Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-31
AIR MEN DENOUNCED
British Enter Protest Against
Art of Aviation.
SHOCKED BY ROLLS DEATH
Fact That He Was Lords Son
Probably Made Difference.
IS EVEN TERMED IMMORAL
Letters to London Chronicle Give
Various Reasons for Opposing
Further Airship Tests.
Is EVEN TERMED IMMORAL

Nothing in recent years has started
such a storm of controversy in England
as the recent death of Charles S. Rolls in
an aviation meet at Bournemouth. Rolls
was we'll known In America as q sports
man, first as an automobilist and later
as an aviator. He held the mile record
for the automobile for a long time and
was the first man to make a round trip
in an aeroplane over the English chan
mel. He was killed July IL by the
breaking of his aeroplane in competition
at Bournemouth.
He was trying for the prize in landing
within specified circle, and made SEN
sational dive through the air. Probably
he would have succeeded and won fresh
fame as an aviator, but his machine was
not equal to the strain thrown on it and
crumpled up while in the air. Mr.. Rolls
was we'll known and greatly admired here
as a sportsman. 1t was expected that he
would be one of the English team at the
| coming International aviation meet in this
country. His death was greatly regretted
and official condolences were sent to Eng
land by the Aero Club Of America.
Protest Against Aviation.
But in England his death raised a storm
of protest against aviation in any form
The English mind regards human life
very highly, and the mere fact than a man
Is killed there in any way in taken much
more seriously than in this country. Fur
Their, despite the recent parliamentary
squabbe over abolishing the house
of lords, the English mind has a
species of congenital reverence for
the peerage, SO that it was rather
worse for an aeroplane to kill even
the second son of lord than it would
have been to kill an ordinary citizen. and
much worse than if the deceased was
foreigner.
When a good Englishman of standing
has a public opinion that he wants to
disgorge he writes a communication to
London paper, preferably to the Times.
That is better than making an after-din-
ner speech, because the audience is larger
and the Times has more official standing
than the Congressional Record, and GER
tainly a larger circulation than the Lon
don Gazette, which is devoted chiefly to
the bestowal of Victoria Crosses and
swine fever orders. However, the Times
did not start the aviation correspondence
this time 1t was the Chronicle, and
there have just appeared therein a series
of letters under the caption, "It it Worth
While? from such citizens as Canon
Rawnsley, Admiral Freemantle, Admiral
Sir Cyprian Bridge and Maj. Gen. Sir
Alfred Turner.
The gist of the correspondence is that
aviation is vicious and unnatural
practice and that it ought to be prohibit
ed by the home secretary or some other
authority.
One of the distinguished correspondents
of the Chronicle says that aside from
use in war, the art of aviation has not
brought a single gift to the human race"
1t consequently ought to be prohibited.
1t is pointed out in a number Of the
letters that man never has flown up to
date and the world has gotten on very
we'll, consequently man was not intend
ed by the Creator to fly. 1t is an unholy
In Too Big a Hurry.
Admiral Bridge does not take quite such
a drastic view Of the situation. He says
that the trouble is that the human race
Is trying to do too much all at once in
the field Of aviation. He says that it is
simply case Of trying to run before they
can walk.
Canon Rawnsley, however does not
take such a mild view Of it. He says
that he fears the feverish haste Of man
to conquer the air comes from the knoWl-
edge that it will be the battle-ground Of
the future. He says that this Is an i'm
moral scheme to break up the restfulness
of heaven and import war into the one re-
gion that might have been reserved from
it. He says that submarines and flying
machines both take war into regions
where the war-weary might suppose there
was to be peace.
He says in conclusion that he has often
felt like quoting the words of the psalm
list and yearning for the wings OF u dove
80 he might fly away and be at rest But
he fears that If the present development
Of aerOplanes continues the dove would
not stand much chance of resting in hear
ing OF the roar OF sixty-horsepower
gasoline engine.
Attacks Morals of Art.
One of the most violent attacks on
the morals Of the art is by Gen. Sir AL
fred Turner. He says that the sort Of
people who attend aviation meets would
attend bull fights were they living in bull
fight ATTITUDES, Or would have season
tickets to the Coliseum had they lived
in Rome in the days of the gladiatOrs.
There is nothing, he says, that attracts
them except the hope of seeing a fatal
accident and that the morbid craving for
excitement is a fit attribute for a par
ticipant in some of the decadent orgies
of the Roman ampitheater.
AS to the practical use of the aeroplane
in war, he says there never will be any.
The risk is too excessive and the chances
of a holocaust too awful He says that
the swimming of the English channel
by Capt. Webb had about as much sig
nificance from a military standpoint as
the crossing of the channel by Bleriot
and other air men.
There is not much vehemence In a
letter from Admiral Freemantle He says
that the chief danger in the modern dis
plays of aviation is that men are ven
turing into an element with which they
are entirely unacquainted, and they are
neglecting the factor of safety in the eff
fort to build machine light enough to
fly at ALL He says that there ought TO
be a closer official supervision DO h of the