Lawnmower Boy

The skyrocketing price of helium is due to your friends south of the 49th parallel. The US stopped maintaining a strategic helium reserve, and requiring gas drillers to capture it and sell it to the gov't. So they just let it vent. Supply collapses, while those who need cryogenics watch in horror. So if you equate runaway greed and market manipulation, er, free market economics, to the collapse of civilization, then ... you are very likely right.The thing is that no-one knows how much a helium balloon should cost. We could double the price, and we'd sell them. So, sure, two grand a tank is a lot to pay for helium. But we could make money selling it. The thing is that we choose not to do so. That kind of decision has been made before: no butcher in store, no selling individual eggs or butter or lard to weight. Penny candy, saffron, vanilla beans. . . No bulk items or penny candy, at least at our store. . . One after another, things that every grocery store carried are dropping out of our business model. People have been mistaking this for progress. Retail is moving past those old-fashioned whatnots. I'm beginning to think that it isn't, that someone needs to do something about it.

So there's a sign up in our floral shop that says that we are temporarily out of helium, so we can't fill balloons. The truth is that helium is expensive, and we cannot justify the expense. The floral manager, obviously, makes a profit selling balloons, but when the manager isn't there, which is well over half our operating hours, whoever the half-trained person is who fills the balloon vents half the helium. In short, we are too short-staffed to be bothered selling helium balloons. When people get leprosy or diabetes, the first signs tend to be the periphery. Your toes drop off before your brain, in other words. When society gets leprosy, does it start with helium balloons? The problem with the conceit is that society doesn't get diseases. All we need to do to address this "leprosy" is to repeat what got us to this point, and the problem is that that was WWII. So. Anyone for WWIII?

