Evening star., 1923-07-15
Watching the First Travellers in the Air
o he ournaGsi uresofs Sir Philip


Is most astonishing as a re-
minder of the rapid progress OF
mechanical science during the
past twenty-one years that a
journalist like myself, still young
and almost a babe compared with
veterans Of Fleet street still on ac-
tive service, should have seen the
first achievements in aviation. the
first motor cars plying for hire in
the streets, and the first moving pic
| tures-three inventions that have
changed our human destiny and
mentality in an incalculable way,
and the last not least.
1t was, l think, in 1900 that 1 en-
countered the first motor taxi" In
Paris, one of those rattle-bone ma
chimes which, as far as Paris Is con-
cerned, have not improved enor-
| mously since that time. But 1t
seemed nothing short of a miracle
then. and it was not until several
years later that they ousted the dear
old hanson of London, which now
survives only as a historic. relic. :.
X X X X
T REMEMBER being sent by my
paper to describe a night Journey
in motor car as new and exciting
adventure, as II certainly was to me
at that time when l travelled down
to the Lands End. and saw, for the
first time, the white glare of head
lights on passing milestones and be-
wildered cattle, and passed through
little sleeping villages where the
noise of our coming was heard as a
portent by people who jumped out
of bed and stared through the win
dow blinds. In those days man
who owned car was regarded as a
very rich and adventurous fellow. as
we'll as something of a freak, and
he was ridiculed with immense en-
joyment by pedestrians when he was
discovered, frequently. lying in the
mud beneath his machine. which had
hopelessly broken down.
Moving pictures have caused some-
thing like a revolution in social life,
and on balance 1 believe they have
been and are an immense boon to
mankind-and womankind. especially
In small country towns and villages
which, until that invention, had no
form of entertainment beyond an
occasional magic-lantern show or
penny reading"
Looking back upon the almost
miraculous progress of aviation, it
seems to me. and to many others.
that humanity rose very high and
fell very low when it discovered at
last the secret. of flight. For thou
sands of years. perhaps from the
days when primitive man stood in
a lonely world and watched the easy
grace, the swift and joyous liberty
of the birds above his head, there
has been in the soul of man the
dream of that power TO fly. Men
lost their lives in vain attempts as
far back as the myth of Icarus.
whose waxed wings melted in the
sun.
1 had no clear vision of that, in
spite of the wonderful prophecy of
II. G. Wells, when L watched the
first feeble attempts of the early
aviators In England and France.
Those first aviation meetings did not
promise mastery Of the air except
by the eye of faith. For hours. and
sometimes for days, we waited on
the edge of fiat fields while men like
Graham White. Latham. Bieriot,
Hamel. and other pioneers. whose
names alas! 1 have forgotten-there
Is something terrible and tragic in
that quick forgetfulness of heroic
Observation-Disclosures with their ma
chimes. stared at the wind gauge.
would not risk the light breeze that
blew, or rose a little. after running
like lame ducks around the field, and
crashed again like wounded birds.
Death took heavy toll of them.
There was hardly one of those early
meetings in which 1 did not see one
or more fatal accidents.
WAS close to the Hon. Charles
Rolls, a very gallant and splendid
fellow. when he fell. That was at the
meeting in Bournemouth, when the
major challenged MONDAY itself in an
artificial rose, and everybody seemed
bewitched by some spell of midsum-
mer madness,
That was later than the beginning
of flight. The first time / realized
the almost limitless possibilities of
heavier-than-a machines was at
Doncaster, when Col. Cody was
among the competitors. The Dom
caster meeting had been great fail