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Aviation History
1910
1910 - 0054.PDF
THE GAME OF HGRAB,J IN FRANCE. LAST week we briefly referred in this column to the necessity which had arisen for the Aero Club of the United Kingdom to take a very firm stand over in Paris at a meeting of the International Federation, and men tioned that it was only by being able to do so that a couple of suitable dates had been set aside for Great Britain upon which to hold aeronautic meetings of a truly great character during the present year. Since then, however, the moral that we then pointed has been emphasised, while apart from that a far from edifying state of affairs has been shown to be in evidence as regards the conduct of aeronautic affairs in France. There is, in fact, at the moment, an open breach that threatens the proposed July meeting over here, and owing to the existence of a very unfortunate game of " grab" on the part of our neighbours across the Channel, a still firmer attitude may yet have to be adopted by this country in order to hold its own. ; Briefly stating the position in France at the moment -r-and writing, of course, quite unofficially—a very hard and fast line must be drawn between the inten tions and the ambitions of the Aero Club of France, Who alone represent that country on the International Federation, and the Commission Aerienne Mixte, which is, a purely national body, of which the Aero Club of France is but one unit out of several, and the existence of which is primarily due to an unlovely attempt oh the part of the Automobile Club of France to have a finger in controlling the destinies of French aviation. Coupled with this it is pretty clear that the C.A.M. are determined to rule the situation in France, even on International matters, and to override the Aero Club, or to make mischief in the attempt. During the past week, in faot, this precious body has solemnly met and passed resolutions concerning International affairs, which reverse the decision of the F.A.I., and by which the July meeting allotted to Great Britain has been impudently declared cancelled by this interfering body. Perhaps the most ludicrous part of this French affair is that the C.A.M. are evidently fighting a battle for a large number of would-be promoters, whom it is indeed hard to believe are swayed by philanthropic motives only. And yet it will be remembered that this self same C.A.M. was the body which lately passed hard and fast resolutions with regard to future aeronautic meetings rendering it impossible for any individual to gain pecuniary benefit from them, and rendered it in cumbent upon all who were granted permits to make a full return of accounts showing that all moneys received had been used for the advancement of the common cause. But the state of affairs in France just as the moment is well calculated to afford an object-lesson to those of our fellow countrymen who might feel inclined to be led away to support rival representative bodies at home. Apart from this, the fact that has immediately to be faced is that already the Frenchman is apparently beginning to show, as he did in connection with the automobile industry, that he can readily acquire what is vulgarly known as a " swelled head " immediately success attends the endeavours of his talented inventors, and that worse than this, com mercialism in France is quite devoid of any decent feelings concerning "playing the game fairly and squarely." Bearing in mind these proclivities, our readers should be on their guard, since it is bound largely to rest with them as to how far this country can checkmate the unfair tactics that threaten from across the water. We have to remember that even the Automobile Club of France, with its high-falutin claims to aristocratic membership and to freedom from the trammels of trade, has long ago lost all such prestige as it might have earned if it had lived up to its fine pretensions. Again, we cannot forget the utterly unfair way in which the French supported motor car racing just (but only) so long as they were able to win each and every race, for these are but a few of the detailed tricks whereby they deferred British supremacy as regards the British markets in the manufacture of automobiles up until the year that has just gone by, when the absence of an automobile salon in France, and the exceptional success of our own exhibition at Olympia, at length broke the power so cunningly maintained. The point that we have to emphasise now is that on this question of the big meetings of this year the leading spirits in France must be made clearly to understand that they cannot both " have their cake and eat it," in the sense of playing fast and loose with this country when our rights of membership in the International Federation come up for settlement, and at the same time of endeavouring to secure and retain the British public as its best prospective customers for the productions of its manufacturers. If, as is now threatened by the C.A.M., the endeavour is made to prevent French aviators and French machines from taking part in the big British meetings of the year, an equally effective boycott must be established on behalf of this country, and the French industry must be made to smart sufficiently under the ban to induce them to shake off the yoke of their hangers-on and their speculators, who are endeavouring to pull the Inter national strings for their own personal benefit at the moment. Everyone taking an interest in the movement over here can assist very materially, if they will, in checkmating these French tactics, and in securing fair play in International aeronautic politics in future. By strengthening the hands of the British parent bodies—particularly of the Aero Club, which repre sents this country on the International Federation—those bodies in turn will be able to stiffen the back of the Aero Club of France, and enable it to resist the unwelcome attentions of its overbearing partners in the C.A.M., while in any case it is to the benefit of this country that our own institutions should be in the strongest possible position during the coming year to encourage home productions, home development, and home demonstration—thus to prove in the most practical of all practical manners to the Frenchman that he has not got an altogether complacent and sleepy set of rivals to deal with across " La Manche." In conclusion, if further proof were needed at the moment to bring home the type of action that is apparently deemed good enough for " Angleterre" in Paris, it is almost comical to observe the " heads-I-win-tails- you-lose " manner in which quite recently Henry Farman is one day acclaimed British when it happens to suit the French string-pullers to set him aside, and is yet acclaimed to be a Frenchman when there is any means whereby France can derive some advantage from his alleged citizenship. But such seems to be the prevalent French idea of " cricket."
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