[TABLE] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Source: Originally from Air Enthusiast no. 124[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] My Dearest Reggie: Thanks for yours of Friday last. With your purchases, that portion of the family bullion sent to America and so dedicated has now been turned fully invested, per Grandfather's instructions, into what strikes me as a prudent mix of real estate, stocks and private loans. The broad stroke of details on the American side are enclosed, as well as of what little use there is of my investments here in Britain, which continue to go slowly for lack of liquidity, much to the frustration of Imperial Chemical Industries, who now intimate to me that unless what they characterise as private family quarrels are resolved soon, they will miss the chance to do work beneath the water level until next summer, and miss the chance to supply the 1940 Atlantic season. This does not strike me as much of an argument. The Atlantic will be bridged next year, with or without 100 octane fuel, and, in any case, it can be purchased from Houdry. We might be a little short if there is a war, but a war powers act will supersede the courts, albeit, unless Herr Hitler moves soon, of the chance of late summer construction this year, hence of plant operations next. But since the talk is that the "Big Push" will be deferred to 1942, I see no reason to be alarmed about a shortage of high octane fuel in the summer of 1940. Meanwhile, in the American case, I should pre-emptively defend our decision to omit key details. In essence, Grandfather has taken my advice on the kind of firms in which we should invest, and made his own stipulation that a good portion of the investment should be close to home. I have explained to him that this means we are now, as a family, committed to a Pacific war. I believe that we should invest in radio and suchlike, and, obviously, there is hardly likely to be an electrical engineering industry springing up on its own amidst the orchards of Santa Clara! We depend upon the United States Navy as a patron, and in the mean time, our investing must be done with a light touch. Two gentlemen building an electronic sound generator in a automobile garage against the hope of moving-picture work are hardly likely to issue a stock prospectus! On the other hand, if their next contracts related to the needs of a fleet of war construction on an equal footing with the last war, one can see at once how the loan on a handshake of a paltry $538 might prove disproportionately profitable, and on the other hand why all concerned might prefer that there be no risk of the sheriffs appearing at the door. Speaking of matters of war brings me naturally to love, especially in connection with plots set in motion by yourself, Easton has been out of town, making a lightning trip to Berlin. He flew back just two days ago, to mix and mingle with other entrants for the King's Cup, and thus missed an exciting episode, as Fat Chow's surveillance bore fruit here in London, only to be dashed, in events simultaneously exhilarating and distressing. I will fill in the details later, but for now will only add that your meddling seems to have guessed affairs of the heart aright. Your son and Fat Chow had to physically restrain Easton from dashing out to confront trouble. Fat Chow, however, can be an old woman to a surprising degree, urging rash heads to wait on "Miss G.C," of all people. [Mildly NSFW] Aeroplane 2 August 1939 Leader/C. G. Grey filling pages: Slavs are actually Tatars, who are actually Chinese, who are horrid. Therefore, we shouldn’t ally with Russia, but rather that nice Hitler chap. Because you have to ally with one or the other, or you don't get to drop bombs on people. Service Aviation: The Skua (241mph at 6500ft), (but see below) Bombay (192 at 6500), Hudson, Long RangeWellesley, DH95 toop carrier, and Lockheed Hudson are “revealed,†which is to say, their service performance statistics are given. . Flight, 3 August 1939 Leader: An accident to the aircraft carrying the Secretary of State for Air to his latest photographic venue exasperates the paper. Flight also thinks that now that we have balloon barrages everywhere, we should have even more, and that by the new standards of the future when we shall have even more balloons, we have not nearly enough of them now! I remember this elastic logic from the last war, which culminated with us having 55 divisions at the front, and not enough miners to cut the winter coal. It is also no wonder all of the new bomber fashions feature high-altitude performance. Five years ago, one could stooge about over London at 5000ft. Now one will run into a bag of canvas filled with hydrogen, and, more importantly, the heavy cable that depends from it. Article: the Bristol Bombay is as superb an aircraft as it can be, considering that it is five years late. Once again, a Belfast manufacturer gets special considerations by holding the Union Flag hostage. Not sending money to Belfast is like kissing the Pope! Foreign Service News: The Potez 63 was at Brussels, as you may have heard. I include the page of photographs because of an interesting conversation with your son. The Morane-Saulnier is in “mass production.†Here is a picture of the new, vastly improved B-17 with its new turbo-supercharger installation. Lunch at the club last week with your son took the usual technical turn. Our regular waiter, was hovering on hand with chart paper the moment that our almost-brand-new Commander (Engineering) drew out his mechanical pencil. I chanced to press your son on recent reports of Mr. Norden's bombsight, which apparently provides this new B-17 the werewithal to hit its targets from its chosen altitude of flight. It was an interesting, if arcane discussion that appeared to digress randomly from the original subject to the same plane's turbosuperchargers, to its presumed "fleet control radio." At last, "Miss G.C." join us from the Land Registry, and with a few essentially feminine questions somehow drew your son into a most-unengineer-like level of abstraction. He cast the discussion, finally, in terms that this old reciprocating mind can understand. In consequence of the Administration's electrification plan, America has gone in for many new thermal power plants. GE has built many of these, and has exploited the new high-temperature, highi-pressure steam conditions to the utmost, clearly (here your son arches an eyebrow) solving recondite metallurgical problems. High energy exhaust calls for "regeneration," as we well know from dealing with triple-expansion. A screw in the exhaust stream is as ancient a solution to this as Watt, and, in a land installation, a straightforward engineering project. So, when it is announced that the B-17 has a turbocharger, we have some indication that General Electric has done a better job of "selling" itself in Washington than the old aero-motor firms. The irony here is that it is precisely the aero-motor firms that are best positioned to install engines in aeroplanes. As we know from naval work, often the greatest problem in visionary schemes to get the most out of the steam is that re-introducing it into the works in changing conditions will cause wild oscillations in temperature, pressure, and piston speed. (As with the Blackburn "Roc," so with HMS Rattler. There is always someone at the Admiralty with a sense of humour.) Now your son produces those increasingly dog-eared numbers of The Engineer from last year and turns to the pages of the "Principles of Automatic Control" that cover the Sperry autopilot. For, he explains, the Norden bombsight is derived from the old Sperry autopilot, which firm, he points out, is now part of the Fisher interest best known for General Motors. That is rather a lot of generals, I noticed, and Miss "G.C." had the 'grace' to laugh. Your son, however, bored on, quickly scribbling some trigonometric equations that apparently demonstrate that unless the Norden concern has made a major advance on the original Sperry patents, the claim of accurate bombing is as fallacious. The data is not "regenerated" properly. All of the rattling of old Rattler's engines is the same phenomena as the wild snaking of Invincible's automatic steering. Both are, your son concluded triumphantly, another aspect of the "problem of control." I am afraid that I, personally, rather lost the thread of the discussion when it reached the equations, although "Miss G. C." actually corrected a cosine for a sine at one point. What bemused me is the revelation that this top-secret American bombsight actually pilots the 'plane in order to achieve its miracles! Has anyone told the Guild of Pilots and Air Navigators of their imminent redundancies? Are they throwing their sabots into the gears and plotting Captain Swing riots? Indicator’s column reports on his flight in a blind flying instruction course for the RAF. With so many pilots being added to the force, the burden of providing enough under-the-hood flying is enormous. Indicator describes how, when he did the new RAF blind, or instrument flying test under a hood in his own Tiger Moth, he ended up "twenty miles or so away from my objective" due to a meterological error (wind speed at 400 feet being 35mph from 90 degrees instead of 17mph from 80), and adds that he also cheated himself by relying on a pocket watch rather than investing in a good stopwatch. It is to be hoped that the Air Ministry will not economise on chronometers. Weather forecasts are another matter, for the Atlantic winter winds come howling in from Greenland, which is more Terra incognito then Darkest Africa --or faraway China. (Which slight irony coming from me leads to the playful suggesting that, somewhere in a London club, there is right now a cousin of a peer sitting with pen in hand and hinting playfully in private correspondence of his familial relationship with a prince of Congo, or chief of the Esquimaux.) F. de Vere Robertson visits 4 Squadron, another Army-Cooperation shop. He notices the proud history of a squadron that crossed the Channel with the BEF in August, 1914, and gives a complete list of its officers, adding "that it is interesting to note the number of these officers who have achieved high rank in the RAF." Apparently the work of the observers trained at the School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum is highly specialised, and many of them are now seconded army officers. The article is lavishly illustrated with pictures of Westland Lysanders in various poses and postures, but, unfortunately, none of them "buzzing" Stonehenge. 4 Squadron is specially attached to the 4th Division of the BEF, which I am sure will be no consolation to those convinced that the Air Staff is only waiting for its moment to seize everything that flies and fling it into a "knockout blow" of Germany. Or of insufficiently docile Asiatics. [TABLE=align: center] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Your son and "Miss G.C" took me up in the establishment's 'ship, which they use to put the Perseus through its paces, and, at least in this case, for picnic lunches. "Miss G.C." took the controls, and demonstrated that this "low-flying" attack manoeuvre is a great deal less sedate when you are crammed into the back than it is when you are photographing it from a chase aeroplane. In retrospect, having seen her ride, I should not have been as surprised as I was.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Article: The British-built Taylorcraft is a fine plane. Aeromarine shows a “46 knot†prototype MTB powered by 4 Lorraine engines. If only the Founder had had four Lorraine engines on his ship, so that he could have gone 46 knots. The Hawaiians would have had to sip his liver from a coco-nut shell! “Aircraft Engineer†covers “Aerodynamic Numbers of Merit†with numbers graphed out for the visual thinkers amongst us. Briefly noted: the service notes from The Aeroplane are reproduced, but also noticed is a new naval Torpedo/Search/Reconnaissance type, the Fairey Albacore. The paper apologises for it being a biplane. Blackburn's annual meeting was this month. The director mentions a new flying boat that he hopes will go into series production soon. The Engineer, 4 August 1939 Leader: The RAF is to have a Technical Branch embracing Armaments, Signals and Engine specialists. Future recruiting will be of B.Sc. and BA.Sc. graduates, and pilot training will not be required. Article: "Refuelling in Flight." In honour of the opening of Imperial's Atlantic season, the paper notices a subject that everyone else has been talking about for months. Obituary: Sad news: "Look Away. . ." Dixie has died. Or as the paper puts it, Vice-Admiral (E) Sir Robert Dixon has died on a business trip to South Wales on 28 July. Dixie graduated at the head of his class at Greenwich in 1891, served at sea 1891--6, lectured at Greenwich 1896--7, was at sea in 1897, the Admiralty in 1898, Engineers Drawing Office, Chatham, 1899--1902, at sea 1902--04, Admiralty 1907--09, Chief Engineer of an HM dockyard from 1909, Engineer Vice-Admiral of the Fleet from 1922, retired 1928. Besides joining Babcock and Willcox in an executive capacity, he was made director on the boards of Broughton Copper, G. D. Peters, H. W. Kearns and Foster Wheeler, and, of course participated actively in the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers and Naval Architects. And he was quick on his feet. Remember his meeting with Grandfather, when he told the story of "the good Centurion," who promised to give the Saviour his "obedience unto death," and thus walks the world 'till judgement day in humble obscurity, spreading the good word, even, Dixie winked, to Canton and Nootka Sound? I shall miss that old scamp. The Economist, 5 August 1939 Leaders “The Parliamentary Watchdog:" Parliament should sit through the holidays. Baldwin used to say that democracy was inefficient, because the electorate was slow to seize on the need for new initiatives. That says more about Baldwin’s excuse mongering than the electorate, the paper thinks. It has been the Commons that has driven the response to the current world crisis, not the Ministry. The PM has angrily rejected the idea that he is just waiting for the House to rise to fly off and appease some more. The PM denies this, but a sitting Parliament would give him some backbone. “France Under Decree:†"We still have unstable government. We still have profound divisions between Frenchmen. We still have shaken finances and a threatened currency. More than ever before we have a standstill economy, unworthy of a country so rich in resoiurces and the holder of a great empire.†So said M. Jules Romain ten months ago to the Anciens Combatants of Toulouse, and he was only saying what millions of French were thinking. Much has been done in the last 10 months to improve things along the lines set in motion by the economic reforms of November 1938, and the latest batch of decrees take the country further. Premier Reynaud has sought to meet the most immediate problems: to raise armaments production, support the franc, and relieve the Treasury of its constant search for funds. Now he looks forward to the question of raising the birth rate, and checking the flight from the land. Most striking is the plan to defer the next election from next year until 1942. On the left, M. Blum is ever less likely to take office as the peace faction within the Socialists take hold. On the Right as on the Left, a year of hammering French foreign policy has born bitter fruit due to the bellicosity of the Axis, and the tainted outcome of their Spanish crusade has caused many bien-pensants to cease to commend themselves on their conduct during the civil war. “Refugees in Britain.†At least 140,000 Jews have left Germany since the Nazis took office. Perhaps a quarter million more are potential refugees. There are perhaps 5 and a half million Jews in Central Europe whose position might become precarious in the future. An optimist sees Britain receiving 250,000 over the next two years, a pessimist, 1.5 million, while the worst case is the resettlement of 7 millions. Those who have already “infiltrated†this country can probably take care of themselves, as they are rich and skilled and own property here. It is the poor and undesireable ones who will need to go to Guiana or New Caledonia or South Georgia or wherever. Notes of the Week Britain and Japan: the substance of the Tientsin agreement aside, the paper has finally noticed that what Japan really wants is the Chinese state silver reserve, held in that town and the banning of the Chinese dollar. Britain, the paper observes, is not giving it to them. Let that only be true. “America and Japan:†the denunciation of the American-Japanese commercial treaty of 1911 had a bad effect on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Roosevelt’s action, coming on the heels of the Russian announcement of ongoing fighting in Nomonhan, damages the Japanese government’s standing at home and its argument that only British intransigence stands in the way of a final settlement of the China question. “Checking the Estimates:†GPO, Agriculture, civil air expenditures all rising suspiciously fast. “Cabinet Directorships:†Lord Runciman has resigned from the boards of LMS and six shipping companies per the PM’s conflict of interest guidelines. It’s not necessary, but it is good optics. Moscow; Danzig; civil defence; Hitler. Honestly, Reggie, you or I could write these brief notes. The next few months will be critical, etc, etc. The French Family Code has been announced. France is to have a family allowance, a scheme in which a species of bounty is paid, I think to the mother, for each tow-headed little dear. Conversely, there will be increased penalties for abortion. The brandishing of clubs and castor oil in the wake of the invocation of the happy peals of childish laughter probably give away the game. The imagination is beggared at the thought of hard-done-by French rentiers footing the bill for "family allowances" and "maternity services" on a sufficient scale to discourage abortions, and so the law makes its majestic appearance, clouting abortionists and reluctant mothers alike. This is all due, of course, to France’s population falling. The paper does not fail to remind us that Britain’s will soon begin to do the same. As so often, I am moved to wonder whether the country would be better off if we simply turned our back and let approximately 7 million pieces of forged paper enter the country. We should have difficulty explaining the sudden accession of population, but a country so fertile with family genealogists should be able to overcome the difficulty. The Dutch government has fallen again after being in office only 3 days. New Zealand’s new budget sees a substantial increase in social service spending, plus defence, to be balanced by excise taxes on beer and petrol. “Unlimited†public works expenditure is over, and Government is transferring men to industry as quickly as possible. A state-owned iron and steel industry is contemplated. Only increased production will support the higher standard of living demanded in the Dominion, the Government admits. Elsewhere, the Tientsin crisis continues. Uncertainty over the fate of Chinese silver hangs over the market, and the Continental demand for gold has led to some mischief on the London market. The question is, I suppose, which gold is spiriting the wealth of the best sort of people west on winged feet, and which is being used to pay for Swedish iron for German shells. Industry and Trade “Record Employment:†Employment in June exclusive of agriculture is estimated to have risen by 95,000 to 12,064,000, the highest ever recorded, beating the previous record set in August 1937 by 350,000, and the number for June of 1938 by 650,000. The fall of unemployment has been almost as marked in the consumer industries as in defence. The number of unemployed remained stable at 1.256 million, so in theory there is still considerable scope for increased production. In reality, we are probably closer to the limit than this suggests, and the Government will soon have to move to restrict consumer goods output to keep armaments increasing. “Engineering Faces Labour Shortage†Even in the North, general engineering unemployment is 8.2%, and in electrtcal engineering only 4.6%. Also, British imports are up, as are railway wages; the French wheat glut is still an issue, oil prices are depressed. Aeroplane 9 August A certain prudishness has led me to be a little oblique about the content of the current Helliwell advertising campaign. It is a female model, nude from the waist up, and while Flight has been content to run it on the back pages, it appears on the front cover of this number of The Aeroplane. It is practically the only thing worth noting about this number, save for the unsurprising revelation that Mr. Grey’s was a welcome guest at the Frankfurt International Meeting and the first news that I ave seen about a variant of the Handley Page Hampden being built at the Belfast Short works with the Napier Dagger engine. The so-called Handley Page Hereford is “Belfast Production.†On the other hand, there is a long article, with an excellent cutaway sketch of the Skua. I gather from this that naval manufacturers are now using something called 'Alclad,' a sort of electrolytically-produced "sandwich" of corrosion-prone aluminium metal with aluminium oxide. Knowing the tricksy ways of saltwater corrosion, I arch an eyebrow, but will defer to the wisdom of the good and the great. Flight 10 August 1939 Leader: The RAF has finally got its Technical Branch. Shades of Selbourne and Fisher. Literally. It is observed that Trenchard thought that the Force could get by without one, thereby avoiding the longstanding tempest-in-a-teapot over the Engineering Branch. But, (utterly unsurprisingly), it could not. Further speaking of piloting and technology and the like, the Leader asks for someone to make the cockpit dashboard easier to use. It has too many dials and needles these days. The Leader also jumps, as far as I can tell, unprompted, to the Air Ministry's defence. In yet another utterly unsurprising turn, the paper thinks that the suggestion that the Air Ministry has canceled a helicopter development contract is a base canard. I include a clip (or, rather, a page fluttering free of one my cleaning ladies' magazines) explaining what a "helicopter" is. Mind the bacon stain. Articles: Yet more details of the Skua [TABLE=align: center] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]The thing that folds is on the thing that folds, which is on the thing that folds. Good luck stressing that![/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] and of the Catalina. The article on the Skua rather made my eyes glaze, but the word "hydraulics" that kept jumping out at me rather reminds me of just how more than simple structural engineering goes into these new ships. The undercarriage is retracted hydraulically, and the flaps that cover the well are closed hydraulically, and the locking nut that keeps the undercarriage retracted is operated hydraulically, and so are the dive brakes and, for that matter, the airscrew's pitch-changing mechanism. It is all quite complicated, and reminds your son forcefully of the Dowty "Live-Line" carburetor. Perhaps you want to hear more about "control"? The attached specification box reduces the speed of the Skua "with normal Service equipment" to 225mph at 6500ft. In this case, "normal service equipment" includes an inflatable life raft! Very ship-shape. because the damn things are turning into ships. [TABLE=align: center] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Add caption[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] This monster, and I repeat myself, is built to touch down in the water at north of 60 knots. The first Ju-90 just flew into Croydon. Of the regular columnists, Indicator does not like it, while A. Viator does. He suggests that it is one of the first “forty seaters†that might actually seat 40. Hore-Belisha had to fly to Paris on Air France because Imperial was booked up. Zeppelin LZ. 130 was spotted off the Scottish coast last Wednesday. The German Air Ministry at first denied its presence, but, the paper notes, there is no reason that LZ.130 should not have been there. Foreign News: A new Italian bomber is announced; Article: the Jameson high-speed two-stroke diesel aeroengine. The mania for liquefied livers shows little sign of abating. The Engineer, 11 August 1939 Leader: the paper notes that the First Lord announced to the Commons on 2 August that the Fleet was adding 107 minesweeping/anti-submarine trawlers to the 1939 programme. Twenty are to be built, and 87 purchased. This presumably takes priority in the announcement because it has been a bad fishing season? Or am I too cynical? In any case, also provided for are over the 56 whale-catcher type coastal escorts, 10 Fleet minesweepers, 6 Boom Defence Vessels, 1 cable layer and 5000t floating drydock. together, these add 11 millions to the Naval Estimates. Still no word on the much-winked at battleship project. The Economist, 12 August 1939 Leaders “Britain’s Underdeveloped Roads.†Nor is it just the roads. Every aspect of automobile travel seems underdeveloped, and not just the roads. Last last week I was inquiring into a traffic stop just outside of Chatham. The Metropolitan police force's vaunted radiocontrol net worked superbly. Fat Chow was just barely able to avoid the blockade. Unfortunately, it snared the vehicle he was following, and it is here that the issue of "underdevelopment" arose. For when "Miss G.C." and I attended at the wardroom, we were told that there were no details of a traffic violations citation from the night before. A constable was summoned to the wardroom, and, under the influence of feminine wiles, eventually revealed that he had been persuaded that the vehicle in question was not racing down the Dover Road (for sport, as opposed to trying to escape implacable dacoits), but rather was responding to a medical emergency. Not a beat was skipped when the emergency in question was revealed to be a young woman in restraints, supposedly lest she bite clear through her own tongue. "Miss J.C.", of course. Heaven knows, of course, how much our whole family benefits from this kind of self-preservationary deference to famous names in Rolls-Royces, but this was a bitter pill to swallow for Cousin Easton, even if I am privately relieved. "Strategy in the Mediterranean:†Italy is dangerous by virtue of its central position, and purely naval intervention will be inadequate. Once we have invaded Sicily and Libya, on the other hand, its strangulation will proceed briskly. “Mobilising Overseas Investments:†how much can we buy in the U.S.? We’re looking to find out by surveying British holdings there and investments elsewhere that might be sold to American interests. I confess to be a little dispirited by how far ahead this is telegraphed. Although I suppose that it would be hard to avoid after the experience of the last war. And I suppose that if family fortunes are discretely shifted into American war production, scoundrelry may be the last refuge of patriotism. At least, this is how I assuage my conscience. “Notes of the Week:†‘August 1914, and August, 1939.†The title says it all. “The Mock War:†‘The war rehearsal has been proceeding during the past week at an increased tempo. The manning of a reserve fleet of 133 ships, the further expansion of the number of Territorial Army units in training, the commencement of RAF exercise on a larger scale than any previously undertaken, have produced, at least for the men taking part, something of the atmosphere of real warfare.†“Japanese Army Tactics:†the army is trying to manoeuvre the government into the Axis again. This is how to understand the provocations against Britain in China. The Prime Minister has indicated that he wants a settlement on general principles and in consultation with other interested powers, and, so far no sign of movement on money/silver. “Imperial Airways in Difficulties.†Imperial is suspending passenger service because it has so damn much mail to carry. The Ebbw Vale development is in difficulties. It has been noted that development occurs in "ribbons" along roadways; "Refugees in Britain;" The Economist apologises for saying last week that Jews are better than Englishmen, even thought that is not what it said. This is somewhere along the lines of ‘We’re sorry if you were offended by the thing that we said that is true.’ “The Liberals and Family Allowances.†The Liberal Party endorses same. Danzig. The German summer manouevres continue, and Hitler’s timetable is obvious, with action expected after the King's Cup. I mean, his set piece speech at Nuremberg on 2 September. In other news, Germany is not mining enough coal due to steadily falling productivity in the mining sector. This happened in the Great War, too, if you will recall. Too much emphasis on production, not enough on development. Expanding the French Air Force This is a continuation of a 10 December 1938 article, by an expert observer of French aircraft production. France has spent as much money on aircraft in the last year as in the previous 19 since the last war. Considerable progress has been made, but considerable progress needs to be made still. The main bottleneck is in engines, not airframes, and especially for engines giving over 1000hp. Orders have been placed abroad, and the Talbot concern has licensed Pratt and Whitney designs, SIGMA the Bristol Hercules. Ford is to build Rolls-Royce types. There is a general acceleration in deliveries, especially of new types. In the gloom of 1939, production was only 53 planes/month. In December it was 73, and in January it had risen to 94. These figures only apply to fighters with a speed of at least 310mph and bombers of 265mph. In April and May, the numbers had risen to 113 and 160 respectively, rather less than official forecasts of 120 and 170, respectively. In June, the rise continued to 175 aircraft delivered, 110 of them chasseurs. These figures are projected to be maintained in July, but in August and September production will hit 200/month, and, after September, a sustained rate of 300 will be achieved. The overall plan is for a program of 4800 a/c and 12,000 engines completing in March 1940, giving a first line strength of 2,617 planes. Payment for this will require 18.5 milliards of francs, of which 11 million will come out of the Budget, and 7.5 from supplementaries. Labour problems have been relieved by the relaxation of the 40 hour week. Roughly 52,000 are working in the aviation industry: 40,000 in public factories; 12,000 in private (Gourdou, 800; Breguet, 3200; Levasseur, 300; Morane, 1400; Caudron, 2700; Amiot, 2400; Kelner, 600.) A notable example of a mass-produced fighter is the Dewoitine D. 520, which needs only 6000 man hours to produce, compared to 30,000 for the M.S. 406 in its initial run, although this is down to 14,000 currently. We are told that the end of the engine impasse is at hand, too. The Societe National de Construction de Moteurs at Argentuil has a 1600hp water-cooled engine in hand. “Cars and Residential Building in the U.S.A.†The point in the business cycle at which this country now finds itself is a matter of some uncertainty. It might be that last autumn’s upturn might have been a flash-in-the-pan, or “soda-water rally.†Or it might be that we have seen a six month “consolidation,†prior to resumed upward motion. The balance of opinion is towards the latter, and Our New York Correspondent looks forward to the fall with something between hope and confidence. The building index is up, showing that construction, which has been a laggard in this economy, is coming back. Remarkably, Our New York Correspondent analyses the case to reveal that this has been the President's fault. For the low financing available through the FHA has encouraged new building, which has held down the price of existing housing stock, which has reduced the capital on hand for investment, which has held back the recovery. I tremble in anticipation as Our New York Correspondent gallops towards the fence. Will he attempt it, or shy away? Surely the next step is to argue that the lack of capital has depressed the building market, so that all of the new building has led to less new building. But, no, at the last he shies away, and canters off into the distance, giving the unmistakeable impression that he believes that he would have cleared the rail had he only tried. On a slightly more sensible note, he adds that new building tends to be automobile oriented. With construction in suburbs, new houses are being located with respect to how many minutes it takes to drive to the commuter rail station. Now here is a novelty for this number of the paper, one which we owe to Our New York Correspondent: a “Letters to the Editor†section. Correspondent H. H. Abbati points out, contra ONYC, that the notion that America is short of investment capital is as fallacious in 1939 as when it was advanced in The Times by Malcolm McDonald in 1930. “There can be no shortage of capital when large quantities of unclaimed wealth exist in the form of abundant supplies of unemployed labour, unemployed capital equipment, and unemployed surplus stocks of goods. It is an undisputed fact that large quantities of such unclaimed wealth exist in the United States, and thus the trouble is not lack of capital, but rather the lack of incentive for the investment of capital in new capital equipment. . . . The symptoms of a shortage of capital due to insufficient voluntary saving are full employment, rising prices and currency depreciation, none of which are present to-day in America.†Correspondent M. F. W. Joseph makes the same point. “It seems to me that your New York correspondent has been unduly impressed by Mr. Keynes’ latest terminology. It is true that on his definitions, savings and investment are necessarily equal. The fact that there has been little or no net investment in the United states during the last ten years may also be expressed by saying that there has been little or no net savings. But to conclude from this that net investment would be encouraged by a reduction of individual consumption, as your correspondent appears to recommend, is to make completely fallacious use of the above definitional identity. Such a suggestion follows indeed the orthodox tradition of classical economic teaching. But then classical economic teaching was based on the assumption of a constant national income and full employment. Under these conditions, an increase in investment could only be achieved by cutting down consumption. In the United States, where, as your correspondent ponts out, the national income fell within three years from $80 milliards to $50 milliards, and unemployment increased by more than 11 millions, the classical assumptions seem rather out of place. . . . Your correspondent is perfectly justified in regarding the stagnation in investment as “the outstanding fact†in the United States economic situation. Any policies –monetary, fiscal, or other—which would stimulate investment would be highly desireable; but there seems little evidence that a curtailment of consumption could be included in this category.†This, it strikes me, is the salient point that relieves my concerns as I move to follow Grandfather's instructions. Whatever the wise and learned suppose or do not suppose about the extended swoon of the American economy, the coming of war will relieve it by substituting the purchasing power of the armed services for that of the consumer. The interesting question will be whether we will see some species of rebound on the consumer side, as has happened in Britain under the stimulus of rearmament. In the latest news, entrants into the combined King's Cup and Wakefield challenge are now down to 26, as Easton, among others, has withdrawn. He allows to the aviation press that he is still fllying in anticipation of competing in the Coupe Deutsche de la Merthe, if it is flown this year, but that seems to me to be a (rather expensive excuse for lingering in London. Speaking of London, the much talked-of documents in the hands of the cousins proves to be a bit of a damp squib. It turns out that Great-Great-Grandfather decide to prepare his eldest son for greater responsibilities not by letting him deputise as JP or something that required substantive work, but as a near sinecure in the Worshipful Corporation of Drovers of Rainham. As such, he signed his hand to some documents pertaining to pasture rights in a coal forest in the Weald. (Now we can understand the Coal Association's involvement. They presumably brought the document to the cousin's attention.) [TABLE=align: center] [TR] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]The Weald, from runningandriding.co.uk[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Naturally, that signature is quite different from the one which he exhibited after his return from his time in Bantam and points east. Almost as though by a different, albeit illegitimately related hand ore familiar with the feel of the inkbrush and the curl of cedar from the chisel. Of course, such evidence would be laughed out of Chancery, so we are once again thrown back on the suggestion that the cousins are willing to expose the dirty laundry of one of the greatest families of England in a doomed court challenge. "But there is more," they say. "We have other documents in the same vein. Wait until you see them!" I am still not seeing the connexion with the contested estate, but the Earl is agitated, and seeks a monetary resolution. The problem is that the negotiations promise to be drawn out, not least because of the difficulty of drawing Commander Acworth into some tangential relationship with the world as it is. You know who else is agitated? ICI. I have told him, and Grandfather, that we should simply push the sale through and see who, and what, turns up in court on the day. The worst that can happen is a summer's delay in the company's plans, and, perhaps, that of the Air Ministry behind them.

