The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-05-17
THE MORALITY
 OF AVIATION
Rev. Henry Woods Discuss es Practice of Art Under
 Various Conditions
Not Allowed to Expose Life f Without Limit of Danger
 Safety Principal Object
 of Scientific Experiments for Speculation or eEx-
 hibition.

lfBy Rev. Henry WoodS In Amerlcd Aviation has taken hold of the sworld It is in everybody's mouth land the newspapers give it large space. tMultitudes flock to exhibitions of it. EThe man in the street concerns him. 'self with records and prizes; more thoughtful men, considering the idreadful proportion of fatal flights begin to ask how far the new art is lawful
 1 Man is obliged to preserve his life, land to use ordinary means of doing .so This implies that he must avoid lexposing himself to extraordinary ldangerS of death But ordinary and '-extraordinary" are relative terms ad- knitting a certain amplitude of inter- Ipretation. What is ordinary with re- lgard to one class of persons of a cer- ttain time may be extraordinary if re- lferred to other classes or other times. Moreover as life, though among the ! highest is, after all, only one of the goods God has given us, the obliga- ton of not imperiling it is to be meas .ured by it's. due relation to other law | full goods. Lastly, danger of death admits of many degrees. It may be imminent, or it may be so remote as Ito be practically non-existent. or it Imay be anything between these two lextremes. 4 few examples will make tthese distinctions clear. What would be but ordinary care with regard to so precious a life as the Pope's would Ibe very extraordinary if bestowed up- ion that of member of his household What is ordinary to-day, considering sthe present state of medical science, would have been extraordinary hun tdred years ago. To obtain eternal life for himself or others a man may imperil his life in way that would ibe unlawful for one seeking merely worldly goods, while even for these tone may take certain risks provided there be a approximately reasonable proba bility that the means he uses to lescape deatlg will be efficaeious. A trader may traffic on the West Coast lof Africa, notwithstanding its insalu- Ibrity, and a miner may penetrate the lwiIds of Alaska in search of gold, for lin both these cases the danger of death Is far from being imminent, es- pecially if proper precautions be ta- ken Manly sports have all an ele-
 ment of danger. Men are killed in the hunting field and on the polo
 ground: they lose their lives in swim ming and climbing mountains. But
 the comparative rareness of such ac-
 cidents shows the danger to be re- mote: and. therefore, the goods to be obtained honest recreation, health, the development of physical and Nor-
 al qualities, useful not only to Nhe
 individual but also to society are yuuite sufficient to justify one in in- curing it.
 FOR PUBLIC UTILITY. ~
 Among the goods all reckon great is important public utility. To ob-
 tain this one may expose himself to
 serious danger. About a year ago a
 physician left the security of his coun-
 try to combat the plague raging in
 Iquique. He carried his life in his
 hands. and within a few weeks he
 fell victim to the pestilence. No
 one would dream of calling him who lrisked his life to put his services and
 skill at the service of his fellows in their extreme distress other than hero. So. too, those who in the how ling tempest man the lifeboat win the praise of all. In the public service one may go to death morally certain The captain sticks to his sinking ship that passengers everywhere may be
 assured that for them the perilS of the sea are reduced so far as human skill
 and courage can do it, to the mini