Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-02

and Summer Farman and Rougier and
Delagrange-the mere fact that twenty-One
cash prizes for conquering The air, ranging
from 500 to $4,000. and totailing at mere
than S2i7, 00o,OO are awaiting claimants
the mere news Of flying machines invented
in Mexico and Russia, China and Norway
such straws show how blows this TWEEN
tieth century wind Of mechanical achieve
ment.
Latham. the Englishman, failed to cross
the British channel in his monoplane-
missed Il by a scant two miles-but the
Frenchman, Bleriot, needed but thlrty-seven
minutes to soar above the twenty-one
ehoppy miles which separate Calais from
Dover. This was la July, and just before
it the brothers Wright had returned to
their native Ohio, after victories unnum-
bered In the Old World, to receive medals
and p~laudits, and not long after the waters
Of lie Pas de Calais had been vanqulshed
Wilbur Wright Unanswered above New
York's North river with all the easy
precision which was to have been expected
Of an aviator who, In the year, had covered
a little matter Of between 800 and 5000
air miles.
with scarce a week Of tho firty-two fail
ing to produce its item Of overhead news
Of value, 1t is difficult to give any three
OF four happenings as of especial impor-
lance, but possibly the accomplishments
most nearly Of record breaking sort are
these:
Orville Wright, near Potsdam, Germany,
in October, rose to a height Of LOO feet,
thus surprising by a good margin Lam
berts spectacular flight, the selfsame
month, in which he rose 200 feet, looking
down on the 9S4-foot Eiffel tower.
Delagrange, at Doncaster, England, in
October, drove his machine at the rate Of
something over fifty-four miles an hour,
slightly surprising the achievement Of Or
Vile Wright at TT. Myer in July.
Henry Farman, at Mourmelon, France,
In November, covered ia miles In I hours
6 minutes and Is seconds.
To which must be added the two victor
les Of Glenn Curtiss at Rheims in August
and at Brescia a month later. In one case
he won the international cup by covering,
on a circular course, twelve miles in six
teen minutes, and in the other carried off
the grand prize, flying thirty-one miles in a
trifle less than fifty minutes.
DIrfEibIes and SphericaIs.
The dirigible has likewise sailed into the
forefront of Importance since January last
came in. Goodale has lowered along and
above the North river Gune), Germany's
Crosse ii. CAugusD very handily made a
21O-mile Journey in fifteen hours and forty
minutes, italian army officers (October)
have practically duplicated this, and the
French bag Llberte has accomplished ISL
miles In five and a half hours. The Sep
TENDER which witnessed this last feat.
however, saw also the horrible death dive
Of Frances Republique, an air monster of
the rigid" type, involving four fatalities.
Zeppelin would seem to have distanced
all competitors OF this sort An aIrship,
which can leave it's home port, cover go
miles in varying weather., against head
winds and carrying nine men, break a
propeller, descend safely, repair damages.
rise and go eighty miles further, land easily
and at will, and then cut home again, will.
in the language of the man in the street,
take a lot of beating" In 1900 the count
managed to do seven miles above Lake
Constance; in June of last year he covered
$50 miles in eighty-seven hours, and i'm
March he demonstrated that height as well
as distance is in his grasp, ascending 6,OOO
feet near Friedrichshafeu
AS for the phericals, they, too, have been
busy and prospecting. The UNIVERSITY
City" won the national balloon contest in
June, starting from indianapolis and
achieving $50 miles. A few days later the
Hclvetla, in a little matter Of eleven hours,
sailed over Mt. Blanc. The New York, to
capture the Lahm cup, was aloft five min
utes less than twenty hours. averaging
thirty-nlne mile an hour. and, possibly the
most noteworthy accomplishment of all. the
Albatross, with two Italian adventures in
It's basket, rose (August) near Turin to ;
helght OF SS'I94 feet, generously betterina
the previous height record Of 81, 100.
North Pole Discovery.
Probably the most dramatic event Of IN,
year, bringing to a triumphant conclusion
more than three centuries of Arctic ex
p%loration, has been the announcement o.
the discovery of the North pole. Within 4;
single week in September, 1903, such an
nouncements and claims were made b,
Dr. Frederick A. Cook and by Commands
Robert Il. Peary of the United States navy
The first claimed to have reached tn,
"boreal center" April Il, 1903, the other OF
April 6, 1903. Dr.. Cooks claim to hayln,
reached the pole or the date named or an,
GATE was attacked by Commander Pear,
and started a controversy that rage,
tiercely among partisans of each, and dix
not cease Until the University Of Copen
hagen pronounced worthless the proof
submitted by the Brooklyn doctor. Mean
while the records of Commander Pear,
were submitted to the American Geo
graphical society, examined by that bod
and pronounced convincing proof of hi
claim as the discoverer of the North pole
The climax Of the controversy was tn
disappearance OF DR.. Cook from Ne,
York on November "A.
Via Wireless.
The upper air has borne mans message
as well as his flying craft. Wireless teleg
raphy, with Count Won ARGOS 'soundin
sparks and the new devices Of the Italian
Bellini and Tosi to re-enforce earlier meth
DDS has set Paris and New York In com
munication and Hawaii and the Orego
coast. New York and Chicago have for tn
first time been talking this way Qfay,
and the Korea, steaming westward fror
the Golde Gate, has kept continuously 1
touch with San Francisco over the hithert
u~nequaled distance Of 4,7sO miles CNoyeu
ber).
The saving OF fully 5000 lives at the time
OF the wrecks or the Republic January
and SlaVonia Uune). by means of thi
same Intangible, mysterious, winged aver
OF mans brain, wrote new wonder storie
for ali the world. Jack Binns, sticking [
his post on a sinking ship and flashing hi
&c. =. d." out through the fog veil. whic