Christopher has kind of gotten to the heart of this. "Death throw" powers might be good narrative, but they make for bad roleplaying. Even if players don't find a way to munchkinise them, there's always the "time to roll up another character" thing.

Not only that, but he's refused the climax again. Remember that he has just offered the OOTS his assistance, admitting aloud that it was a means of trying to manipulate Elan into tacitly accepting his authority. Yet the OOTS just forestalled Tarquin's attempt to seize the gate under the pretext of assisting them in saving the world. Meanwhile, I can't help but recall the fate of the last ruler who tried to throw the resources of a powerful state behind the Order's quest to save the world.,,,

So, uhm, I have a plan to colonise Alpha Centauri by 2020. And for a mere $10 billion (I prefer CAD, but am flexible), you can be a member of the first colonising team! If I get the full generation ship complement of 10,000 people. If not, I promise to spend all the money I do get on Alpha-Centauri-colonising activities. For example, the personalised license plate on my Lamborghini will read "Colonise Alpha Centauri now!" Unless that license is taken already. Do you think it's taken already? So, yeah, that could be a problem with that particular example. I know that I could get a t-shirt or a lapel pin with those slogans, but I don't usually wear t-shirts in public, and I find that lapel pins tend to come loose of their clasp and stick me. So let's just say that I'm working on specific examples of how I will promote the colonisation of Alpha Centauri with your money, and leave it at that.

Or he's being carried along as quickly by the momentum of his building climax as his readers are. I know that I am reading and breathing Order of the Stick right now. Rich Burlew's work is rapidly approaching the status of the (popular) post-postmodern novel in his brilliantly amusing examination of what it is to live narratologically. That is, the fundamental insight of post-modernism is the self-conscious construction of fiction. Inasmuch as reality itself is ideologically constructed, fiction becomes impossible to distinguish from reality. I understand post-post-modernism to take all of this on board and attempt to restore a liveable epistemology. I think. Anyway, that's a historian of science's take. For the fiction writer, it begins with characters who know that they're in a story, like practically every character in every post-modern novel ever, and then asks what happens when this is taken as realism. That is, don't we all understand ourselves to be in a story? In the contrasting characters of Tarquin and Elan, we have two ways to take this. Elan constantly asks himself, "What do I need to do to be the hero of my arc?" Tarquin, on the other hand, interprets events from the invincible certainty that he is the primary antagonist. To take this in the direction of psychological realism, he gives us a post-post-modern understanding of what it is to be a narcissistic psychopath. This is a judgement that we come to slowly. At first he seems to be what we'd all like to see in more of in fantasy fiction: the guy who has read the "Evil Overlord" list. We might not need flaming letters 200' high to tell us that he's evil, but the evil seems as much for our benefit as it is psychologically real. Tarquin seems like a character that the OOTS can visit and overthrow in the sequel, worthy of the status that he already assumes he has. Now, though, this mask is decisively swept away.Having marched onto the scene with an entire army and a low-epic caster in support in 910, in 911, he meets his sons and refuses the climax. In the most insulting way possible, he offers Elan the same deal that he's already offered in bad faith: logistical support against Xykon. To Nale, he claims that his grand plan to seize the gate was never meant seriously. Although even in 911 it ought to be clear that it has cost him the life of one of his oldest friends, and a "valuable asset" to boot, Tarquin's reaction is to gloat and openly admit that he will now claim that this was his plan all along. In 912, he shows his pathology in the most blatant way possible. Even a Holocaust-mongering vampire lord seems more forgiveable than a father who announces that he was doing his son a favour by protecting him. (Only not, to be clear.) In 913, Tarquin's self-protecting delusion of narrative primacy shields him from confronting what he has done to Nale for the sin of departing from his script. (Something that I hope most readers have never had to experience from a parent. Not the stabbing part, mind you, the erasure from consciousness.) Coming back to this idea that we are approaching the climax, and that everyone but Tarquin knows it, we cut to Sabine. Sabine has been our in-comic surrogate for a while now, a hapless spectator engaged in a way that Vaarsuvius, wrapped up in his/her private misery and disengaged from Nale's fate, cannot be. Her comments through several strips are an important mechanism foreshadowing the climax and letting us know that it is going to involve some very significant changes to Nale's status. Her reaction, as a canonical being of utter evil, is a striking statement on what the dysfunction that we call "evil" is, and is not. Sabine cares about another living being. Tarquin does, too. But there is a huge difference between the two kinds of "caring." The failure in Tarquin's kind of caring is --well, I don't know. For me to know that, I'd have to know where Rich is taking this, and I don't. I am on the edge of my seat, though.

Is this the thread where I complain about Ben Affleck being Batman? Because that movie is so dead to me! I tremble with nerd rage at the very thought. Now, let's see what else I can get offended at. Anyone? Any ideas at all?

"The Nazis? Oh, yes, I worked for them. They, with their brotherly dream of comradeship for all who shared one strand of the vile dreck that makes up the common man's genome. Fools! They wanted wonder weapons and death machines. I knew better. But, oh, they had money, and I took it, and I spent it. "After the war, it was the Americans who had the money. Americans who would recognise my genius, and I went to work for them. Not the kind of garbage that I threw together to amuse that Austrian small town yokel. Oh, no. The Americans let my genius flower, let all the work that I had been doing on control systems flow into their nascent surveillance apparatus. Their dream was short-sighted and banal: the ability to read their enemy's communications in real time and plain text, instantly machine translated out of Russian into English. "It was hopelessly optimistic for their machines, especially the IBM kludges they gave me to improve. Or, worse, computers made by sewing machine mechanics who fancied themselves engineers. They leaked hydraulic fluid on the output. Oil on cardstock, can you believe it? Yet within it, the dream of the true objective: absolute, total surveillance would mean absolute, total control. At last, the human race, disciplined, ordered, the tool of a superior mind. That was a future worth hours adjusting the rate of fluid return to the reservoir, the smell of burnt circuits in the lab. "At last, though, I had accomplished all that it was worth wasting my mind on. I could leave it to the followers, to the mundane, and strike out on my own. That is the era you know of, the Era of the Destroyer. It was fine, for what it was worth. I accomplished much. More than you know. More than those prattling superheroes who thought that they stymied me can imagine. I should like to tell you about it all, and perhaps one day I will. "To all good things there must be an end, however. I am, as you see me, history's greatest intelligence locked within a decadent, aging, dying body. Yet there is more: this armoured apparatus, embodying the power of my intellect in the form of an instrument of surveillance and control that will extend my earthly life another generation or more. It has come to fruition, and this is no coincidence, in the same moment that my lifetime's work unveils itself in what the American authorities now dare not admit: that their surveillance tool has become my instrument of control. As with my body, so the world. In this latter day, decrepit, teetering towards death. Yet, yoked to the power of my intellect through my tools, it will yet be able to leave a monument to the greatness of the human race behind; a monument to its supreme genius. "Do not think that you can resist. The instrument that controls is 70 years in the making. It knows you better than you know yourself. Nothing you do is not uttered first, in the reflexive, regenerating control loops of my systemics. Surrender yourself, instead, to the Destroyer, and make the last days of the world the greatest, so that all galactic life can look down from the Heavens and see the works of the mighty on this cenotaph world and despair."

It's okay, Hermit. As long as you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear from the Empire of Blood.

I think that's something that you want to stay way away from in any Nazi context. Most any context, really, but Nazis especially. Cf. S. M. Stirling and the whole "Eugenics is wrong. In a sizzling hotly sexily effective way."

