The labor standard., 1919-10-01
IRMEN are preparing to make
 the Azores islands the aerial junction of the future. They

predict that this garden spot of the Atlantic, with it's mild climate and other health giving qualities, will | become the stopover for all overseas 1 travel by airplane and dirigible. They point out that the exploit of the United States navy in effecting a crossing has virtually put the islands on the map, as far as the general public is con- cerned; that for many years problems of construction will limit the over- seas route to the Azores, where fuel | and other supplies may be replenish- ed, says the New York Tribune. Rising to a height of more than 1000 feet-as in the case of Pico- and at the lowest $50 feet above sea level, as the island of Corvo, the is- lands form an oasis in desert of wa ter and mist and heavy banks of clouds clouds that rise off the water in the morning and blot out everything from view, narrowing the horizon to a few feet for the anxious aerial pilot and his navigator.
 Already navigators are at work on instruments to eliminate these diff culties. They count on the Azores with
 
 them with correct weather reports, radio stations and rescue ships in case of accident to the planes.
 Pleasant Place for Stopover.
 And a stopover at the Azores will not be in the nature of hardship to overseas passengers. What would tourist find, for example, if his plane dropped him at Ponta Delgada, the capital of St. MichaeIs? On ap- preaching the islands he would find a great cloud of dense, gray mist resting on the horizon. Nearer 1t becomes a reddish brown dotted with moldy green.
 Veering to the southeast toward Ponta Delgada he would see the city first as formal white line, or, if the gaze could pierce the cloud, it would be broken line extending back from the sea wall with a series of white splotches, small conical hills of bright green and stiff white houses edged with black trimmings.
 The white lines would become walls the next instant, disclosing orange gardens, and the passenger would drop into a little harbor clut- tered with tramp sailing ships of half-dozen nations. The harbor is busy one, far superior in commercial aspect to the town itself, which has been maintained in all its primitive state by the early Portuguese settlers. The admixture of Moorish, and Elem ish has not served to quicken the pace of the community, nor that of any other in the island groups, for that matter.
 The clouds are most dense in the morning. Toward noon the humidity is a source of discomfort if one is in the city, but not so on the mountain slopes.
 The thermometer has never been known to go below 48 degrees in Jan- uary, the mid-winter month, and it never has risen above 80. The aver age is 72 degrees the year round.
 Weather Is Always Mild.
 Some of the finest homes in the world have been built there by wealthy and often titled continentals, princi- pally Portuguese. In the farming dis tricts (and there are large farms among the various islands) many of the natives wear costumes entirely red-short jackets, vests and knee brooches, with gaiters buttoned over the feet, which are often bare. When at all is worn on the soles it usually consists of leather san- dals.
 These people are of retiring dis position, rarely visiting the communi- ties for fear that some one will laugh at them and their dress. In the towns, however, German, English, Portuguese and American commercial visitors have introduced modern modes of dress and influenced social and busi- ness life.
 The natives do not overwork, | unless in caring for the many tray