Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-11-09


the bay-not so simple as cavorting
around three mile level course with
plenty of smooth meadow into which
to drop.
Encircled Miss Liberty.
Grahame-w White made the fight
around Liberty, about thirty-six miles,
in 35 minutes 81 seconds. The cup
litter thought he had the $4,000
ctnched, riveted and sealed. But sud
denly there arose from the aviation
field almost at the last moment aIlot-
ted to the race Young America in the
shape of ]. 3. Moisant OF Chicago, sit
ting snug and tight in a monoplane
he had just bought from LIE Blanc for
the express purpose Of winning that
race for America. Never before had
Moisant flown that machine. His own
had been wrecked. Moisant completed
the encircling of Miss Liberty in 421s
seconds faster time than his British
rival. Count de Lesseps also made
the flight in excellent time. The three
men made the marvellous air voyage
without suggestion of an accident.
But, say you, what's the use? A
camel can cross q desert without
drinking water, but who wants to be
a camel? AS TO the usefulness OF the
aeroplane. that is no longer a matter
Of imagination. One of the thousands
Of witnesses of the Liberty statue
race was General Frederick D. Grant,
commander OF the department of the
east. General Grant as q boy was
in the Vicksburg envfrons when his
father, the famed Ulysses, spent some
months in his finally successful ef-
forts to enter that hill built citadel
of the Confederacy. Suppose the ear
lier Grant had had the use of d few
aeroplanes as army scouts. BY send
ing them above the beleaGuered city he
could have learned more of the true
inwardness Of Vicksburg in five min
utes than he was able TO learn from
the earthbound outside in FIVE weeks.
Aeroplanes Likely Army Scouts.
ST was greatly impressed by the
wonderful sight of these aeroplanes
flying over from Long Island and
around the statue" said the General
Grant Of today. 1.-THE value Of the
aeroplane as a military scout appeals
to me strongly"
Navy officers likewise recognize the
value of the aeToplane in war opera
tons. An aeropIane could get a good
running start on the deck Of q battle
ship. Could drop a bomb on the deck
of an enemy's battleship? Well, why
not?
But some of the aviators contend
that war viii end when the fleets or
battalions of aerOplanes once have a
-. -,
sibilfties. Even If this be true, still
the aeroplane has its uses. Peace hath
her victories for the aeroplane.
Thomas A. Edison, who is no idle talk
er, said recently that within ten years,
in his opinion. the aeroplane will be
carrying mails at a speed of 100 miles
an hour. How about sending a special
delivery letter from New York to St.
Louis in about nine hours?
Undoubtedly the aeroplane is capa-
BILE of much higher Improvement. This
will come. We are told that 5000 pat
ents on airships and the devices con-
nected with them have been issued al
ready and the applications average |
ninety a month Yet more depends
upon the man than upon the machine,
and, after all, it is the human intelli-
gence of the man rather than the near
human intelligence of the machine that !
makes aeroplaning possible.
Much Depends on Man.
Says James II. Colwell, patent Office
expert. who examines personally near
ly all the models submitted:
'"Ten per cent of the success of ev- |
cry flight is due TO the machine, 10 per !
cent to the motor and 10 per cent to /!
the man. The man of indecision, poor
judgment, weak nerves or slow judg |
ment is as much out of place in an |
airship as a defective motor"
Among the special points to which /
invantnrs nra rnauing attention Is the |