[h=3]Postblogging 1939, July, II: "A guy could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff"[/h] My Dearest Reggie: Secrets do sometimes travel fast. Or, sometimes, they take a year or more to emerge. Aeroplane 19 July 1939 Leader: C. G. Grey hints at his imminent retirement. News/Mr. Grey shares his opinions: The Japanese are horrid people. The Chinese have a dictatorship, and they’re horrid, too. As soon as this “artificial war scare†is over in Europe, we should send the RAF over and blow the lot of them up. For being horrid. And insufficiently obsequious. Seriously, Mr. Grey wants to bomb Oriental cities for having the temerity to exist, and contain Orientals. He also dislikes the French. Are we to bomb them, too? The Belgians are a bit of all right, though, as they buy British. It is good to know that we are not to bomb our customers, at least. Except our Chinese customers. Flight 20 July 1939 Front cover: An ad for “Fremo Taper Pins.†In no way do I kid. Remember drawing sheared taper pins out of bolts on old Rattler? I think we both approve of good taper pins. I do, however, scratch my head at a world in which it is worth advertising them on the front cover of Flight. Inside front cover advertising: “Trans-Canada†adds to its Lockheed fleet.†Lockheed Aircraft wants to tell us that since Trans-Canada inaugurated daily Vancouver—Montreal passenger service in April, it has added 20 Lockheed 14s to the high speed service. So that is a thing that we need to know. The Canadian national airline has just bought 20 new airliners. I assume that an ever-increasing number of the partners are bringing their furs down from the high country with them by air. The question is whether they dare to travel with their country wives? Leader: RAF needs vast reserves. This is why no new squadrons have been raised this year, in spite of it acquiring so many aircraft. And personnel? Are they "reserves," too? The Calpurnia disaster report is out. It was not anyone’s fault, save that of the pilot, who, conveniently enough, did not survive. The eternal coroner's inquest obligation to speak ill of the dead being covered, the report moves on to recommend better radios (since Calpurniadid not pick up a weather report from Habbinya), and more accurate means of measuring distance from aircraft to ground, as the boat touched down prematurely and so at too high a speed. The Supplementary Air Estimates gives the RAF another 32,000. The small number occasions entrail-gazing with which I will not detain you. (It involves paying barrage balloon staff.) The Staff College is getting a building; the Consolidated Catalina is here. Flight is of the opinion that its impressive range characteristics could have been achieved in British aircraft had this been required by the Ministry at the time, and, in any case, the Sunderland can match it when taking off in an overload fuel condition, and, anyway, the Lerwick will be ever so much better. And such is Flight. Commercial Aviation The ICAN has released new standards for correcting altimeter readings by temperature. “Computors†(a fancy term for calibrated scales, which “compute†the actual correction, rather in the way that a ruler "computes" a distance) will need to be redesigned. The salience is that newer computors will be more accurate, and will therefore make aerial navigation more precise. People continue to wander around Glasgow talking about where its new airport should be. This is, in my experience, more an indication of deadlock between property developers than an actual thing that concerns people. On the other hand, the issue of who is to be greased being no doubt resolved, the New Zealand Base of the trans-Tasman route is going ahead at full speed. The New Zealanders are no doubt thrilled to receive various horny-handed, heavy-set middle-aged men from Yorkshire who can put a black iron angle into a many-a-turnwheeled machine tool and pull out a new cam rod momentarily. Perhaps they will share their skills, and in good time the Right Sort of New Zealander will be able to send their sons to be aeroplane mechanics instead of sheep shearers, or whatever it is that they do in New Zealand. (Eat people? Or is that just Hawaii? Oh, sure, they will tell you that these things were only done in the old days, but our family has left piracy behind, has it not?) Article: “Aircraft of the Axis Powers;†“the Flamingo in Service.†The DH95 is in airline service on the Guernsey route. Our correspondent was impressed with the way that the engine-constant-speed-airscrew combination delivered a cruising speed of 196mph at less than half engine power. The anticipated upgrade to the De Havilland Hydromatic airscrew will make it even better. “The Biggest Short.†The Short “G†boat (civil Hercules) is enormous. Have I mentioned that? I have mentioned that. Flight proposes to mention it again, at length. Flight suggests that it might be described as an “Empire†boat expanded by 1.15, but the differences are greater than that. It might be supposed that it is for the Atlantic service, but this supposition is ill-founded. It is correct to say that it will be used on the North Atlantic in 1940, but 1939 is right out, for reasons that Flight feels cannot possibly concern you if you do not already know them so well as not to need them explained. The concept is simply that the E boat was quite big and used the old Pegasus. The newer boats are bigger, and use the Perseus. The G boat will be even bigger, because it will use four civil Hercules engines that will, together, give 5,250hp for takeoff and about 20mph more cruising speed. New structural methods will allow takeoff at much greater all up weights than the current 73,500lb limit, at some point in the near future when things are different in some unspecified way. For the sake of all that's holy, can someone just say "100 octane"? I may here be taken to be supplying private insight into the facts of the matter. They might or might not come from a most strenuous discussion with the attorneys of Imperial, who stressed that our foot-dragging is endangering the nation. I pointed out that it was in no way our footdragging that was the issue. But, as you will see, I was wrong, for a sufficiently strenuous definition of "we" that includes all the pages of Debrett's under a certain heading. J. M. Spaight, “Breadth and Depth in Air Strength: The Case for more Fighter Squadrons.†This is the article to which the Leader replied. Article: “Our Growing Air Strength.†The new Rolls-Royce plant at Crewe is operational; “The New V.D.M. Spinner†is a German pointy thing that goes on the end of the airscrew and makes it better. It is being made in England, and has been installed on the Miles Master trainer. A. Viator’s Croydon gossip column reports that six Americans who crossed the Atlantic on the Yankee Clipper are now to travel Europe on a chartered S.M. 79 seeing the aviation industry war-at-hand related sights. He is a great deal more interested in noting that they were wearing Stetsons while wandering around the London airport. He makes a forced joke about the volumetric capacity of "twelve gallon hats" versus Gladstones. Remember watering horses from our hats? It seems so long ago. Perhaps because it was. The last summer, after Dartmouth? In any event, Americans in Stetsons are inherently funny. As, indeed, they are. Though there is nothing funny about aviation-travellers-about-Europe in this summer of 1939 feeling the need to advertise that they are Americans, and business-minded. For we know the kind of business they must feel it time to advertise. Service Aviation Flight takes the extraordinary step of chastising another paper’s optimism about British aviation. The Bristol Blenheim is not capable of 2900 miles range with full military load. Just under 2000 miles is possible, but not in military condition. And that assumes the use of 100 octane fuel for takeoff. Cousin Easton explained to me at lunch how higher-octane fuel produces higher speeds at takeoff with supercharger “boost.†Imperial to us, works in Kent, etc, etc. I confess that in spite of my objections to your behaviour, I am glad at least that they brought Fat Chow back to London. I have not seen him since last year, when he attended on Cousin Easton at the King's Cup as mechanic. Today, he amused me by reading from the pages of “Situations Vacant†at the back of this number of Flight and inquired as to whether this meant that they were desperate enough to hire a Celestial. I countered by suggesting that he advertise as a dacoit under "Situations Wanted," but he countered with the observation that he already had such a situation, and was thinking of moving up in the world. Easton asked what better a way to do that than in an aeroplane? Such banter is worth more than hours of earnest practice in keeping up my Cantonese! In any case, I offered my own solution. I hope you will not be offended if the result passes through your household in a discreetly sealed envelope. For depending on the Generalissimo's prowess as a bandit fighter and Chou's willingness to throw in with the Cominterm in deeds as well as words, my personal touch at Cambridge (eyebrow raised) may or may not pay off. Fat Chow's landless birth will make him an ideal intermediary in case things develop as Grandfather fears that they will. It is to be regretted that I may need to be "reborn" if we actually have occasion to use the negatives enclosed. Perhaps roseate memories of the perfumed orchards of Santa Clara have led me to put this in motion, and I should take care to dwell on those late spring days that hinted at the summers we never saw. Summers in Santa Clara versus a comfortable life in London? A consideration. Though only if it is in motion. The Economist, 22 July 1939 Leaders: “Parliamentary Holidays.†Notwithstanding Danzig-Berlin-Warsaw, nothing, not even the raising of British projected defence spending this year to 750 millions, must interfere with the tradition of going away on 4 August and not coming back until October. It may be possible to get through the legislative agenda by then, but the Opposition’s proposal of provisions to recall the House early is a good one, even though we normally expect an election in the fall. “Tapping Labour Reserves:†the unemployment insurance scheme does not exactly yield the clearest of data, but it is at least discernable that the remaining reserve of unemployed is distributed highly unequally between industries and in regions. As expected, the South has already reached labour stringency, while the North and in particular Northern Ireland has not. This is not just a case of depressed industries, either. Where the main employers are depressed, there are multiplier effects throughout the local economy, and so there are hidden reserves of unemployed labour waiting to be tapped in various regions in all industries, and they should factor into the distribution of armaments contracts. I am a little perplexed. This "multiplier" effect perhaps suggests that more money for, say, the steel mills of the North will promote more employment in the taper pin factories next door. But what if the Air Ministry places its contract with the taper pin factory directly? Will employment in taper-pin-making be more stable? Will the taper-pin factory buy its blanks next door, and cause the "multiplier" in reverse? “Juvenile Needs,†perhaps never again in Britain’s history will there be as many youth as there are right now. Only an appallingly small number are in education, and not nearly enough in technical education. More should be done to see that they do not have to work, and to get them into schools, especially technical schools. This is because our birth rate has fallen below replacement, the paper is so-subtly reminding you. I shall immediately go out and purchase something frilly and pink and small and present it to "Miss G.C.," and perhaps another for "Miss J.C.," if Fat Chow can find her. Then I can involve him in two blackmail schemes in the same month, albeit the last only of the emotional kind. And speaking of "emotional blackmail," one cannot help but notice the way that this enlightened concern for the youth of to-morrow converges with the employers' interest in keeping wages down, of which more anon and before. Notes of the Week “The Nation’s Burden:†the appalling scale of defence borrowing projected this year raises the spectre of inflation. From the projected 350 million of our 25 February column that described it as “borrowing to the hilt,†we have risen to borrowing 500! Inflation, like Achilles sulking in his tent, has so far remained impervious to the pleas of the Achaeans. Or, rather, each increase of the defence borrowing in the last four years has made its plea, and each has been ignored by the hero. Yet surely the latest Supplementary Estate will be as Patroclus facing Hector. As to who will represent holdings in the Sinking Funds, I will leave it to a first class classics scholar to to finish this analogy, which strains with ten other analogies to lift this boulder that one analogy would have lifted in the golden age of heroes. You may detect a note of whimsy, but, after all, I have been reading the paper for long enough to grow weary of listening for the tread of dread Inflation behind me. “Guarantees and Trade:†the 60 million credit for trade for friendly countries has elicited criticism from Germany and Italy, who feel that giving credits to prospective victims of aggression is an infringement of their right to aggress. “Aid for Shipping;†the proposals of 28 March at last formalized. Coal owners rejoice at the Government's willingness to prop up a dying industry. Not that I am going to refuse my monies on principle. “The Index of Business Activity,†does not directly measure Government spending, but captures its indirect effects. Whether or not we are to imagine them as "indirect effects," consumer activity and exports are rising. “The First Thirty Thousand;†the National Militia’s first call up is now arriving in depots and camps around the country. Vice Twenty in a week, I notice. The railways are preparing for war. The roads are not. Italy is upset at Turkey. The Dutch government has fallen. Talks over the Indian Federation are ongoing. “The American Railway Deadlock,†continues. “Increasing Production and Rising Prices in France.†The results of the Statistique Generale de la France do indeed show rising production. The rising prices, apart from some “metallurgical products,†require some elaboration by Our Paris Correspondent. Specifically, the national policy of buying up surplus corn on the market must raise its price in the fall, as it always does. This year, however, the annual rise in the price of necessities will be especially unpleasant, it is confidently predicted. In any event, Our Paris Correspondent is all for efficiency in business and against increased wages for civil servants. A national pension plan is mooted, as are proposed initiatives to raise the birth rate, presumably through persuading Bright Young Things to do their patriotic duty, anything so crass as a rising standard of living being right out of the question so long as rentiers bear their disproportionate burden. “Stocks for War†are rising. The paper says. It is hard to believe a tale so contrary to one's intuition, but there it is. The Engineer, 21 July 1939 The GPO orders a new, armed cable-laying ship(1,2, 3), the crew to be trained by the Admiralty. Aeroplane 26 July 1939 Editorial: Grey announces his retirement, effective the end of August. Flight, 27 July 1939 Leader: Liddell Hart’s s intervention in AA matters is either an idiot expressing an idiotic opinion, or really perceptive defence critic getting it half right. In the paper's tradition, we go with the latter. Articles The MilesMaster is as extraordinary as every British aircraft is. A great many prototypes were shown at the Brussels exhibition prototypes show, but many were quite old, and also mostly German. Included were the Ju. 86 oil-powered airliner/bomber. Heavy oil aeroengines were apparently quite the rage a year or so ago. I am not sure what happened to them, as they would seem to be ideally suited to inlet pressurisation via exhaust turbine, which would seem to defeat the rarefaction problem of high altitude flying. Perhaps it is the vibration problem. No good oil machine goes unpunished! The Ju 87 dive bomber was flown by the remarkable Hanna Reitsch, who did a fine job of illustrating what was described in an earlier article as “good technique near the ground.†It is interesting to see that it is a woman who exhibits how an aircraft can be used to drop into a neighbour's garden, which reminds me of an anecdote that I related to Cousin Easton concerning the 1938 King's Cup season, in a rather more charged session than our recent lunch with Fat Chow. Youth in its full and exhuberant folly aside, Brussels moves on to the Klemm 35 trainer, also useful for "airs above ground." What would be really interesting, I think, is cavalry on aircraft. Perhaps this is what the French are thinking with their parachute pelotons? The Dutch show their . . . idiosyncratic Fokker D.23 Speaking of which, a short article relates that Vultee has a new twin-engined fighter on the drawing board. I gather it resulted from a United States Army Air Corps specification for an "unconventional" fighter. Goodness! As the Brussels entries tend to demonstrate, the last thing these firms need is someone encouraging them. Someone, perhaps it was Mr. Wells, who presumably like the Traveller of his novel, always has a novel turn of phrase, was talking the other day about "thinking outside the box." Someone, who may or may not be named Mr. Camm, suggested that what was needed was more encouragement to stay inside the box and make an effort to actually explore it. An 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney has been sent to the Corps for proofing. “A Modern Aircraft Gun;†The Vickers K Gun exists. This is simply a development of the Vickers-Berthier. What strikes me is the contrast a few years makes. Remember when a few hundred machine guns were enough for the entire BEF, until they were not, and a few hundred more were too much to ask of industry in a few short months? Remember the endless controversies, dragging to an end not five years ago now, over whether the army should have the Bren or the Vickers in place of the Lewis, or the air force the Browning over the tried and true? Long and exahusting debates over the virtues of one gun over another, and the expense of adopting them? Now the Air Ministry decides that it needs a new machine gun for the ever-smaller number of free gun defensive mountings, and, here it is, rolling off the production lines by the hundreds. Gold truly is the great solvent of all blockages in human affairs. “From Eagle to Merlin, a History of Rolls-Royce;†The point of this article would appear to be that, given how much better the Kestrel got during its service years, one can only imagine what will happen with the Merlin. I am sure that Herr Hitler is a regular reader ofFlight, and will take this caution as read. The article highlights the Merlin X, which, with two-speed supercharger, gives 1145hp at 5,250ft and 1025hp at 17,750ft. Remember the Peregrine, shown at Paris? It would “obviously†be a splendid power unit for a twin-engine fighter. Foreign competitors, not hampered by “stringent official regulations,†have announced engines in the 1700hp—2000hp class. Rolls-Royce would, too, if it could. Industry: Rollason is pleased to announce its new engine maintenance shop complex, complete with an electrics shop; Messier Undercarriages is a new enterprise but backed by some of the biggest names in British aviation; Williamson’s “Linatex†is rubber, only better. "Another Blind Approach System:" The United States Navy Department is developing its own blind landing system. (Because naturally the Army and Navy need separate aeronautical research efforts. Does the Marine Corps have a Black Chamber of radio boffins? Has the Coast Guard a Gothic castle, lit by strobing lightning bolts, where wild-haired madmen experiment with the aetheric fluids?) It resembles the loops of armoured cable laid in New York harbour in 1930 to guide ships, although apparently the small voltage differences will "obviously" be too small to guide aircraft a thousand feet in the air, and these cables must be laid out much more carefully in a species of converging track. Does this not come back to the futility of designing ever-more elaborately informative foghorns to tell ships where they are on their charts, when a fraction of the effort will deliver a reliable depth sounder? I am told that the Bell company even has a radio depth sounder under development for aeroplanes. An astonishingly juvenile advertisement, more suited to a French postcard than the "official journal of the Royal Aero Club" ends the number. The Engineer, 28 July, 1939 The paper begins a multi-part "History of Rotary Engines and Pumps," in case you are interested in the many intriguing connections between the old Hele-Becham-Shawe pumps in the old dreadnought armaments, variable pitch screws, the Dowty "Live-Line" carburetor and the firm's new rotary pump for aircraft hydraulics, including the de Havilland Hydromatic c.p. airscrew, and perhaps other, more closely held of His Majesty's secrets. The Economist, 29 July 1939 Leaders: “Drifting Towards Inflation;†for the fifth straight month there has been a rapid and widespread rise in the tempo of business activity in Great Britain. It is a stimulus that comes from industry, not commerce or finance. Indeed, it faces headwinds from these quarters. It is caused by defence expenditure. Now we face the prospects of full employment. The paper has explained that this will cause inflation before. This time it will surely emerge from its tent to slay Trojan pensioners by the hecatomb. You see? I finished my analogy for myself! “The War of Nerves:†a triple entente may be expected imminently, if it is to happen. If not, I imagine that it will not be imminent! The Tientsin crisis has been resolved, for now. And by "resolved," the paper means, "not at all resolved." The controversial “affaire Hudson" is revealed, in which Herr Wohltat met with a Mr. Hudson and sketched a resolution of Germany’s difficulties in which it would receive a one hundred million to one billion pound credit guarantee to resume exports to the pound sterling sphere if it abandoned its belligerent practices. The Economist finds itself in the odd position of agreeing with Dr. Goebbels: the plan completely misreads Germany’s position. The country would not need a line of credit if it disarmed. The paper thinks that peace feelers at this juncture are hopelessly misguided. We need to be firm and unflinching and make it clear that we are ready to fight. “Italy in the Mediterranean." How can a country so manifestly unwilling to invest in/trade with/settle in the Mediterranean littoral demand it as its sphere of influence? Notes of the Week Danzig is a concern. Tientsin is a concern, lest the preliminary settlement devolve into appeasement. A national pension scheme is on the table. So is a treaty with Moscow. Grandfather, of course, says not. Palestine’s future is debated this week. A resolution is, no doubt, at hand. "Empire on the Cheap" is a summary of the report of something called the “Committee of the Economic Advisory Council on nutrition in the Colonial Empire. The Committee points out a serious state of malnutrition in many communities, resulting in economic inefficiency, general ill-health and early mortality. Part of this is down to natives being natives, but a “vigorous –and necessarily costly—campaign of scientific development would do much to remedy the scandal of the Empire’s slum parishes, and would be repaid a hundredfold in economic prosperity and human welfare.†Refugees need new homes. Spain needs a ministry that will not refight the Civil War amongst itself. There is a new government in Holland, with both Catholics and Socialists on the Opposition benches. Three figures who made their names in the East Indies are on the cabinet, and, as in 1914, a "business" direction somehow involves placing orders for capital ships at Willhemshaven, albeit battlecruisers this time. Notwithstanding the currentfashion, a questionable choice of spring styles, it seems to me, although at least it would give Germany's hypertrophied armaments industry something to do if Herr Hitler decides to turn to the path of peace. Jonkheer O. C. A. van Lidthe de Geude will continue as Minister of Waterways, with the likely and tragic duty of implementing Fortress Holland. “Local Reserves of Labour:†unemployment still as high as 20.7% in Northern Ireland, 16.5% in Wales, 14.7% in the North. The total reserve of labour in the three special areas is 423,000, a large number, but 42% have been out of work for a year or more, and only 29% for less than three months, so that the numbers probably mask permanent losses from the labour forces, and it is likely that the reserves will be absorbed more quickly than expected. The Northwest has the largest reserve, the North and Wales the smallest due to ongoing migration of youth. “Obscurities of Civil Aviation:†the BOAC Bill came up for third reading on Wednesday. The paper is not impressed by the appearance of cabal and restraint of trade, though it is pleased that the government is looking into the allocation of flights as between London’s current three airports and the two new ones coming into use. “Europe, America, and the Refugees.†Perhaps 100,000 refugees are expected. Where will they go? America, having but 3 millions of square miles, can clearly not absorb so many. Leading candidates: Northern Rhodesia, San Domingo, the Philippines. New candidates in the running: Dutch Guiana and New Caledonia. Oh, brave new world! I think that if I were young, I should be a refugee, too! Both “Aryan Christians†and “Non-Aryan Christians†can hope for ready absorption into one of the existing nations of European origin in the overseas world (e.g. the British Dominions and the Latin-American republics). For the Jewish refugees who have not adopted any other religion, it is to be hoped that it may be found possible to arrange for the establishment of anew, compact, and homogenous communities overseas which might rank as annexes to the Jewish National Home…So, if I understand the paper correctly, once (Jewish) Palestine becomes a country (dominion, surely) full of Europeans, albeit of the Deutoronomic persuasion, it will naturally require its own allocation of colonies for elbow room. I think that a more accomplished parodist than I could find some material in the apparently faultless weave of this argument. “America’s Lack of Capital†Our New York Correspondent thinks that there’s just too much damn data about the American economy, and is especially concerned with the index of production, which may be obscuring the true state of affairs. The index suggests that the economy is stagnating, whereas Our New York Correspondent believes that it is getting worse. Back in the Twenties, when the national income was on the order of $80 billion, about 20% was put away in the form of savings (capital for investment.) For the last decade or so, since national income sank to $65b, or as low as $50 in 1932, there have been no such savings. In the earliest phases of recovery, it was natural to look to consumer spending to boost the recovery. But we should not look to consumers any further, but rather to investment. The lack of investment, which might have even led to a decline in net capital stock, is due to lack of capital, and is surely linked to “irreducible,†or “permanent†unemployment, as opposed to “cyclic.†Let me see if I can infer what Our New York Correspondent seeks to imply: reduce taxes on wealth, or the unemployed will be unemployed forever. Is that how you read this, Reggie? Well, there you go. Lower taxes will mean higher employment, thus higher rents, and there is no reason not to vote for the Party of Hoover. That thing in 1929? Merely something that happened. German Steel Under the stimulus of armaments, German steel production increased greatly in 1938, reaching 23 million tons, 18% over the 1937 figure and 25% above 1929. This is remarkable, but has not been accompanied by a rise in exports, not so much. The decline has been general, and is caused by the slump, foreign competition, the threat of war in the Far East, and probably the dog that used to eat your lines, in which Sister Maria so adamantly refused to believe. Pig iron and Swedish iron imports have been hurt by British competition in those markets. “Glut of Wheat—“ self-explanatory, really. “New Zealand’s Refunding—“ New Zealand has been refunded. Silver Below Parity Again –The price of silver is falling as the US Treasury is still buying it at a below market price. Or above market. I’m not sure, and, Grandfather's manoeuvre being accomplished, have better things to attend to. There is demand for gold, although the American price premium is not enough to cover the additional war risk insurance for shipping it. Much of the demand for gold is stimulated by war fears, which lead to Continental banks &etc buying it as a hedge. British Industrial Developments Coal output has fallen less than it normally does in the summer. Daily steel production is up slightly, from 45,115 tons to 45,215, and the number of furnaces operating has risen to 356 from 335. Pig iron production is up even more markedly. Unemployment in the engineering sector fell from 6% to 5.4%. A year ago, it stood at 8. (But in September 1937, it was as low as 4.8%.) The industry may face serious labour shortages later in the year. Exports in the sector are down from 40,000 in May (valued at £4.83m) to 34,400 (£4.44m). Activity continued to expand in the electrical industry. Unemployment in the sector fell from 4% to 3.6% in electrical engineering, and from 6.3% to 5.4% in the case of cable, lamp and apparatus manufacture. Exports of electrical apparatus rose slightly, of electrical machinery fell sharply (1.028>1.076; 379,000>202,600). 28,268 new automobiles were licensed, up 15% year over year. Sales of commercial vehicles recovered on the same basis, but eight month production is still down year over year (69,218 built versus 73,519).Chemicals up, pottery, footwear stable, cotton up, hay harvest delayed, corn doing well, although straw is deficient due to spring drought, lambing satisfactory. Shipping still depressed. There is no demand for the July tonnage at the River Plate with little prospect of improvement through the fall. The St. Lawrence attracts some attention, but not as much as the North Pacific. Good show on that, Reggie! Now, on the matter of secrets: Commander Acworth, again, approached me with the suggestion that his coal dock proposal might cause the legal difficulties hanging over our sale to Imperial Chemicals to go away. I, not very patiently, explained that there was no way that ICI was going to adopt coal in lieu of petrol as the feedstock of their mysterious works. Commander Acworth is exhaustingly certain of the rightness of his own judgement, and of the malicious, conspiratorial mendaciousness of all who contradict him. I am afraid that I shouted, but with the most fortunate outcome that Fat Chow took it upon himself to discreetly follow the Commander. I am embarrassed to admit that he thus uncovered what has eluded me. The Commander met with "Mr. J. C. senior," his now-ancient counsel, our bete-noire from 1905, if you will recall, a certain naval officer, and someone whom Fat Chow could not identify. They proceeded to have the most illuminating conversation. The Commander deems himself to be in the driving seat. An unextinguished burden on the title has somehow been discovered, and ICI was prevented from divulging this to us by an application of the Official Secrets Act. "Mr. J.C." is willing for the moment to take Commander Acworth as his Dr. Petrie. As he should, given that the Commander supposes that he has discovered evidence that has evaded the cousins for a century! That said, it sits ill with my impression of the man that he has actually accomplished something substantive, and I imagine that he overestimates its value. On the other hand, there is a fascinating story that made the rounds during the 1938 King's Cup, of a private aviator who noticed two aircraft in an enclosed park somewhere near one of the London airports, and descended to join the aeronautical soiree, as it were, only to be told that it was a private matter. The person who told the story has previously omitted a particularly indiscreet element that I elicited by direct charge this month. The aviators, male and female, were accompanied by an Asiatic attendant. Needless to say, I broached this story with Easton, who, in his defence, tells me that he wrote to youabout it, and received assurances. Honestly, Reggie, has your own exile taught you nothing? Giving youth their head in these matters can only lead to disgrace.

