Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-21
AIRMEN WILL SHOW
COLUMBUSS MISTAKE
Suggested Auidtion Routes EmpIia.
size the Fact That the atlantic
Isn't So Vide A Atter All II
You Use the "Narrops"
CHRIsTopHER COLUMBUS was an

4 was all
Oenthusiast and hence his moral courage
stood. the test of a budding mutiny when
the. sight of the promised western land
was SO long delayed. Confidence that the
Santa Maria unless favored by extra
ordinary winds, could make no swfter
trip across the Atlantic sustained him.
Had he known the truth he would have
been really depressed. For the fact is
that the great admiral crossed the sea
from the Canaries to the Bahamas by
one of the longest Of routes. The appli-
cation of accurate geographical knowledge
could have cut the passage time easily
in one.half, even in 1892.
FTNHE Atlantc's "narrows" are worth
L considering. Columbus would have de-
lighted to heed them, but he hadn't the
chance. The airmen, who are in a sense
his modern successors, are more fortunate
and they purpose to capitalize their ad-
vantage in transatlantic flights that are
now imminent.
In no instance whether the feat is per-
formed by Fontan, Of France; Hawker
of Britain, or Bellinger, Of America, Will
the unbroken air route be three thousand
miles long. From Iceland to the FallSlands
the Western Ocean swings and twists
until viewed on a world map it assumes
something Of the shape of the letter "S.'
The three thousand-mile width Is popular
but erroneous convention. Newfoundland
and Ireland are but nineteen hundred
miles apart. Pernambuco, Brazil and
Dakar, Africa, but eighteen hundred.
Furthermore there are island stepping
stones to break the Journey. The Ber-
mudas provide handy halting place, as
do also the Azores, the Cape Verdes and
St. Paul's Rocks.
D EROUTING the world in this way
Twill occasion some altogether new
relationships between the nations and
their coastal towns. Dalsar, for instance,
leaps into prominence. The French have
been rather proud Of this made CITY," es-
tablished with significant foresight back
in the sixties. but to Americans its name
carries a wild, almost heathenish sound.
Yet civilization has considerable to say
at Dakar, and 1t will have more as it's
proximity to Pernambuco, across the mar
rows" is appreciated by airplane pilots.
m HE French have worked wonders in
L the thriving West African city. Sene-
gal. of which Dakar Is the only good sea-
port, suggests lions and crocodiles. What
the majority Of it's inhabitants most think
about, however, is groundnuts, Of which
large quantities are grown, and, Of course,
the commerce and shipping which is fast
developing as a result of the prosperous
city's singularly advantageous position.
Dakar has it's boulevards, it's handsome
public squares, its fine government build.
ings. tasteful and attractive in the French
m harhOr works inDa rf
a hint of Bordeaux.
Daintily dressed little French girls roll
their hoops and toss their dlabolos in the
parks as merrily as in the Luxembourg
Gardens in piquant contrast to the tall,
strong ebon Senegalese, who form the
overwhelming majority Of the population
and are proud Of their French citizenship.
which places them on suffrage parity
with the whites.
Spiritual as we'll as material changes
have been at work in Dakar since the
republic made it the capital Of all their
vast possessions in West Africa. The black
Senegalese are lusty patriots superb
fighters, as the Huns who met them in
Flanders and Champagne now painfully
realize.
IF LIEUTENANT FONTAN eventually
TedClleS anu pCSiHS tilcIS pIO-
posed transatlantic flight he will be feted
in well set-up modern town connected
by rail and water with remote Timbuctoo
and the great Niger hinterland, in a busy,
picturesque metropolis facing southwest
ward in way that may exert a potent
influence on the worlds new trade and
passenger route.
Mounting in his machine he will soar
over quaint Goree that ancient island
city in the harbor flashing with an oriental
Zanzibaf.like color which modern Dakar
never attains, and careen high over the
Atlantic waves to st. Pauls or Sac Pedro's
Isles, some thirteen hundred miles away.
The green and yellow flag OF Brazil floats
there and from st. Paul's some five hum
dred miles of air NAVIGATION will bring the
pilot to PernambucO, the vivid tropic mart
which Is the easternmost metropolis Of all
the Americas. 1t bears scant resemblance
to Dakar.
DERNAMBUCO is an enterprising en-
L trepot. busy market for all kinds Of
tropic products, including most pic
turesquely parrots, screaming Of voice as of
hue, sold in the open streets. But there is
a mellowness and antique charm about
this Brazilian city Of some 200 900 souls.
The Dutch, who were among the early
colonizers have left their architectural i'm.
print as they did in the West Indian
Curacao Many of the old gabled ware.
houses have flavor Of Amsterdam.
YT1HE Fontan route will be rich in con-
l. trasts. but best of all 1t will involve
less continuous flying over the sea than
any Of the other courses under considera-
ton. The equatorial sun, moreover. will be
| a boon IL the fight is conducted at high
| attitudes!
Via Newfoundland the crossing will in.
| eyitably be cold, but this course wins in
| imaginative appeal, for it will be jour.
ney without "calls," nineteen hundred
| miles direct from. bleak, seodishy" st.
Johns to rain-soaked Erin. In any event
the trip won't be so rough as the sea pas