New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-08-04

ing it, indeed, no more than summer
breeze, it is no wonder that the dwell
ers on the right little, tight little" isle
are disturbed Their boosted isolation
has departed Their water wall has
melted like mist. They are suddenly
brought on level with other peoples.
1t is just as easy for an aeroplane to
fly over their roaring and terrifying
channel as it is to fly over an equal
stretch of French meadows.
No wonder that the Britons are
frantically playing can Englishman's
Home" and tremblingly scanning the
heavens for the next flock Of French
aeroplanes or covey Of German diri-
gibles that are OH their way to drop
Internal machines all over London.
'"Thus conscience doth make towards
of us ALL" John Bull, when he remem-
bers the mean things he has done to
other nations, depending on that "wa
ter wall'' Of the English channel to
protect him, cannot understand why
IAN OC1SA LttIAO0o Wv AoI SCI CIV C1, III w
that the beginning of the flying age
has brought them the opportunity He
knows that he would have revenge if
the shoe were on the other foot It is
this uneasy feeling, no doubt. that has
spread the terror over England that is
so mysterious to the rest of the world.
John Bull knows that he has richly
earned a licking, and now that every
body else has learned to fly he sits in
thattering terror lest some Of them
give him his deserts.
He is probably safe. The other lands
are so busy perfecting their air craft
that they have no time to bother with
a craven who can extract no higher
sentiments for the wonderful time
now dawning than an unreasoning and
unmanly fear for his own personal
safety. While all other lands are en-
tranced in the day dawn of a new era,
he alone is grieving that his walls of
exclusion are melting away and his
mastery of the seas will not serve him
in an age when the air is to become
the highway of the world. He has
gone on building Dreadnoughts while
other nations have built biplanes, mo-
noplanes and dirigibles.
Let Him Get Used to It.
John Bull may be depended on to
get over his fright at the new wonder,
even as the old family horse grows &C.
customed to the railway and the auto
mobile. When Dobbin finds that each
train and auto is not bent on his indi-
vidual destruction, but goes on regard
less of bis very existence, he in time
becomes treasured. And when Mr..
Bull discovers that the flying age ar
rived not with intent to bring about
his destruction and that it goes Sc
rcnely on it's way as if no such portly
and beef eating gentleman were on the
planet, he may become as treasured as
Dobbin. He will have opportunity
as the Bleriot machine is followed by
successors, first in singles and next in
flocks and droves. Then Mr. Bull may
familiarize himself with the airship in
appear. But there is no gainsaying
that he is scared now.
The flying age is here. On Aug. %,
at Rheims, France, is to be held an in
ternational tournament Of fliers. in
which records will be broken and may
be machines and necks also. Glenn
H. Curtiss, the man who won the
prizes at the Morris park races in New
York city and that afterward flew for
fifty-two minutes at Hampstead, will
represent America. Mr.. Curtiss has a
biplane, but perhaps the lightest ma
chine of them all, weighing only $50
pounds with the operator. The motor
on Mr.. Curtiss' aeroplane is said to be
a marvel of lightness and power.
Aeronautics has today become a rec
ognized department of human thought
and activity. In every leading govern
ment large sums are now set aside for
the pursuit of the science, aerial navies
are being organized, thousands of the
worlds best inventors are wrestling
with the problem and perfecting the
vehicles Of fight, and in a few years
more it will become plain to all that
a new day has arisen for humanity
and that the kingdom Of the air is at
hand.