I know, right? I mean, you'd think that the Avengers "Secret Santa" giving him deodorant every year would have been a clue, but no....

This is a tough one. I think that my basic preference is any and all of the expansionary phases of the industry, when people took chances and told goofy stories. The late '50s, when we saw people play with concepts like the Golden Gladiator. There was the early '70s, when Kirby was spinning stories about Omac and Etrigan and had some kind of side thing going on with "New Gods," and Atlas made its doomed bid for big-three status, and Marvel was willing to take chances with characters like the original Deathlok. In the late '80s, you had the rise of the independent, creator-owned characters like American Flagg Now, it's easy to do that badly. Just look at the stereotypical alt weekly comic strip. The difference between Ernie Pook's Comeek and, say, Turok, Son of Stone, is that in the former case a powerfully insightful writer who could be telling an engaging story has instead launched herself up her rear in an extended tour featuring herself as tour guide. That can be an entertaining thing in small doses, but it is pretty draining in the long run. I may sound like a phillistine here, but there's a reason that Lynda Barry's work never really took off, and it's not that everyone is a phillistine. Turok, on the other hand, was in itself a pedestrian creation of a hack writer. And yet the property keeps getting revived as a vehicle for new stories in new mediums. Note that we've had novels of interior development and character for two centuries now. The ones that survive tend to be stories, though. It' s not hard. Put a girl and a boy, or a girl and a girl, or a boy and a boy in it, and it's like you've wheeled your bike to the top of the hill and the finish line is at the bottom. Sure, go ahead and play with your handlebars on the way down. You're going to get to the end. Serial comics, meanwhile, don't have ends. They don't need ends, because they are located within a cycle of repeating themes, telling a series of shorter stories that gain their power from the use of familiar characters. For that to work, you need a powerful, open-ended commitment to explore the world. That's what you get when times are good. When times aren't good, people turn inward. The stories that do get told can be powerful and affecting and escapist and romantic. My issue is with the stories that don't.

