Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-12-23

an attempt has been made to race air ships against each other At Rheims they had various races against time and against distances, but they have not yet attempted to race one air ship against another, The attempt will be made at Los Angeles. Beachey found Roy Kfab enshue and Charles F. Willard already here when he arrived, and Curtiss, Bald win, Stevens and other American avia- tors are now on the way. From France are coming the seven members of French aviation syndicate, headed by Paulhan. Nassau, Boussard and four mechanicians are with them, and also Mme, Dorothy Leavitt, the woman avia- tor--most daring sky pilot of them all, it is said. Two Blerot cross-channel v machines, two Farmans, one Santos-Du- mont Demoiselle, and number of the newest "gliders, !" tiny little things for one passenger, are being brought by the syndicate. These Frenchmen will re- ceive $50, ,000 outright for their services.
 Greatest of all the aeronauts, how ever, will be the American, Glenn Cur tiss--greatest of all because he was the first to recognize the fact that the ul- innate success of the airship lay in the motor which propelled it.
 "The engine is the heart of the heav- ier.tlran-air maehine,'' said Mr. Curtiss when he first took up flying as a pro fesson, and he bent all his energies to- ward perfecting the engine that he used in all of his flyers. Now he has the best engine in the world, and he can stay in the air longer than any of the others can.
 It is quite safe to predict that the world will be startled not only once, but many times, during the days that inter vene between January 10 and 20 next. With Dick Ferris staying awake nights thinking of new and venturesome stunts for the famous aviators to at tempt and with all of the great flyers gathered on one field, anxious to make the supreme tests, and of the various types of airships represented, and in the hands of trained aviators, there can be no chance for doubt on this point Since the men of all nations of the earth have begun to dream anew of the conquest of the air, there has been no such gath ering of sky sailors as will be in Los Angeles.
 To Dick Ferris, the millionaire the atrlcal man, now a permanent resident of Loss Angeles, belongs the credit for having conceived the idea of bringing this aggregation of aviators together in the one place in all the world where such an event can be safely figured on at this time of the year, and to hIm must be given the credit also, of being the first show man in America to seize the opportunity and propose a practical plan whereby the people of the whole country can witness these great feats.
 The Wrights, Bleriot, Santos-Dumont, Paulhan, tarman, Curtiss, Latham, Knabenshue, Willard, Beachey-these all are names to eonjure with just now, and the sum total of all the work of all these great aeronauts will be seen in Los Angeles in January. It seems al most too good to be true. For two years the popular imagination has been set afiame by pictures of flying machines, and descriptions of the same, in all of the newspapers and magazines, and now ' the people of America are going to en- joy a feast such as Europe has had but a taste of