Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-08-04
THE WRIGHT MACHINE

Even Ill the shadowy long ago, when group of ancients, in which Christopher Columbus is said to have been included laid bets that an egg could not be made to stand on its head there was no suspicion as to the inherent vir- tues of the egg. Which goes to show that the tolerance of men is going backward, inasmuch as the present generation for number of days past has been incoherenty doubting the good qualities of an article which has steadfast- ly refused to stand on its head.
 The article in question is the aeronautica combination known as the Wright brothers, of Dayton Ohio, and more power to them
 The latter part of June they came to Wash ington with a flying machine done up in boxes. They were very much heralded pair of men, They were called the champion aviators of the world, with justice They could have wined and dined; but they dined late and did not wine. With characteristic thoroughness they went to work at Fort Myer assembling their aeroplane
 The public in the meantime sat eagerly for ward, sobbed for flights and chafed at the de lays.
 The outward and visible signs of those de- lays are matter of common knowledge. The first day the machine was taken from the shed a very fair representation of the congress of the United States was on hand and wanted ac- ton. Wilbur did not know congress was to be there It would have made not jot or little of difference if he had, but he could at least have assured congress, if he had been made a party to the secret that there was little chance of flight Later the machine attempted to fly and failed to leave the ground. The Wright brothers gave their reasons, when asked, and to any one initiated in the habits of gasoline engines and the less definite customs of heavier than-air machines the reasons smacked of the cearest logic.
 In that respect the general public and the Wright brothers reasons differed widely and in the ranks of the general public might be n cluded any army officer who may have incau tiously allowed their impatience to get away from them. If enough illumination could be thrown on the situation to make 1t clear to the casual eye, 1t would be seen that while the Wright brothers throughout the whole time neither varied nor wavered from the course they adopted years ago when they gave up the bicycle repairing business in Dayton, Ohio, the public allowed itself to be led sadly astray by peevishness and let precipitation and dusty shoes run away with reasonabIeness and mental temperance.
 What the public did that part of it which made up the minor chord commentators-was to call part the whole It opned that because the present Wright aeroplane-a practically new turnout-balked, the entire Wright idea was balky. The magnificent performances of both Wilbur and Orvile Wright last fall were accidents forsooth, and, egad Orville had lost his nerve.
 The present aeroplane did balk. It had right to. Ii was three feet shorter than the flyer of last year, although of virtually the same weight In other words, with smaller canvas sustaining area, it had to develop the same lift ing power. By that very token 1t was designed and is expected to be more speedy, which is laudable ambition. The motor, having been taken apart, had to be made acquainted with it. self again.
 It was therefore entirely within the bounds of reason that the personal equation of their aeroplane was thing the Wright brothers themselves had to investigate carefully.
 The tests they proceeded to make, which failed more or less, were entirely preliminary
 preliminary to the fulfillment of business contract devoid of sentiment and divorced from anything spectacular.
 With respect to the full frution of the aero planes work, they were identical with the tests made with the previous machine down in North