Hey, hey! Canada's more awesome than Columbus, Ohio, Austria, Burbank, New Jersey, Uzbekistan and Latvia all rolled together! And I don't see what's stereotypical about a team consisting of an Indian shaman, a hockey-themed hero, a slutty French girl with personality disorder brought on by strict ol'd Sister Maria Elephant at the convent school, and her snooty French brother. (Who, OMG, turns out to be gay!) "James Mackenzie Hudson?" Now there's a Canadian name! All we're missing for out-of-the-box thinking is a Ukrainian CFL linebacker from Saskatchewan.

Hey, space scientists. There's this field called "history," where they do research and stuff, just like you do. Look it up! It's fun! "In the 19th century, the American West was explored for decades by trappers, frontiersmen and occasional minimal expeditions sent by the central government," Thronson wrote in an essay in The Space Review, which was published online Aug. 5. "Only later was the elaborate national infrastructure established to support sustained development of the West," Thronson continued. "In contrast, widely popular 'moon first, then Mars' architectures are a reverse of the historical experience of human exploration on Earth."

The trick with this was always finding a rock-solid villain stereotype to lampoon. And maybe it's the excess of coffee, but suddenly I'm thinking of the whole Sandman/Rhino schtick, the ground-down, dumb-as-rocks brick, always henching and selling out, the proverbial three-time loser. So a humble, completely uncalled for tribute to the master: Stacy: "You sure did a number in the Inconceivable's last mission, Blue Collar, throwing that egghead liberal intellectual, Doctor NPR, around like that. How about a backgrounder?" Blue Collar: "Here's the short-and-sweet of it, Stacy. I wuz cleaning up toxic waste at a construction site, and some of that goop got on me. I still worked my full shift, and then I..." Stacy: "Bulldozer. Practically word for word. You know we have Google, now, right?" Blue Collar: "Ya got me, Stacy. Just not much to tell. Ima man a' few words, Stacy. One of life's losers, a hard-working guy, stretching to feed my family, suddenly given great strength to pound the world for dumpin' on me all those years. Starting with the evil dumpers. Attention must be paid!" Stacy: "You have a grade school education, and you quote Death of a Salesman? Also, you need to drop every 'g,' if you're going to drop some of them." Blue Collar: Mumble. Stacy: "What's that, Blue Collar?" Blue Collar: ". . . .Not quite grade school. Hadda get my high school equivalency at the community college." Stacy: "Not GED?" Blue Collar: Mumble. Stacy: "Speak a little louder for our audience?" Blue Collar: "GED wasn't enough for my programme." Stacy: "Could you elaborate on what that programme was?" Blue Collar: Mumble. Stacy: "We're having some audio problems here." Blue Collar: "What is this? A takedown? You Katie Couric or something? Sarah, that's my girl!" Stacy: "Is that why you have an UAW Local 3018 sticker on your truck? What's Local 3018?" Blue Collar, sounding sheepish: "Tool-and-die makers." Stacy: "So, how much does a "tool and die maker earn, exactly? Nice truck, by the way." Blue Collar: "Thanks! Custom build V8 turbo, little extra bump for pullin' the boat or the fifth wheel. Love the toolbox built into the bed! Wait, I mean... I'm just scraping by! Life's ground me down, me and the wife and the kids. 'Cept the kid I'm putting through Columbia. Every week, it's like, send me money." Stacy: "So, by just scraping by, you mean..." Blue Collar: "Gotta go! Renovating one of th' rental properties. Fighting evil, I mean. Evil fighting!"

On a somewhat more serious note, The New Mutants. Think about it. You've noticed that the X-Men are a license to print money, and you've decided to launch a spinoff. Awesome. Misunderstood teens with emergent powers they can't fully control, taken under the wing of a wise, non-judgemental father figure and tasked with, like, totally saving the people who hate them. The amazing thing is that this property didn't fly the first go round. The second has been, to this point, the biggest thing that Marvel has ever done. Okay, ball's in your court, guys. Give me . . .The New Mutants! Creative 1: "Women. Gotta have women. Powerful women. Empowered women. Hey, I know, more women than men!" Creative 2: "Sure, why not." Creative 1: "Oh, diversity. Gotta have diversity. Blacks, yellows, reds, oranges. There are orange people, right? I don't know, I don't get out of my apartment much." Creative 2: "But not too diverse. People'll get the heebie-jeebies. Also, reds whatever, no more commies. People make fun when Coloussus says 'Bozhe Moi!'" Creative 1: "Oh, sure, yeah. So, like, Jews count as diversity, right?" Creative 2: "This is the sound of my eyes rolling." Creative 1: "Oh. Okay. So, a Black guy, but they have, like rich black guys in Brazil, right? Hits the multinational sweet spot it, does. And they'll have an excuse to find lost cities on the Amazon. Creative 2: "Full of blond Romans! Awesome. So, yeah, I think they have rich black guys down there. Kid can be spoiled rotten, and it's not like anyone's going to check. Wikipedia isn't even going to be invented for twenty years. He's a brick. Every team needs a brick." Creative 1: "And for an American visible minority, we can have an Indian! From a reservation!" Creative 2: "She can give people dream quests! With her brain! It's colorful and ethnic. In a good way." Creative 1: "And for an Asian, we can have a Vietnamese refugee." Creative 2: "We just ran with one in FF." Creative 1: "The mind controller?" Creative 2: Oh, yeah." Creative 1: "We told you to keep the skeevy stuff to your pen-name." Creative 2: "She's a girl." Creative 1: "Oh, that's fine then. and for a white multinational, we can have a Scot. Gotta love them Scots." Creative 2: "Powers?" Creative 1: "Oh, kids like animals. Uhm, brainstorming here. Hey! A copy of Werewolf by Night! Heh. His name is 'Jack Russell.' Get it? Jack Russell? Oh, God, I think I'm gonna die here. Do, yeah, she turns into a wolf and stuff." Creative 2: "Cool beans! And, like, the repressive Presbyterian minister of her small town thinks she's a werewolf, and wants to burn her at the stake." Creative 1: "I don't know. Do Presbyterians buy comics?" Creative 2: "Not in my brain, they don't." Creative 1: "To be fair, in your brain, Scottish villagers burn people at the stake." Creative 2: "Do you have information to the contrary?" Creative 1: "I told you, I don't get out of my apartment much." Creative 2: "And for a good old boy American?" Creative 1: "A good old boy. Coal miner, monster trucks, country music. Comes from Kentucky. Or Tennessee. Whichever one is more picturesque." Creative 2: "Kentucky. It's got that big, talking rooster." Creative 1: "Are you sure you don't have him confused with the restaurants?" Creative 2: "No, no, I do not." Creative 1: "Powers?" Creative 2: "Brick. Time for lunch yet?" Creative 1: "You just made up a brick." Creative 1; "Flying brick." Creative 2: "Sure, lunch. Up to fried chicken?" Creative 1; "Will there be open spaces?" Creative 2; "We'll order in." ..... A first issue later: Editor: "So, just looking through the rogue's gallery here: "We've got: giant robots, super-powerful masterminds and ....A talking dinosaur teamed up with a guy with a super-long tongue. Tell me one thing." Creatives: "Unh-hunh?" Editor: "What the freaking freak does someone who can turn into a wolf affect a giant robot? Bite its pant legs? Or how does a mind-controller fight Magneto? "Hey, I took over Magneto. I've got this. And by 'this,' I mean everything ever?' And have you ever noticed that being able to send crippling dreams is basically the same power, only less useful?" Creatives: "Um, new characters?" Editor: "You're freaking right, new characters. Or new powers. Maybe the dream girl can fire energy arrows or something. But fix this!"

Get out of town. You disagree with me politically, and can therefore never like the music I like.

Favourite superhero: Wolverine. Sue me, I'm Canadian. Favourite superteam: Nextwave Favourite supervillain: Annhilus Favourite supervillain team: Fixer and Mentallo. I'm just a sucker for those Kirby flying discs. Even if they were invented by the Wizard.

Simon is the Admin You are a Super Moderator and the one who started this Thread. I am just a normal User. You don't know for certain if it works for normal users, unless someone tested if it works for normal users. So you're appealing your grade to the dean? I'd explain how to do it, but I'm on double secret probation already.

