Evening star., 1935-05-22

So plunged into improving my
cottage with bookSheives, q new noor,
a bath and water heater of my own
design, always secure In the knowledge
that my income was safe. Then down
goes the dollar, the crisis stops all
American book sales. and then down
goes the rate Of interest on my invest
ments, and my income shrinks.
~sfy Life Il Nov Over"
My share of the royalties wouldn't
even meet the builderg hnl.
enough ta.l makea saint swear, for.
had I fcreseen tt, ! would have re-
served more Now. when ] wanted to
be at ease q have Q deep sense that
my iife-in the real sense. my life-is
now over), have to make about f700
more. OF course, with my notoriety
to help me, I can easily make that.
Easier still could ! make 10 times
that; it's stopping short that needs
skillfulness. I blame not circum-
stances, but my own bad calculating
I pride myself on being knowing, and
vet I did not foresee this treasury
induced spell Of cheap money. My
peace must be mixed with effort.
Damn.
A new page, q new subject. I saw
Alexander Korda last month. I had
not taken seriously the rumors that
he meant to make film OF me, but
they were persistent, so at last ]
asked for q meeting, and explained
that was inflexibly opposed to the
whole notion. He was mOst decent
and understanding-it surprised me
in a film director-and has agreed 10
put it OF till I die or welcome it.
Loathe Being Celluloided.
Is it age coming on, or what? But
I loathe the notion Of being celiu-
loided My rare visits to cinemas
always deepen in me a sense of their
superficial falsity-vulgarity, would
have said, only I like the vulgarity
that means the common man, and
the badness of the films seems to
me like edited and below-the-belt
speciousness. Yet the news theaters,
as they call them Qittle cinemas here
and there that present fact photo
graphed. and q current fact only de-
light me. The camera seems wholly
in place as journalism, but when it
tries TO recreate it sets by teeth on
edge.
Korda Is like an oil company which
has drilled often and found two or
three gushers and has prudently in
vested some Of its proceeds in buying
options over more sites. Some he may
develop and others not. Oil Is q
transient business.
Peace Effort Held Important.
The money explained and the films
considered, let us now pass to the
question of the epitaph. I believe that
sketch that they have of me Is Is
years out Of date. If you do supply
an obituary, don't give too much i'm
portance to what did in Arabia dur
ing the war I feel that the Middle
Eastern settlement put through by
Winston Churchill and Young (edi-
tors note: Sir Hubert Young, now
governor of Northern Rhodesia) and
me in 1921 (Which still stands in every
particular-if only other peace treaties
didD should weigh more than the
fighting. And I feel. too, that this
settlement should weigh less than my
life since 1922, for the conquest OF
the last element, the air, seems to me
the only major task of our generation
and I have convinced myself that
progres today Is not made by q single
genius, but by a common effort.
1t is the multitude Of rough trans
port drivers, filling all the roads of
England every night, who make this
mechanical age. And 1t Is the airman
mechanics who are overcoming the
air, not the Mollisons or Orlebars.
Editors note: James and Amy Mol
lison and Wing Comdr. Orlebar, cap
tain Of the last British Schneider Cup
team. Genius raids, but the COM
mon people occupy and possess
Wherefore I stayed in the ranks and
served to the best of my ability, much
influencing my fellow airmen toward
pride in themselves and their inarticu-
late duty. I tried to make them see
with some success.
That for eight years, and now for