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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0426.PDF
We are not at all certain that the Transatlantic e^ement °f competition inseparable from Flight tne desire to be first to accomplish the flight across the Atlantic has not been a little overdone. Quite naturally, the several com petitors whose entries have been received are anxious to be able to point to the fact that a machine of the particular make in which each is interested has been the first to complete the journey from continent to continent. Undoubtedly the advertising value of such a success would be very great to the firm con structing the machine, but it seems to us there are much wider issues involved then the mere success of any particular make of machine. From the point of view of rapid development of commercial aviation the sooner the flight is accomplished the better, while from the same point of view the greater the number of unsuccessful attempts that are made the worse it will be for the future. The successful crossing must depend upon several matters, not all of which are within the control of the competitors. The one who first succeeds must, as a matter of course, be favoured with some little luck in the matter of weather. Then, there is the question of fool-proof organisation—a very expensive matter if it is carried out adequately and one that is practically beyond the power and resources of any private con cern. The way the matter at large appeals to us is that there are at present some eight absolute entries for the flight, each of whom, with the excep tion of official competitors, is relying upon his own • arrangements to get safely across. According to the law of averages governing such attempts, it is odds that not all will succeed in making the flight, nor is it an ' use disguising the possibility that some one or more competitors may quite well lose their lives in the attempt. If that should come about, it scarcely needs pointing out that it will be about the worst possible kind of advertisement for long distance over-seas flying. The eyes of the whole world will be upon the event and every untoward incident of the kind we have mentioned will make more impression on the public mind than the loss of a battle in Flanders. The thing, therefore, to be done is to ensure that the attempt to cross the Atlantic shall be made as safe as possible. Mere failure to cross does not matter so much if there should be no unnecessary fatality. Now, it will not be denied that the whole future of commercial aviation can be summed up in the terms of safety and regularity and unless the public of the world can be convinced that flying is both safe and reliable they will have none of it until it has been shown by progressive improvement that it has acquired both characteristics. Therefore, it is essential that the Atlantic flight should be regarded more as a demonstration of those general qualities than as an advertising " stunt " for any one make of machine. There is only one way in which the desired end can be achieved and that is by pooling all the resources of organisation of the various countries interested in the flight. At the present,, moment there are entires from America, France, Italy and Britain, while others are either on the verge of coming in or are talking about it. By such co-ordination of organisation as we suggest the flight would be rendered much more certain of accomplishment and far safer to the individual competitors than it can possibly be under the present scheme of detached competition. Of course, it is a huge temptation to the individual to take extra ordinary risks for the sake of the honour—and profit—of being first to cross the Atlantic and we know it is asking a great deal of the entrants when it is put to them that the single interest is of small moment beside the larger issues of what is best all round for the movement. • • • It seems to be fairly certain that the The foolish excess profits tax will, under Proflts^Tax tfte forthcoming Budget proposals, be and drastically reduced, if it is not dis- Alternatives carded altogether, and some other impost levied in its place. We have expressed our opinion of the present tax so often and in such strong terms that we feel there is no need to adduce further arguments against a form of tax which is iniquitous in its conception and thoroughly bad in its incidence. Even the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is by no means the greatest holder of the office since its creation, is of opinion that it is not a tax which can be embodied in our post-war financial policy. There have been all sorts of alternative schemes suggested to take the place of the excess profits tax, from a wholesale levy on capital downwards, but the most dangerous,.because the most specious, is that put forward by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Journal. This takes the form of a suggested gradu ated income tax assessment on profits, commencing at 2s. 6d. in the £ on a profit of 5 per cent, and increas ing to 10s. in the £ on 20 per cent, and above. At first sight this does not seem unfair, nor would it be if all businesses were capitalised on a uniform basis. But, as we know, they are not. At the one end we have concerns which, carrying a load of share capital placed upon them by unsound promotion, make a great deal of money but pay small dividends. At the other, we have the business which with a small actual cash capital depends upon the brains and effort of its proprietorial and directional head for its success and pays what appears on the face of it a huge percentage on its registered capital and vastly more so on its actual cash capital. Keeping to the two extreme cases, it is perfectly obvious that the one would either pay nothing at all—the suggestion is, apparently, that nothing under 5 per cent, should pay this graduated tax at all, or a very nominal levy —while the other would be mulct in half its total profits. Of the two this wouki. be likely to result in even greater injustice than" uie excess profits tax anomaly. There is another side of the matter which appeals to us. All sorts of people are proposing all sorts of methods of raising the money to pay off the war debt, but it is in our mind that the present Government was elected to office on its distinct pledge that Ger many and her Allies were to be made to pay the bill. Before either the amateur advisers of the Chancellor or the Government itself proceed to lay down the future basis of taxation to pay off the huge burden of debt incurred as a result of the war, we should like to hear what has become of those pledges and of how- far they are to be redeemed. Moreover, there are other obvious sources of revenue waiting to be exploited before any Such crippling impost as the excess profits tax or the alternative to which we have
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