Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-17
Something About Sails and AIR
planes and the Undesirabllity
Of Unearned Victory

''By George, she moves !''-or words to
that effect. That man was the Edison
of his time and he was loudly acclaimed,
| you may be sure, in the caves of the
inteIligentsia, who naturally recognized
the importance Of the discovery and
knew that it would have a revolution
ary effect on all human affairs.
II had. II was the first sail. It's
inventor gave to men device that
aftcrward led them to great victories
and great loss, great glory and great
shame, great happiness and great suf-
fcring \ new age began then. Now
1t is dying, and a new age saluted It
when a squad of big -lunged army air.
planes doomed across the sky above the
Resolute and the Shamrock at the be-
ginning Of the great fight to Nome.
There are areas of Alaska that may
be to us what Britain was to the Ro.
mans. There we may have to do some
of the hardest fighting Of our lives.
The army's planes are on tours of ex.
ploration and experiment. To people
who still live in far isolation the army's
air squadron may seem as strange and
as terrible as the first triremes appeared
to the people Of the British isles. And
so 1t goes.
A pewter cup and an idea are the
stakes in the international yacht races.
Factors not always understood have
made the event the Clcnnest and most
splendid of all contests called sporting.
On the north Atlantic coast there are
groups of Americans who, since the
beginning, have had to match their
courage, their wits and their strength
with the forces that prevail over deep
waters. Their strong and hard isted
sons make up the Resolute's crew. The
Shamrock is sailed by descendants of
an island people who had to know and
| hight the sea and make themselves in
many ways equal to it or perish. They
have not perished.
Their sailors, like ours, long ago
found common country, a common
cause and common aims. Life for them
has been long tussle with invisible
forces that seem endlessly bent on their
defeat or their destruction. The winds
and gales, the cold and the roaring
waters that would trample them under
arc the only enemies of humanity rec
ognized by men who live long on sailing
ships. They haven't time to quarrel
with one another. They are too busy
in hard game with mightier elements.
Here, then, in two vessels magnificent
and frail, is the refinement of all their
lore. the ultimate fruit of hard, bitter
experience.
The codes that rule the cup race are
sterner' and cleaner than those com
monty found on land. They are an
inheritance from the sea. Linton was
genuinely grieved by a victory which.
because it was not earned, seemed worse
than defeat. What would life be like
II statesmen could borrow something
from the fine philosophy that seamen
have developed out of their common
hardships in the common world of the
deep?
Infinitely complex are the WAYS of
men hampcred by the concerns which
flourish only on dry land. An endless
capacity for friendship and understand
ing is thcirS-but they are not under
standing or friendly. They have a
love of fair play, but they are not per
mltted to play as fair as they would.
thivalrF they recognize and esteem, but
they rarely can afford to be chivalrouS.
Ihcy do not shrink from unearned vic
tories.
Something intervcnes invisibly to
confuse existence for them. The skill
OF mems hands and the resourcefulness
OF their minds are without limit. 1t
is their collective spirit that shows
Signs of a retarded development Some
day the army planes that are now
winging it to Nome will seem in retro
Snect as primitive as the floating log
OF the man who was first moved TO
hurry. They represent a new beginning
OF an old story. Are they, too, the pio-
n'erS OF catastrophes such as men first
sailed to? Or will their achievements
and adventures be upon a higher plane?
Men of all lands who have to fight II
out together on the seas, unhamperrd
by artificial hatreds and concerns. learn
to know every trick of the winds that
assail them, every malignant tide that
would kill or defeat them, every cloud
that tells Of coming gales likely to drive
them out OF their courses and far from
the ports they seek. Landsmen have
no such wisdom, no such foresight
They are beaten and buffeted and sont
to loss or death by tides and forces
which they do not understand and
against which they are therefore DOW.
erlcss.
Giant impulses, generated in tbo
greed, ignorance or cupidty of Others
drive them like great storms TO mc'
ccssive disasters. They haven't tbo
codes and compasses by which saiIorS
prevail against the less deadly forces
that rule over the sea.
Even while politicians are insistin.
that nations can never reach a STAT
of understanding that will permit them
to live together in peace, the race for
the Americas Cup and the preparations
for the Olympic games prove that men
know Of ways in which to meet and
settle differences Of opinion and trv for
glory without resorting to butcherv
These are days of real sport. And trbat
they prove is that people left to them.
selves and relieved from the pressure Of
the organized insanity which in some
parts of the world has been called i'm
perial government will have no differ.
ences that they cannot settle In a clean
and orderly fashion.
Lipton has spent more money tryino
for the cup than has come to some
rulers we could mention in long and