The Press Saturday, July 30, 1932. Santos-Dumont.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20612, 30 July 1932, Page 14

The Press Saturday, July 30, 1932. Santos-Dumont.

An Unemployment Enquiry.

The War Bonus Tragedy.

Although Santos-Dumont, the airship inventor and airman, was only 59 years pf age when he died in Brazil this week, yet he died as a veteran and a pioneei, to whom every full history of flying will give prominence, and, indeed, preeminence over many men now noisily celebrated. Alberto Santos-Dumont started with including a considerable fortune invested in Brazilian toffee plantations; but he says in his autobiography, My Airships, that lie began his experiments ignorant, alike of mechanics and ballooning, and during his youth had little to stimulate his imagination but the novels of Jules Verne. At the age of eighteen he went with his family to Paris at a time when ballooning was the rage and stole away to interview a professional balloonist. He was told that a flight would cost 1200 francs anil went home. In 1892 he tried again, only to find what he described as a " close corporation" among the professionals, from Avhom he could get no help. But Avhen he returned to Brazil, he discoA'ered in a bookshop a copy of Andrea: An, Pole Nord en Ballon, a book, he says, which sealed his fate. He went to Paris again, sought out the authors, the balloonists Lachambre and Machuron, and prevailed on them to give him a flight. Thereafter he hardly spent a day aAvay from Lachambre's experimental station; and the experience he gained in long flights and in constructing balloons made him "think deeply." He had sufficient money to turn thoughts into experiment and achievement. His first balloon alarmed the professionals, it was so large and light, but it surprised them by performing exceptionally well. The second avas the first practical " air- " ship." He had been Avaiting for this opportunity, he said, all his life. The Santos-Dumont No. 1 Avas a long sausage-shaped gasbag carrying a motor-cycle engine iir a basket beloAV it, and after some preliminary mishaps Santos-Dumont demonstrated his ability to propel and steer it in the wind. This first sausage soon buckled; but U taught him to build a better second and a third better still, until he felt sufficiently encouraged to build . his own aerodrome at St. Cloud. There he continued to leai'n his lessons and to form and teach some of the first principles of the science of aeronautics. He reached a stage Avhen he Avas able to " taxi" about Paris and its environs at a good fifteen miles an hour, and finally take passengers for safe flights. On October 19th, 1901, he became Avorldfamous for his Avinning of the Deutsch Prize of 100,000 francs for a flight from St; Cloud round the Eiffel Tower and back in half an hour; a feat accomplished in the Santos-Dumont No. 6, Avhieh was 33 metres long, with a volume of 622 cubic metres, and a motor developing 16 hdrse-poAver. Though many predicted that the young' Brazilian would meet the fate of others " Avho had meddled Avith an explosion " motor under a gasbag," the success of the venture convinced even obstinate protesters, and it had the direct effect of stimulating an interest in aviation and a movement Avhieh soon actually left Santos-Dumont himself far behind. He continued his experiments; but the events of the next few years forced him to abandon his Avork with airships and join in with Voison, Farruan, Bleriot, Archdeacon, and others in developing heavier-than-air machines. Even here he left his mark; for in 1906 he Avon a prize fdr the first flight of 100 metres in a motor-driven aeroplane that Avas to leave the ground under its own power. After that he Avas no longei of the few but one of many, to be mentioned at intervals in books of Edwardian reminiscences as the Brazilian millionaire who disdained wheels but went everywhere by " air"taxiand as the man -who, in 1909, in the smallest aeroplane made to date, covered eight kilometres in five minutes —the italics of & pre-War Avriter. The activities of Santos-Dumont are almost ignored Avhere the exploits of the Wright brothers, Farmanf and Bleriot are described in modern books on aviation; vet they Avere epoch-making in their time and far-reaching in effect. For One thing, Santos-Dumont opened the Avay for Zeppelin and the air-raids, for Sir Denmstoim Bimiey and R.lOl, for Ilerr Eckener and his voyages round the Avorld, and for all the airships of the future. Also he accumulated experimentally a mass of practical flying data of great value to aircraft constructors. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, his unflagging enthusiasm and his generous devotion of his time and his money hastened developments which are part of modern and almost miraculous history.

Tho attempt of United States war veterans to coerce Congress has ended, according to the cable news, in a battle between police and veterans, t,he killing of two men, and the calling out of Federal troops. The whole affair, which may easily have gravo. political consequences, is a melancholy example of the dangers of State generosity This year the x-elief of war veterans will cost United States taxpayers the huge sum of £254,400,000, which is 26 per cent, of all Federal expenditure and 10 per cent, more than Great Britain, France,. Germany, Italy, and Canada together are spending for the same purpose. During the War and until July 2nd, 1927, the American service man was entitled to " war risk insurance" at a low rate up to £2OOO against death or total disability. After July 2nd, 1927, ho was entitled to convert hia policy to, any one of a. number of forms handled by the Government. On demobilisation he was given a cash bonus of £l2; and freo medical and dental treatment arc at his disposal for the rest of his life. Pensions are given, not only for war disabilities, but in ceistain cases for disabilities incurred

since the War. In addition, most of the States have given bonuses and taxremissions. The present trouble has arisen over a measure passed by Congress in 1924, providing that bonus certificates should be issued to all veterans entitling them to receive, at the end of twenty years, a bonus equal to over one dollar a day for their terms of service. The face value of the certificates issued is £727,600,000, against which there are loans amounting to £250,000,000. When unemployment became acute the veterans, encouraged by pi-cvious successes, began lobbying at Washington for immediate payment of the bonus, which would have cost the Federal Government at least £450,000,000. Unfortunately, the request was made just at the time when Mr Hoover was bludgeoning a reluctant Congress into Jjulancing the Budget and was coldly received. A proposal by (lie leaders of the veterans that 1 lie money should be provided by issuing new currency was sternly condemned by Mr Hoover but brought to the assistance of the veterans a group ol' powerful industrialists who hold that currency inflation is necessary to enable the United States to regain her markets. The march on Washington, which began towards the end uf May, and was liberally assisted by harassed State Governments, seems to have been a tactical blunder. Taxpayers have for some time been restive under the mounting burden of veterans' relief, and the attempt to intimidate Congress or. a time when the "nation's credit was in danger aroused much resentment. The National Economy Committee, an organisation consisting mainly of veterans, has petitioned Mr Hoover to reduce existing expenditure on veterans' relief, Avhieh has, it says, become "a " vast legalised racket" and " a subsidy for a favoured class."

It is to be hoped that the Ottawa Conference will approve the proposal by Mr Coates, referred to in the cable news yesterday, that an expert committee should be set up to report on the unemployment relief schemes operating in different parts of the Empire. The large scale relief of unemployment, as distinct from destitution, is a comparatively recent extension of State activity and its economics are obscure. There are within the Empire three main systems of relieving distress due to unemployment: the payment of sustenance allowances; the issuing of rations, clothing, and other necessaries; and the provision of work. Owing to lack of statistical and other information, no adequate survey or comparison of these systems has ever been made. Yet it would be a great help to every Government in the Empire to. have some reliable guide to the cost of these systems, their effect on the morale of the unemployed, and their reaction on industry. It is a sign of the confusion of thought which surrounds these issues that while two of the Australian States are raising loans to enable them to substitute relief works for a " dole," Canada's unemployment policy is moving in exactly the opposite direction. In New Zealand the mounting expenditure of the Unemployment Board has, particularly in the last few months, raised the question whether it is desirable, or even possible, for the State to continue to provide work for all ablebodied unemployed, the question is one which the other Dominions can help us to answer.