The Washington herald., 1911-01-01
Perils of Aviation.

Ancient mythology teens with instances
of the punishment Of mans audacity.
which to the mind of man in the earliest
days of the world was one of the most
heinous sins. 1t was regarded as espe
cally presumptuouS to attempt to over
come the mysterious forces of nature.
Prometheus. who audaciousiy sought to
steal the fire of life from heaven with
which to animate the clay figure of Il man
which he had wrought has long stood as
the very embodiment of that arrogance
which causes man to invade realms be-
yond the puny mental and physical pow
ers of which he has ever been vain.
The remote vagueness of the past but
slightly discloses the fearful fate that
overcame the tabled Icarus. the pre-
sumptuous son of Daedalus. who, on in
geniously contrived wings. sought to fly
| over the Mediterranean Sea. in defiance OF
the unconquerable laws of gravitation.
His presumption was punished by Phoe-
! bus Apollo who melted the wax which
attached the wings to his body. and he
sank into the arm of the sea that for
long bore his name a warning to deter
| all imitators of his objectionable crime
After the lapse of so many centuries, il
dents are to be recorded. and that our
day should see concrete examples of the
perhaps imaginary conceptions Of the
| fate that must certainly overtake him
who recklessly imperils his life. But tn"
progress and advancement of the world
| in all directions seem to have exacted
and to have received. tribute of human
! life in payment for all the conquests over
nature that man has ever made. The his
| tory Of industrial progress and Of inven-
| ton leaves behind il a trail of human sac
rifice that marks the stages OF mans in
domitable courage and his limitless ambi-
! ton to attain to complete supremacy over
/ the forces of nature
| 1t is not to be supposed. in the light of
past history, that the lamentable death
the world in one day will postpone the
day of practical conquest of the air. nor
| will it deter the ambitious student of avia-
ton from prosecuting with undiminished
zeal and hazardous and exciting expert
ments upon whose success depends the
solution of one of the most attractive
problems that has ever engaged the atten-
| tion or man.
! fascination that has never been sat-
isfactorily explained by any metaphysical
school lures on the bolder spirits of the
race to defy the most awful death and
disaster that can befalI man. Trains con-
tinue to run and passengers to travel over
lines in the wake of the angel of death in
its most dreadful form. The automobile
has survived as heavy toll of human
life as has ever been exacted from modern
inventions. and its devotees are as keen
for the sport and as undismayed by the
almost daily accidents as though it were
the safest of conveyances
That is the spirit which has advanced
man SO far upon the high road of prog
ress and civilization. All the prizes OF
life, material as well as spiritual, that
are at all worth while have been attained
by the payment of price that is pro-
iportionate to the reward. It is not alone
a struggle for fame that prompts man to
such deeds. 1t is the splendid courage OF
the race that will not acknowledge defeat
under the most adverse circumstance.
and in the face of the most awful dis
couragements. and that is the qualit,
which. after all. the race OF man admire,
J most. and out OF which evolves the he
Irocs Of nation in time of need.