The gold leaf., 1909-07-01
Admirals of the Air.
Wilbur and Orville Wright,
Foremost Among American
Geniuses in Solving the
Problem Of Aerial Naviga-
tion-European Nations Have
Wed With Each Other in
Showering Honors Upon the
Wright Brothers.
Baltimore Sun

Baltimore Sun
After famous scientists and invent
Ors, with thousands OF dollars at
their disposal, had experimental for
many wears and had failed to solve
the problem OF flight through the air,
two Young bicycle-makers from the
little town OF Dayton, Ohio, without
the advantage of scientific training,
backed by no government approprl-
atiOns or special funds, with only
their own earnings to spend on their
experiments, devised the first heavier
thar-air machine that would really
fy. From the time they were boys
they had been possessed with the
idea Of flying through the air. This
was not peculiar to them, Tor the
same idea had attracted thousands
Of men, from the time OF ancient
Greece. Men had fastened wings to
their shoulders. and attempted to fly
as the birds, they had strapped on
sails and tried to sweep through the
air rs a ship glides through the water.
From the farmer-boy who tied
bundles Of fodder to his arms and
Jumped off the barn-roof, to the in
ventOr of the balloon, men in all
ages, and perhaps in every parts OF
the world, had tried to fly. 1t has
been one of the great dreams OF men,
and it remained for two young Amerl-
cans to make the dream come true.
Scientists like Alexander Graham
Bell. inventors like Emile Berllner,
enthusiasts like -Dumont, ex-
perimenters like Lilienthal-all had
tried it. Samuel p. Langley spent
twenty years of his life, with the back
ING of the great Smithsonian Instltu-
ton. and at last died a disappointed
man because he had never been able
to invent il practical flying machine.
The Wrights undoubtedly " owed much
to the work of those who had pre-
ceded them. Especially were they
indebted to Octave Chanut, OF Chl-
cagO, who invented the ''glider" that
was the fOrerunner OF the present
aeropIane. But the Wrights worked
out the problem for themselves.
They spent all their spare money and
risked their lives times without num-
ber in testing the various principles
and laws that Others had laid down.
BY actuaiexperiment they determined
what Others had worked out in
theory only. They found that many
of the accepted claws" of aerial flight
were erroneous, and discovered new
laws of their own. At last, after
many flights with the improved glider
at Dayton, they went to Kill Devil
Hill, where the long stretch OF sandy
beach on the North Carolina coast
offered II fine field for such expert
ments, and there they accomplished
fight after flight through the air in
all aeroplane which would sail either
with or against the wind, that could
be guided by the operator, that
would remain in the air as long as it
was in motion and that not only was
heavier than air, but that would
easily carry two or more men and
engines to supply motive power.
Their achievement was announced
with such mOdesty that their own
cOuntrymen were slow to credit it.
But when Orville Wright gave those
wonderful demonstrations at Fort
Myer, while Wilbur at the same time
was startling France with his flights,
one breaking record one day and
the other the next, the world became
convinced that the most difficult
problems in aerial navigation had
been solved, and that it only re-
manned to develop it along practical
lines by invention and Improvement.
European nations have We'd with
each other in shOwering honors upon
the Wrights, and at last they have
come home to receive the tribute of
their own nation. Today in the
White House President Taft will pre-
sent to them the gold medals given
by the Aero Club of America in reeog
milton of their achievements.
Wilbur and Orville Wright are a
credit to their country. They have
demonstrated anew the supremacy
of American ingenuity and of Ameri
can initiative and daring. In spite
of the backwardness of our Govern
ment in exploiting this field, they
have put America in the forefront OF
aerial navigation. And, withal, they
are the same earnest, unassuming
Americans that they were when they
ran their little bicycle shop in Day
ton. Their modesty becomes them
as well as their fame