at least
twenty members who are first-class spheri-
cal balloon captains. men like Jacques
Balsan, Jacques Faure, the Comte de la
Valette, NJ. E. Pietri, Maurice Blanchet the
Comte de la Vaulx and Castillon de Saint
Victor-all amateurs, yet with records that
surpass by far the records Of professionals
With all this fine material, the Aero Club
remained perplexed, as l have said at the
beginning Of the present summer.
-- Ready for Novelty.
What to do next? That was the ques-
ton. The Aero Club members are not
seekers or inventors like Santos-Dumont
They are simply sportsmen, very well con-
tent with spherical ballooning taking de-
light in the uncertainty of where the wind
shall land them. Yet to keep on going up
In the old way seemed objectless, and even
great club cannot be always starting
competitions. Therefore, when balloon
touring" on aerial excursion lines was
proposed to the Aero Club authorities they
welcomed the idea and put the club grounds,
fixtures and balloons at the disposal of the
hardy innovators.
Thus it happened that balloons start
Monday afternoons and Wednesday after
near the Coteaux station of st. Cloud"
The tickets, which must be applied for
weeks ahead at the Aero Clubs offices, in
were speculation in them possible. AS.
however, the scheme is not at all money
making in its object-although it is self
supporting-the use of the tickets Is held to
be strictly personal; one cannot hand ones
ticket over to friend until the transfer Is
approved by committee. In theory this
works very wellorbut in practice half of
the tickets 90 to members Of the Gin Club.
Now, the establishment Of the Gin Club
marks another change in the ideals of the
aristocratic youth of Paris. The name is
perhaps misleading; = drinking gin is not the
one great object of Its members, who are
merely lively and eccentric sports. great
buffers and great jokers, always Fastening
after some new thing. Originally nothing
but a suppees club without a local habita-
tion or a name lit met in Maxim's second
story front Now, furnished with an inter-
esting name and a full club permit, 1t is
about to move into Its own quarters. What
its true object Is would puzzle any of Its
members to. fell.
Tres Pen! Very Little.
why do you beall it the Gin Club?" I
asked one OF then,
Every club, must have name." he an
swered. s3p IS
DO you cultivate taste for gin?"
Tires peu! Very little" This is new
tag of slang that has run through the town
like wildfire. One replies Tres peu! Very
lttler to no matter what remark or ques-
ton.
The truth Is that automobilists are very
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