New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-07-19

sdmissions every day! And, Just
/ think, " believed In gas bAgs theaT :
! Already Claude Grahame- White, The
English aviator. Ind won the great
race BY completing the twenty laps
62.l miles, In 4 Aoas, I minute and
seconds-an average Of more than q
mile a minute-in monoplane. LIE
Blanc, the Frenchman. made nineteen
laps in 50 minutes 40 seconds, being
unable to finish only because his gaso-
lne gave out In the twentieth lap.
But these records, you may suggest.
are made on laid out course. with
conditions favorable. Very we'll: read
along. The next day there was a
race with flills and thrills that put the
cup contest into the background. Ris-
Ing from Bedloe's island. in New York
bay, the statue of Liberty points her
finger skyward. Miss Liberty Is an IT.
resistible attraction to aviators. Thorn
as f. Ryan offered $4,000 to the ayi-
ator who would fly from Belmont park
around the statue and back to the
park In the fastest time. This meant
flying, right over the housetops of
Brooklyn, over the deep salt waters of
the bay-n0t so simple as cavorting
around three mile level course with
plenty Of smooth meadow into which
to drop.
Encircled Miss Liberty.
Grahame- White made the flight
around Liberty, about thirty-six miles.
In 35 minutes 81 seconds. The cup
litter thought he had the $4,000
cinched, riveted and sealed. But sud
denly there arose from the aviation
field almost at the last moment allot-
ted to the race Young America in the
shape Of ]. B. 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 421a
seconds faster time than his British
rival. Count de Lesseps also made
the fight 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 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 u. Grant.
Of the department Of the
east. General Grant as a boy was
In the vicksburg environs when his
father, the famed Ulysses, spent some
months in his finally successful e.
forts to enter that hill built citadel
Of the Confederacy. Suppose the ear
lier Grant had had the use of a few
1eroplanes as army scouts. BY send
ING them above the beleaguered city he
could have learned more Of Sthe true
nwardness of Vicksburg in Eve min
ltes than he was able to learn from
he earthbound outside in FIVE weeks.
Aeroplanes Likely Army Scouts.
II was greatly impressed by the
sight Of these aeroplanes
flying over from Long Island and
around the statue" said the General
Grant Of today. 1.-THE value Of the
leroplane as a military scout appeals
o me strongly"
Navy officers likewise recognize the
,alue of the aeroplane in war opera.
ions. An aeroplane could get good
'unning start on the deck of battle
hip. Could drop bomb on the deck
# an enemy's battleship? Well. why
lot?
But some of the aviators contend
hat war will end when the fleets or
,attalions Of aeroplanes once have a
.hance to show off their deadly pos
abilities. Even if this be true, still
he aeroplane has its uses. Peace hath
Ter victories for the aeroplane.
Thomas A. Edison, who is no idle talk
r, said recently that within ten years.
n his opinion, the aeroplane will be
mails at speed of 100 miles
N hour. How about sending a special
delivery letter from New York to St.
.ouis in about nine hours?
Undoubtedly the aeroplane is capa-
lie Of much higher improvement. This
will come We are told that 5000 pat
.nts on airships and the devices con-