Evening star., 1925-10-05

Americans are proud Of Lieut..
Alvord j. Williams recent 1iVe-mileS-
a-minute exploit in a little Navy air.
| plane, even though much of the ac-
clamation is accompanied by express
Sions of regret that with all its amaz-
| ing records the United States con-
| tinues to lag behind other nations in
| practical aviation development.
Laugh at Darius Green now. If
you can" challenges the Albany Eve
ming News. His neighbors did. He
dreamed Of f1ying-a rural 1carus, If
YOU will. But he dreamed big and
the dream came true; yes, and so
| much more than true that Darius
would not have believed this five
miles a minute himself
The Providence journal recalls that
sit is not very many years since
mile a minute was the synonym for
fast travelling. That was on the dull
! earth, where the friction of rails held
back the ambitious speeder. In the
free air there is no such hardship
and he would be a rash prophet who
should set a bound to the aerial
progress of the future"
Though the speed was maintained
| by Lieut.. Williams for only a little
| more than half a mile" the Philadel-
phia Public Ledger observes, the
feat is enkindling to the imagination
leaping forward to the ultimate pos
sibilities. 1t means that the novelist's
vision of rounding the world in 50
| days is reduced to as many hours.
| 1t means Manila or Bombay in little
| more than "A hours. 1t revises the
map and puts London or Paris within
| 10 hours of Philadelphia" An upto-
| date standard of comparison is
adopted by the Watertown Times,
which says: Walter johnson, the
veteran pitcher of the Washington
| Nationals, is credited with having the
greatest speed of any big league
pitcher. BY means of Instruments it
| has been demonstrated that IL fast
bail pitched by him travels at the
| rate of two. and a half miles a minute.
| That explains why opposing batters
| have trouble in hitting him, yet that
speed is only half that made by Lieut.
| Williams"
Lieut.. Williams has achieved what
no other man has ever achieved" the
Peoria Transcript suggests, land he
| did it with an American airplane. The
Navy has every reason to rejoice at
| the record, and he is entitled to all
| the credit going to hero, d scientist
! and an explorer" The Transcript,
however, complains ClaC 'tnlS Nat1On
| lags behind the other civilized nations
| of the world in national defense in
| the air and in commercial aviation" 3"
| and adds: Records are valuable but
| they will not win battles. 1t takes
| planes to do that Quoting the old
! lines, We've got the ships, we've got
| the men, we've got the money, too,
| the South Bend Tribune also expresses
| regret that I'VE have seemed to lack,
somehow, the executive ability which
| makes for perfectly functioning de-
| partments."
"A powerful stimulus to intense
! competition between pilots and air.
| craft engineers which makes for prog
! ress'' is found by the Kalamazoo Ga
Zette in Williams achievement. while
| the New Orleans Tribune feels that
there is little reason to doubt that
| some time they will make such ma
| chimes as trustworthy for distance as
| for speed" The record is gratifying
| to the Morgantown New Dominion,
Especially as the plane is entirely
| Of American make, and.it is good to
realize that American aviation can
lead In quality if not in quantity"
1.-The time is not far off," in the
| opinion of the Pasadena StarNews.
when it will be possible to make a
| sustained flight at this dizZying speed.
Indeed, experts have predicted that