My Dearest Reggie: I am heartily glad to hear by wire that this letter will find you home and healthy in Vancouver. This gives me an opportunity to share what I have learned this month, which is a great deal. I have learned this month that there are speeds for the old and speeds for the young, speeds for one political economy, and, more specifically, low-altitude speeds for an aeroengine supercharger or a wing flap-slat, and, with another gear or setting, a high-altitude speed as well. I rather poke fun below, and I am told that, had I been paying attention, I would know about the Rolls-Royce "two speed superchargers" by now. Even if the technology originates with Farman in France, the implications of the metallurgy of the new Farman-Rolls-Royce supercharger and of the Youngman Flap, is of a combustion-turbine airliner, perhaps while we are still young enough to fly. As for political economies, one is ever more pressed to ask whether or not this is a direct consequence of just how large a national defence loan the government is willing to take out. (Yes, I did see Maynard socially this month, but, rest assured that he did not lecture us. On the contrary, a copy of The Economist in hand, I drew him out for the enlightenment of my young Cambridge art historian friend.) Speaking of speeds for the old --I shall leave you hanging for a bit about what I mean bythat, and well you deserve it, you scoundrel-- as much as we share those happy boyhood memories of summers by the Arrow Lake, we can also share memories of being summoned away to Grandfather's side in our first war. Another war is very clearly on the horizon. we can hope, and we can work towards the end of seeing it reverse the verdict of the first. It must have been frustrating to be rusticated in its earliest stages. It would be even more frustrating for me if you derail our family's efforts with your signature rashness As you may have been informed, Grandfather called Cousin Easton down from San Francisco to Chi'a Ta-wan to upbrade him for his overly familiar relations with "Miss J.C." The rather obvious point was made that until such time as we can schedule earthquakes to our needs, we must beware that side of our family that will profit if secrets come to light. In his customarily indirect (or, to be literary, "insidious") fashion, Grandfather has scotched the romance by ordering Cousin Easton to Hongkong to take over operations as from the end of manoeuvres in Europe. On another note, upon receipt of happy news that Mr. Grey's editorial tenure is coming to an end, we began talking The Aeroplane again this month. The Economist, 1 July 1939 Leaders: “Defence or Encirclement;†the paper ventures the opinion that Dr. Goebbels is awful. Second Leader, from which I cite at great length for its intrinsic interest: “Laggard Recovery in America,†‘The course of American business activity never did run smooth. Nor has it ever run on orthodox lines. . . No completely satisfying explanation has ever been given, for instance, of the very sudden reversal of recovery in the autumn of 1937, long before it appeared to have reached its maturity. [until recently, the received explanation was of a temporary interruption]. This theory appeared to be confirmed by the resumption of recovery twelve months ago. But since the beginning of 1939, this new recovery –or “re-recovery,†as the Americans call it—has faltered and given ground, long before it had attained the peak levels of 1937, let alone those of 1929. It is true that in the last few weeks there have been signs of a new improvement –a re-re-recovery, as it were— but it is too early to say whether they are prophetic or deceptive. And in any case there is no assurance that 1939’s improvement will go much further than 1938’s. There is prima facie evidence for the belief that each new peak is lower than the last.†One is left, the paper infers, to fall back in despair on the doctrine that it is for Government to repair the deficiency in private investment in capital….[but] the justification for a permanent programme of public works can only be a permanent lack of private capital investment….The tell-tale usage of "despair" tips the hands of Our New York Correspondent as author in part, it seems to me. Arguing with someone, I certainly cannot say whom, Our New York Correspondent very briefly summarises the case for 'permanent lack of private capital investment' according to the ‘mature economy’ theory. “[but] If America is a “mature economy†because the growth of population is slowing down, how much more “mature†is Great Britain, where the growth of population has almost stopped?†That would be a good question, were it not for everything else I shall write about in this letter. Continuing with Our New York Correspondent's chain of thought, it is allowed that it would be much easier to accept the defeatist doctrine of a permanent insufficiency of private investment if any convincing attempt had been made to investigate and remove the barriers to profitability. Business complaints do not encourage this inquiry. Taxes are too high, “anti-business†attitude of the Administration, “lack of confidence.†These, it is to be conceded, are rubbish explanations. That the deficit has not occasioned high interest rates for bonds indicates that there is no crowding out. To the outside observer, an interesting characterisation of Our New York Correspondent, the problem is the cost of investments. Specifically, wages are too high. As a consequence, payrolls are falling, for unemployment trumps increases. “The only remedy that has not been tried is a sustained attempt to lower the costs and encourage the expansion of the capital goods industry whose coma is, by common consent, the root cause of the laggardliness of the recovery.†Less money in the hands of buyers means more machine tools being produced to equip factories to supply buyers with the things they want. Of course. How silly of us not to see this. It rather strikes me, as I have coyly suggested, that the rest of the world, and Europe in particular, has very precisely fastened on an efficient means of encouraging the expansion of the capital goods industry, and it has not been by cutting wages. “Social Services and the Family;†we started to offer family support services, back in 1928. We had no idea what would happen. so far, though, it does not appear to have promoted family breakdown, laziness, means test evasion and such. “Capitalism is not yet in any real danger of losing its efficiency because of its humanitarianism.†Notes of the Week: Negotiations continue in Moscow; trouble continues in Danzig. The German harvest is to be brought in earlier than usual. M. Daladier posits that“We stand at the beginning of a troubled and tormented summer.†The Motor Tax is retained. There is a limit to the Chancellor’s complaisance, and the horsepower-based tax will continue. A sign of backbone against interested lobbying is welcome, but this will surely lead to a generation of small British automobile engines, even though a brand-new Ford V-8 is just the thing for racing from the country house in Kent to the townhouse in Kensington. Talks continue about what the Armaments Profits Tax will look like. British-Japanese Talks; the Japanese have relented on the Tientsin blockade and opened talks in Tokyo. Grandfather suggests that Tokyo is looking for a Munich style negotiated victory to go with one anticipated on the Manchurian battlefield, and that Tokyo is counting at least one victory too many. Yet he also points to the Moscow talks and suggests that when people talk so long, it is because they have nothing to say. The Anglo-French Conference at Singapore. Of course, what Grandfather guesses, so can others. There is no way of avoiding the reality that the enemies of Japan will take serious losses in the Western Pacific in the first months of a war in the Pacific, as it will never occur otherwise than in the context of a war in Europe. The point is to contain their gains and then drive them back later. Singapore, as the Anglo-French citadel, will play a role of capital importance. Other notes cover Civil Defence, The TUC on Workers’ Comp, French-Turkish Treaty, A New Balkan Agreement The World Overseas Indian Railway Finance is in need of “drastic reform.†See below for an engineer's perspective. “Preparedness and Public Opinion in France;†the tax increases and working hour increases have been well-borne. There is “Increased Confidence in Canada," due mostly to the prospect of a good harvest. So bucolic! In general, business seems to be slackening in London, and there are warning signs here and there (New Zealand's debt troubles, Sheffield iron market), but then we move into the Building Society Supplement, which gives a synoptic treatment of “a decade of growth.†The synoptic review suggests “more houses for fewer people,†and asks is we have moved into a new era of housing. That is, there are cheap houses to buy, and cheap houses to let, because more builders are interested in rentals than sales to owners. Aeroplane 5 July 1939 Editorial: Air mission to New Zealand; the paper heralds an expansion of British aviation material exports: last year’s total, 5.4 million, first five months of this year, 2.73 million. The paper describes the new airport at Grangemouth in Scotland. News: official new Spitfire top speed with the new Rotol airscrew is 367mph at 18,400ft. Article, C. G. Grey, “Visit to Italy.†Fascism, Grey believes, is a very good political system, and good for matters aeronautical. More to come on the Guidonia show. P. E. Moreton, “An American View of Us.†This is an interesting authorial credit, as the gist would appear to be a long letter to The Aeroplane, into which Mr. Grey has interpolated responses, and then published the result as an article. Mr. Moreton is a young blood working at the Sperry plant in Long Island, which is to build a licensed model of the Dowty long-line carburettor, "the carburettor that thinks for itself." However, Mr. Moreton by no means confines himself to this subject, but, rather, ranges widely across the field of British aviation. I gather that Mr. Moreton is unimpressed with the Cavalier accident (the Empire Boat forced down off Bermuda by carburetor icing), the Ensign, and the Albatross structural failure. He is also unimpressed with the Dowty carburetor that Sperry is producing under license. Apparently they had to redesign it to make it work. Considering that it works quite well in British and Italian production models, this seems to say more about Sperry than about Dowty. This thought might have provoked Mr. Moreton into writing in the first place, for he seems to be a young and passionate, a combination that leads to rash behaviour, as you, Reggie, might have considered late last month. As I reviewed the number for this letter, I found myself despising Mr. Grey for his use of the letter in this way, but perhaps this is because I so entirely despised him on many other grounds by the end of July. I have purchased a newstand copy and forwarded the drawing of the “The VickersWellington†to your son in Santa Clara. Flight 6 July 1939 Leaders: The Dictators are awful, but, as the Air Minister says, we’re spending two million pounds a week on aircraft, and that must send some kind of message; The DC-4 inspires “strange excitement†in the United States. 42 passengers and four engines? Poor old Heracles was managing that back in 1931! And the Ensigns will be back in service soon, and the Fairey FC-1 should be in service before the projected 1941 date for the DC-4. “So let us enjoy a momentary feeling of equality with, if not of superiority to, our American cousins –while praising all their technical achievements in the world of civil aircraft[;]†The tone is odd. Our new four-engined airliners disappoint. So do theirs, but we will have the Fairey, soon, and then all will be well. Perhaps it is precisely this view forward into the devices of the future that make our current aircraft, which, whatever their faults, mostly work? It is, after all, an excess of ambition over finance that has led to their pallid performance. Ah, well. At least finance will not be lacking in the next generation. The paper welcomes the return of the Woman's Auxiliary Air Force. Article: F. de Vere Robertson , “Fleet Air Arm Visited: Lee-on-the-Solent, H.Q. Naval Air Station.†Rear Admiral R. Bell Davies, RNAS hero of flying exploits at Dunkirk and in Turkey, and his Chief Staff Officer, Captain L. D. Mackintosh, are very busy being name-dropped. The training carrier is Furious. Air Observers, formerly RN men who went to train under the RAF at the School of Naval Cooperation are now being trained by the FAA at Lee-on-Solent. Of course, given that Lee-on-Solent was a short time ago part of the School of Naval Cooperation, this is not quite as staggering a change as might be suggested. The observer course lasts 22 weeks and includes thorough training in dead reckoning navigation, which the RAF and the FAA, unlike apparently anyone else, appears to realise is a difficult but practicable enterprise. Articles: “Geodetics on the Grand Scale:†the Vickers Wellington is impressive; SinceAeroplane visited Grangemouth airport, the paper visits “The New Birmingham Airport†instead. “Here and There:†the first Consolidated Catalina, which the RAF may(?) buy for its long range capacity and to further increase its coastal aviation capability, is in Britain for evaluation; The Do 215 is reported. Trans-Canada Airways has added a service to Moncton; Pan-American is starting regular Atlantic commercial service. (How many times will I report this news? As many times as it is reported!) The three strengthened C-boats to be used in the Imperial Atlantic service are flying with the airline; Imperial and SANA have started new services in Africa. Industry: If you are contemplating building a new factory, perhaps you wish to completely contract the matter to Commercial Structures Ltd of London. That such a business can exist is perhaps the best illustration of the mood of the moment that one can imagine. The Economist, 8 July 1939 Leaders: “Marshalling Man Power:†On Sunday, the King and Queen reviewed a march past of twenty thousand representatives of the two million men and women who have volunteered for service in the nation’s home defences. On Monday, the Ministry of Labour's estimate had a record 12,810,000 million people working in employment and agriculture in Great Britain. And yet still we need more manpower! [TABLE] [TR] [TD]Table 1: The Armed Forces[/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD]Army*[/TD] [TD]Navy[/TD] [TD]Air Force[/TD] [TD]Total[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Regulars[/TD] [TD]204,000[/TD] [TD]133,000[/TD] [TD]118,000[/TD] [TD]455,000[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Reserves and Auxiliaries[/TD] [TD]584,000[/TD] [TD]27,500[/TD] [TD]104,000[/TD] [TD]715,000[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total[/TD] [TD]788,000[/TD] [TD]160,500[/TD] [TD]222,000[/TD] [TD]1,170,000[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] *Excluding, as we like to do, “the army in India and Burma," another 45,000 or so. So the army has by this count 204,000 regulars, 139,000 Regular Reserves, 35,000 Supplementary Reserves, and 410,000 Territorials, soon to be supplemented by 220,000 National Militia, to be called up in batches of 20,000 for six month’s training over the next twelve months. 170,000 Territorials have been recruited in the last two-and-a-half months. Two Years of War in China –Japan’s basic aim is to spread disorder in China and prevent the development of a modern and powerful Chinese state. No further comment is required except that this is not Japan's policy only! Notes of the Week “A Cabinet of Confidence?†The odd thing is that, since March, the Cabinet has reversed course on all of its most cherished policies. Now it must take the further step of including Churchill and Eden, directs the paper, which may have confused itself with the King, as it does. Food and Shipping; fear of German commerce raiders is real. Shipping must be preserved by protection and by a food policy. The Tientsin position continues to unwind.South Tyrol agreement between Germany and Italy. It turns out that Hitler is perfectly willing to sacrifice German living space so as to have his war. Never mind the unpleasantness of "Memel to the Meuse." No-one registered upset last month that Deutschland still stretched " " save Signor Mussolini. Whose opinions of such matters, I propose, are to be taken with some small grain of salt. Or possibly even a small Balkan country's worth of salt Incomplete Plans for Transport: the paper wants more roads now! Germany’s Struggle is a titanic one to maintain the current level of armaments production. With agriculture looking to be down, there is no reason to think that it will succeed. Achievement is balanced by great strain. Speaking of….The Cost of Defence (in Britain) [TABLE] [TR] [TD=colspan: 6]Defence Expenditures, Including Loans Acts[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD]1935—36[/TD] [TD]1936—37[/TD] [TD]1937—38[/TD] [TD]1938—39[/TD] [TD]1939—1940[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]First Quarter[/TD] [TD]27.3[/TD] [TD]37.5[/TD] [TD]46.3[/TD] [TD]65.8[/TD] [TD]123.9[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Second[/TD] [TD]30.3[/TD] [TD]41.2[/TD] [TD]58.3[/TD] [TD]86.4[/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Third[/TD] [TD]37.3[/TD] [TD]48.0[/TD] [TD]68.3[/TD] [TD]102.9[/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Fourth[/TD] [TD]41.8[/TD] [TD]59.4[/TD] [TD]89.3[/TD] [TD]127.5[/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Our present spending rate is nearly double that of a year ago, and yet in spite of the increase in the volume of Treasury Bills, there is probably room to cover the bulk of defence spending in the second quarter. The possibility and present state of the current offering will determine the extent of the next. There is some consolation of the problems of deficit finance from the fact that the Customs revenue has risen in the quarter from £53.718 million to £61.523 million, well above that projected. “Financing the United States Debt:†one of the most common explanations of the 1937 slow down was the abrupt reduction in Federal spending. Our New York correspondent discovers this to be incorrect, and supposes other reasons, deep in the entrails of finance. The New French Imperialism As the Empire develops, France will stand taller and stronger. Because Muslim Algerians will shortly be able to elect members to the National Assembly on equal terms with metropolitan Frenchmen, and I am Marie of Romania. Reichs Finance and the Reichsbank Germany is in trouble. There are signs of inflation. The Business World: “United States Monetary Sabotage:†The Senate has been doing what it does best, which is attempt to destroy the American financial system in order to discredit the President. Remember that the United States went off the gold standard and devalued in 1933. Remember that by the Silver Act, the United States undertook to hold one third of its bullion reserve in silver, and that it set a reserve price well above the going rate to guarantee the rate received by mining interests in the silver states. Remember that by the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the President gained extraordinary powers to fix and vary the weight of the silver as well as gold dollar. Remember that the “Somers Bill,†extending the Administrations’ extraordinary money powers going back to 1933, had a severe reception in the Senate. This sets the background for the recent attempt by Republicans and conservative Democrats to strip the President of his “dictactorial†powers over the money. Silver state senators meanwhile wanted an even higher domestic price for silver, inasmuch as destabilising Far Eastern finance is seen as key to good relations with China. Through Senate inaction, for five days, the President lacked statutory power over the price of the gold dollar. Therefore, the world’s finances collapsed. Or did not, as various arguments were presented to extend the President's powers, and the world waited in weary resignation until good sense triumphed in the Senate, not unassisted by more pragmatic persuasions. Meanwhile, there were assorted operations on the silver market by the Treasury, and others capable of reading the Senate calendar and embarrassed by excesses of silver extracted from the more dangerous places of the world. Speaking of which, I am told to reinforce the message that the funds now made available to you are to be spent only on the lands Grandfather identifies. We do not wish to be burdened with further ghost towns, however picturesque their setting, however much orcharding or zinc may or may not be the coming thing. Home Rail Earnings Revenues are up nicely, up £5 million over last year and almost at the 1937 level. There is a black market in New Zealand pounds due to the capital controls adopted in that country. Chinese Loan problems were received philosophically on the market. Aeroplane, 12 July 1939 Editorial: the RAF Paris flypast is in the news, leading Grey to comment that “A little imagination can visualize the participation a hundred years hence of Russian, or even German aircraft in a London fly-over to celebrate the sacking of Buckingham Palace –or maybe it might only be Wandsworth or Pentonville Gaol after all. But we assassinated our King Charles I and have raised monuments to his assassin, Oliver Cromwell. So our hands are none too clean, and we may as well be realists.†I believe that this is what is technically referred to as "sedition." Articles: Brussels Air Show, “A Visit to Italy –II.†To explain. There have been two recent notable events on the aviation show circuit. One is the Brussels Air Show, of which more anon. The other, which superficially might seem less important, was the Italian air force exhibit at Guidonia. Do not be fooled, however, for Grey was a member of the very small and exclusive comitatus that attended upon Il Duce in a flight on board his private Savoia. Perhaps even our editorial writer suspects that this might not be the most compelling argument for the relevance of this year's Guidonia show, because he follows with: C. G. Grey, “From Fairey Giant to Jumping Giro.†While this is but an impressionistic review of “places I went,†he drops what I informed by your son is a very substantial piece of news.A Youngman Flap is currently flying on a Battle. The Battle is, of course, a Fairey plane, and Fairey builds mainly for the Navy. The Youngman flap's advantages in increasing aircraft speed range has obvious implications for both carrier aviation and the forthcomingFC-1. Flight 13 July 1939 Editorial: The major display by the British industry at the Brussels Exhibition is “tangible propaganda." It has been a banner year for British commercial aviation. The extension through to Australia of all-up air mail was just under way this time last year. Now we have firm plans to extend it to New Zealand and Vancouver! Notwithstanding the paper's notorious proclivity for putting the best face forward, this is a strong point. Exhibit Coverage: The Brussels Show: The “speed†Spitfire is shown, and the Vickers Wellington I. Belgium shows the Renard R-37. That is, an R-36 with a Gnome-Rhone 14N housed in a “daring†long-chord cowlings. The airframe has been tested with a Merlin and a Hispano-Suiza, but the cowling suggests that there might be a future for the fighter radial outside the Far East. The Hurricane is shown, with its current, fluctuating legend speed performance of 320mph; France shows the Bloch 151 C.1, and Fairey the P.4/34. Just to remind you, this aircraft previously appeared as a light bomber and dive bomber, and then as a Danish naval cooperation export. Now it reappears in its Fall styles as a two-seat fighter, complete with one of the new Merlin M2Ms. I gather that I missed a chance to learn about these when I completely ignored the last Paris Air Salon, or whatever they are calling it now. In any event, it has a two-speed blower, giving two distinct peaks of performance in the air. It also sports a Rotol airscrew. Do the Danes really warrant what is apparently the last word in British military aeroengines? Are we seeing the fleet's replacement of the Hawker Osprey? Is Grandfather a wily Oriental gentleman? Add still more questions, as, with the addition of the two-speed supercharger to the variable pitch airscrew on the now-standard geared shaft, and I am quite completely out of my depth in explaining this engine. "Well, you see, gearing the shaft is like the gears on your automobile. Now I shall explain variable speed airscrews; they are like the gears in the transmission of your automobile. As for the gears in the supercharger, or, as the cognoscenti call it, the 'blower,' these are like the gears in the transmission of your automobile. I hope everything is now clear." The French, meanwhile, exhibit a 3-speed supercharger to keep the engines of a twin bomber at full power at above 30,000 feet! Continuing with the new Rolls-Royce, it has also the most efficient ducted radiator set-ups ever attached to a Rolls Royce engine. The French show the Hanriot N.C.600 two-seat fighter. A Ju87 is exhibited, as is the Do17. This is a disappointing turn from the mighty Lutwaffe! Britain cannot be too smug, given that a Blenheim is shown, and a Bombay only in model form. On the other hand, a model Beaufort model is also shown. The inference is that if the Do-215 is not available even in model form, it is not much of an improvement on the '17. Articles: “Improving the Tail Wheel.†British Landing Gears, Ltd is improving tail wheels, which need improvement; “Preparing the FC1;†the Fairey FC-1 hasn’t even flown yet, but is already better than anything else, ever. Pardon me, Reggie. I am just practicing for my future career turning company news releases into "articles" for Flight. Facetioiusness aside, we dilate at great length on the extremely elaborate engineering arrangements for the extremely elaborate engine, and poor Flight ​obeys what I suppose is the Air Ministry dictum to say nothing of the Youngman flap, leaving the "scoop," as you North Americans would say, to its rival. The Engineer, 14 July 1939 An unsigned article, speaking with the voice of the paper, explores the "Pacific" locomotive issue. Rather than being the kind of engine that used to pull us from San Francisco to Castlegar every June, this was the large 4-6-2 locomotive that was standardised in India some years ago because its large firebox could burn inferior grades of coal and gain economy. But the larger and heavier locomotive was implicated in a disastrous 1937 crash and more generally in higher permanent way costs. An inquiry into the issue has underlined the evident very great diversity of permanent way design in India that has given rise to trouble in some systems but not on others; diversity greater than in Europe or North America. The paper suggests that this is what should have been standardised before the locomotive! Further on the subject of railroading, an article on 20 350hp oil-electric shunting locomotives built at Derby. Your nephew points out their similarity to the ones built in the United States under Navy Department subsidy as potential submarine power plants and speculates aloud on the possibility of a like class in the Royal Navy before adding that mechanical drive remains more reliable. He then sketches a diagramme of jagged and looping lines to show how one might go about preventing damage to condensors. And on the subject of submarines, the paper praises the Americans for saving more of the crew of Squalus than the Navy raised from Thetis, but points out that the salvage of the latter is going more smoothly, and that the difference at each stage has more to do with weather than national capacity. The Economist, 15 July 1939 Leaders: The State of Preparedness, only twelve months ago, it was the very fashion to declare Britain ready for defence or attack. Then came Munich, and now our potential allies want more than reassurances. Well, “something like a revolution†has come to pass here. Look at the Supplementary Estimates! Look at our loan guarantees! The British paychest is open, waiting only a new Frederick the Great, perhaps in Bolshevik guise. The paper believes that remains one desiderata: a National Government. Defending Neutrality The Dutch and Belgians need more guns, especially the Dutch, and vice butter. That said, a guarantee from Russia to a country where the government is a confessional coalition must raise a shudder, almost as much so as the first, tentative suggestions that the Hague is preparing to actually open the sluices to inundate the fortified approaches to the province of Holland. This would be an unspeakably expensive necessity of war. One wonders if the Dutch will to resist will survive it. Profits and the Boom Through June, profit returns have been a measure of the depth of the 1939 recession rather than of the extent of the boom, but profits there have been. However, there is a noticeable fall in profits so far reported by “second quarter companies.â€This is because they have been dominated by oil, rubber and shipping companies, exposed to bad world conditions. Home industrial profits are comparatively more healthy. And we expect a “multiplier effect†as money initially spent by heavy industry moves through the lighter industries that supply them. In spite of calls for a healthy corporate reserve, CEOs are loosing the purse strings. We should expect for various reasons gains in the consumer industries in the summer. Progress in Sweden The country is rising out of Nordic poverty, and its policy of balancing the budget only over long periods, underbalancing it in years of depression and overbalancing during good years, is attracting worldwide attention. The problem of heavy taxation to pay for social services, which cuts into private savings, has not been addressed, however. (I asked Maynard's clarification of the Leader on the 'American re-re-recovery" which I quoted above, not this article, but his response has given me to think about this story as well.) Notes of the Week Danzig, credits for Romania and Greece; The Cost of Defence, the Supplementary Estimates allow for £148,250,000 for Army, Air Force, Civil Defence and Ministry of Supply. A separate Supplementary Estimate for the Navy is known to be forthcoming, even by people who do not know an engineer who was tasked to add an economiser to the machinery of a four-turret King George V. The Army is to get 79,106,000 the RAF to get 39,5, of which 14,1 is for aircraft and about 15 for buildings and land; Supply to get 29,644, as I read it mostly for ROFs. Civil Defence gets another 11,930, bringing it up to 15 million over an originally anticipated 5, with the earlier supplementary of 3.35 to cover ships and agricultural machinery allowed. Almost 7.9 is going to agriculture. Overseas Airways the bill passes the house, not without controversy. It is noteworthy that we are to spend 3.5 millions on new commercial aircraft. The newspaper hopes that it is spent on the right aircraft in a timely way. If I am to understand Flight correctly on the subject of the FC-1, it will be. Civil Defence; Helping Poland; Russia and Poland; The Anglo-Russian Serial (the paper is getting as tired of this as everyone else); Tientisn, Tokyo and Outer Mongolia(two Japanese armies are doing their best to involve Japan in a simultaneous war with two great powers as a way to celebrate the second anniversary of Japan’s war in China);American Neutrality; Stocks for War; Supply Powers (Ministry of Supply regulations);Germany and the Balkans; France and Syria; Re-armament in Australia; Nutrition and Milk… The World Overseas “The Shape of Things to Come in American Finance:†Our New York Correspondent is impressed with the New York Fair, but the World of Tomorrow has no prognostications on the future of American finance. Our New York Correspondent does manage to allow that deficits and nationalization of capital are in some way in the air. “Gains and Forebodings in France;†The good news is that the current accounts are balanced and so is the budget. We certainly would not wish to see France go down the slippery path of borrowing money against some such unforeseeable future emergency as the emergence of a hostile power on its northeastern frontiert! However, Our Paris Correspondent cannot forebear to note how rising expenses are reducing the nation’s purchasing power in spite of increasing hours worked. This is why wages had to be raised earlier in the year. The vicious cycle of rising prices and rising wages is not actually apparent, as it was in the days of the Popular Front, but Our Paris Correspondent detects it, nevertheless. Perhaps someone carelessly left it on the back of the chaise, and it has slipped behind? Never mind. One is sure that it will turn up in the fall, and then the tone of French politics may change for the worse. Our Paris Correspondent then carelessly notes the contrast between the activity of the military sector and the stagnation of consumer industries. It is not impossible to venture an explanation for this which does not involve the spectre of hidden inflation. “Earnings and Social Income in the United States:†thanks to the Social Security Act, America is obtaining for the first time in its history a detailed and scientific information about the material life of its people. The average insured industrial wage has been revealed to be £205 for men, £105 for women. This leaves out agricultural and domestic wages, not covered, and wages of over £600, not covered by employer. Yet it is striking just how low the average wage covered is. As many as a quarter received less than £60/year, one third between 60 and 200, and a fifth between 300 and 600. “It is a permissible surmise that, if a comparison could be made, British workpeople as a whole would be found to be no worse off than their opposite numbers in the States, and perhaps better off in the lowest wage group.†I find that my underscoring has ruined the page beneath, as perforce the family commits ever more heavily to North American real estate in these troubled times. Men cannot pay in rent what they do not have. The Business World “Refrigeration:†this industry is rapidly expanding, and the full use of it has scarcely been explored. The ingenuity of engineers has created a cold corridor extending from places as remote as New Zealand and California to Britain; the next step must be its extension into the home. Aggregate net profits continue to show a disappointing trend, and, intriguingly, both the refrigeration companies reporting this month give disappointing results. On the other hand, there is a revival in shipbuilding, with 402,000 tons ordered in the second quarter compared with only 72,000 in the first. Steel production is up; the cotton agreement has broken down; the Government is intervening in the wool trade with an eye to uniforms; American cotton acreage is the lowest in 40 years; the wholesale price index is unchanged. And now one final and more intimate note. Grandfather's attempt to quench Easton's passion seems to have misfired dramatically. His schedule gave Easton the time to travel via London, and he took it. Last night, he appeared at my townhouse, pouring out his heart and demanding my intercession with "Miss J.C.'s" father. He takes it as a hopeful sign that her father has intervened most drastically to prevent her from seeing him. Surprisingly naively for Grandfather's closest aide-de-camp, he imagines that I have but to call in a favour to secure her release. To see him plead his case, looking so like your son, ten years ago, fairly melted my heart. Unfortunately, I could do nothing for him, even had I wished. I would leave this there but for two matters that arise from it. First, we have confirmation that "Miss J.C" was encouraged to direct her natural attentions at your son. Be on your guard! The enemy is moving. even as you suspected! That, however, in no way excuses the fact that Easton appeared in company with Fat Chow and his apprentice. Who were intended to protect your household in Vancouver. We are not living in the world of some American adventure serial or pulp novel. Grandfather is not an ageless Qing aristocrat. We are pirates, not world conquerors. If "Miss J.C." is being held against her will, it is somewhere in a metropolis of ten million people. Three young men, of whom only one of whom is even fluent in English, are not going to find her. Are you, too, operating at a new speed?

