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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 1158.PDF
l"5?^Err>J NOVEMBER 8, subject and told his hearers the precise truth about matters. There is not the slightest doubt, as " FLIGHT " has so often insisted, that no system of defence which has hitherto been evolved, either by ourselves or by the enemy, can guard altogether against aerial raids, and we believe that the fact is at last appreciated by the public .which now realises the truth of the statement that London is indeed a part of the battle-front and is content to take the risks which are inseparable from living inside the war zone, As a matter of fact, there is very little criticism to be heard anywhere of the efficiency of our defences, On the contrary, the public in general is perfectly satisfied that everyone concerned is doing his best, and that that best is a very good one. If there is any quarrel it is with the Government. The larger contractors are only too willing to give it out, and the departments are as willing t» encourage production by all and every legitimate means, so that it seems on the face of it to be the height of foolishness for these small concerns to invite a handicap which must almost inevitably prove their undoing in the end—and all for the sake of being able to do business direct because of the higher initial rate of profit expected. We say expected, because for the reasons given the profit actually gained will in most cases prove to be nothing but a paper one which will disappear altogether when interest on borrowed money, plus working costs, has been handed over. cota W fee.1 ha^dapsedi then but the sporadic raids into Germany, but so far as all the information available leads us to believe, these raids have been on quite inconsiderable places. What the people of these islands are waiting to hear of is the bombing of places like Cologne, Coblenz, Dusseldorff, Essen, or any one or two important cities which lie within range of our aircraft. There may be reasons why this has not been done, apart altogether from the tender feeling of the Bishops for the Hun, but they are not apparent to the layman, who is inclined to ask awkward questions. He does not mind being bombed from the air now that he knows it is all in the game of war, but he hates to feel that the game is a one-sided affair. The comment on this aspect of the matter becomes more and more bitter after every raid—which is scarcely surprising. • • • There is one unsatisfactory aspect of the expansion of the aircraft industry Small*Flrms.under present circumstances to which it is as well that attention should be drawn. We refer to the number of small, ambitious firms, desirous of becoming Government contractors, who are financed by moneylenders. We agree entirely with the official view that the practice is one that ought not to be encouraged and that these firms would do well to go to the larger contractors, who would sub-let to them work most suited to their plants. By getting into the hands of moneylenders they are creating for themselves a double handicap. In the first place, the rapacious demands of the Jews have to be met—and the moneylending fraternity is not in the habit of advancing cash at commercial rates of interest. Secondly, the small firm is not inany case in a position to compete in the open market with the large contractors, and is thus compelled to accept contracts at prices which really do not show an adequate margin of profit, even if it were not handicapped by unsound methods of finance. If these small concerns were working on their own capital, they might manage to make ends meet, and even under favourable circumstances to expand, but when the moneylender comes into the calculation the ultimate result is almost a foregone conclusion. There is plenty of work on aeroplanes to be had by small firms with plant capable of dealing with it. of Lords the other day. It has been a matter of more or less common knowledge for years past that honours were bought and sold, like butchers' meat, in market overt, but there have been many who hoped, and even believed, that the canker had not bitten deeply into the social system. That there were isolated, cases in which honours have been conferred in return for financial services rendered to one political Party or another, or to highly placed individuals, everyone be given for a sufficiently large number of cases to convince the public that the majority of cases in which honours are given have something more behind them than the merits or public services of the recipient, must have come as somewhat of a shock to many. It is indeed a sorry business and almost makes one envy the simplicity of the system of America and France, where there are no titles or honours to be bought and sold. Doubtless, we shall be told that in those countries political life is no cleaner than it is here and that offices of profit or honour are bought and sold in the way that peerages and knighthoods are trafficked in here. But at least they avoid the nauseous hypocrisy of our own methods. Besides, there are only a comparatively few offices and honours which can be bought and sold, while here the evil seems to penetrate everywhere. It is almost literally true that anybody—anything—can have honours conferred upon him if only he has money enough and is prepared to pay the price. It is a pure question of commerce—just like buying sheep. If you want a knighthood, the price is so much. For a baronetcy the price is nearly double—as it should be, since it gives the fortunate purchaser precedence over the less favoured orders, and he knows that the eldestsons of his descendants will bear a title which was once deemed honourable. A peerage, naturally, comes rather expensive and it is only the more plutocratic who can aspire, to a coronet, and even some of these seem to jib at the price and content themselves with the humbler baronetcy. There is only one cheering aspect of the whole sordid matter, and that is that it might be worse than it is. We do not believe there has been any trafficking in the three higher degrees of nobility—no one has been able to buy any rank higher than that of viscount. That we have not achieved to dukedoms by purchase "58
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