Evening star., 1928-12-23

ignoring OF these limitations by air
commerce. Otto Merkel, director of the
DeutSche Luft Hansa system, sees this
with the vision of an economic states
man. A "barrierless Europe" and con-
SeQuently a peaceful Europe, is his
obsession, and he breaches it constantly
and vividly as missionary for air COM
merce. He and his fellow Luft Hansa
directors are emphatically for peace
and do not see the commercial air.
plane as a military potentiality at ALL
Viewpoint Is Factor.
The expert viewpoint, although GER
tain to be powerful in opposing any
| plans for war and to be reckoned with
as a lever for toppling war gods over,
is not so great peace factor as that
which air commerce is beginning to
contribute through its wide range of
| operation, its ignorance of frontiers and
petty boundaries This Is impressed
| upon every air traveller by his expert
ence. Men may conduct business or
women may shop today in Europe by
| crossing in one day four or five coun-
tries to reach city they would have
regarded as almost inaccessible three
decades ago. This sort of travel is be-
coming commonplace In Europe, where
the everyday acceptance of air travel is
| especially noticeable. The German
| people recognized this situation early
because they approached the airplane
| from an entirely different mental atti-
tude than that Of Americans, who con-
Sidered the airplane as bird of sport,
| outside Of It's war uses, and not as a
vehicle Of commerce. Our pacific de-
velopment of aviation was started over
| night when a boys vision spanned the
| Atlantic and his dream was translated
into an action which the people of the
streets could understand and interpret.
The German people did not need this
| spectacular shift.
Air transportation, in the minds of it's
users, not merely brings cities formerly
regarded as afar close to other cities,
but it congresses the distance of nations
| so that the old barriers appear ridicu-
louS. Europeans are conceiving this,
for every air trip emphasizes it. found
an astonishing impression Of this sort
last Summer when at o'clock left
Berlin in Luft HanSa airplane, saw the
sun rise from the air, crossed Poland,
breakfasted in Danzig and was in time
to deliver an early morning lecture at
the University of Konigsberg in that
famous old city of East Prussia. One
may cross four countries Of Europe in as
| many hours.
Acquires New Conception.
Inevitably the European who has
this experience acquires new and
better conception of his fellow men,
and those who were enemies before
now become fellows and customers.
Such experiences are not isolated, but
are repeated day after day, and this
constant touch with other nationali-
ties destroys political illusions and
tears down barriers. The influence of
the airway in this respect is evident
to any one who will fly over the Euro
pean schedules. When well established
1t is certain to forward peace as no
other influence has ever done, for the
patrons of the airways abroad are not
merely the officials and persons. of
prominence-the effect is directly upon
the people. Men and women Of ordi-
nary stamp mingle with the more
prominent and wealthy on the air.
lines and the effect is the same. 1Diplo-
mats and politicians may frame plans,
but today they cannot put them into
action by command as in the past.
They must impress their peoples
through a knowledge Of the changes
or action proposed; in Europe this is
difficult to accomplish.
Every nation and every land in the
world must feel the new spirit of air
COnQueSL dS tllc WoAAu paSSco 4Aoiii tiAC
exploring stage-as shown in the
flights Of Keith Smith, Alcock, Lind
bergh, Cobham, Byrd, the Norge air.
ship men and others-to the trans
portation stage Of flying. Airways will
bring home to every one the possibili-
ties of air travel, uniting interconti-
mental points as well as international
termini. The net result will be to-
ward a passing of artificial lines and a
leveling of barriers, a breaking Of iso-
lations, and the prejudices and hatreds
of the past will be lessened.
Dawn Breaking in U. S.
Europe is in the early morning Of
the air age, while in America the dawn
is just beginning to break. Perhaps,
with the absence of restrictions and the
greater expanse of country, We will go
forward in America with greater rapid
ity than any other country. When our
expansion In air commerce justif1es we
can reach out to negotiate new in
ternational understanding, adopting an
attitude which will demand new re-
spect from every nation in the world.
This applies to our relations In the
Pacific ocean, and especially to a new
understanding with Japan.
No greater advance toward the peace
of the Pacific could be made than by
union for achieving transoceanic air
commerce by the United States and
| Japan.
A third influence of the airmen for
world peace may be developed in inter-
national establishment of worldwide
air patrol which, like municipal police
systems, will combine traffic regulation
with general protectorate in the air;
Kipling SenSed this some years ago, and
today 1t is in line with our desire for
peace and can supplant in time main
tenance by individual nations Of large
standing armies and navies for the de-
struction of other nations. If the air
forces of the so-called civilized nations
were united in an intercontinental po-
| lice air protectorate instead Of being
kept up exclusively to war with one an
other, the world would have most
effective departure away from the road
! to future warfare.
Groundwork Laid.
Much preliminary work to this end
has been accomplished in the formu-
| lating of international air commerce
| standards since the World War. Air
traffic zones around the world will be
established in the next decade, and en-
| forcement of the regulations therein
must be by some international method.
This can be made comprehensive enough
| to establish a worldwide air police sys-
| tenn and to include method of reduc-
| ing the various national war-making de-
partments so that we may in time ar
| rive at disarmament in fact. AS air
commerce spreads around the world it
should carry with it substitute of a
worldwide nature to supplant the ma
| tionalistic war-making machinery. The
international air patrol can be projected
to do this.
We have already had evidences of
the speed with which the airplane can
bring good feeling in the peaceful mis-
sions of Col. Lindbergh, which gained
more for this country and developed more
good will in Europe and In Mexico than
all other means combined in recent
years. While abroad last Summer