My Dear Mrs. C.: I am happy to write that I have separate confirmation that Reggie is on the mend, although I still have to ask you to forward Reggie's mail via channels. In the matter of being wary of being drawn into Reggie's paranoia, I am appropriately chastised. Of course you know your husband as well as I, and I have only exacerbated things. I apologise for failing to make clear the identity of the persons in the photograph that I sent your son. You are, of course, astute to notice from the society pages that the girl in the photograph is "Miss J. C.," and you are right that no cousin of ours' across the divide of 1824 is to be trusted in matters such as your son's imminent rebirth as an eminently legitimate American citizen. Fortunately, no such foolish step is contemplated. The young man pictured with her is not your, shall we say, stepson, but rather our Cousin Easton, who bears him a considerable likeness. It is Cousin Easton who will take charge of your son in San Francisco. He has been attending to Grandfather's arrangements discretely, but, that said, I share your concern with Easton's obvious familiarity with Miss J. C. in the news clippings you forward. Grandfather will put a stop to things before they go too far. In the meantime, I cannot say whether you are wise to send Fat Chow and his assistant with them. Reggie: Flight 22 June 1939 Leader: Air raid precautions are a real matter of concern for all. Service Aviation: The first tranche of 200 North American Harvards has completed delivery. Rumours of a new purchase of "Seversky Yales" to train pilots directly commissioned from the ranks are to be deprecated by the Ministry. Dewoitine has almost finished its “speed†530, intended for an attack on the world record, probably with an Hispano 12-4 giving 1800hp near the ground, or a special Rolls-Royce Merlin. Your son adds that "At least they left the H.P. slot off this one," and adds that, given that the Germans have put it on their fighters, if we can only arrange that our Allies do not Dr. Handley Page will have actually accomplished something towards winning the war. I asked him when a mechanical engineer began worrying about aerodynamics, and he gave me some blathercock about turbulent fluid flows through orifices. Make of that what you want, you old scoundrel. The USN exhibits first deck-landing monoplane torpedo bomber, which has actually been in service for 18 months now. Article: “Guidonia on show.†The Italian air force's research centre puts on a stellar show for Il Duce. Francis Chichester, “The Modern Aircraft Compass.†This matter of telling directions from an aircraft is as vexingly complicated as it turned out to be on ships. It seems as though this is something that ought to be worked out before we propose to crush Germany into obedience with massive waves of bombers. “World’s Most Powerful Air-Cooled Engine:†the Wright Duplex Cyclone 18 cylinder, giving 2000hp+ is shown to the Press. Your son points out how hard it is to parse the technical news some times. He has it from sources in America that the Vought torpedo bomber has been in service since January of last year, yet scoffs openly at the idea of the Duplex Cyclone being ready to fly next year. I envy the historian who will be able to sort these things out. Although, to be fair, a history that sorts everything out will be too thick to be read, and too unflattering of some to be published. To wit, an article on Handley Page's corporate history. For a change, I have insight from someone other than your son. Specifically, the club librarian, who seemed ready to have at me right there in the reading room until I agreed that the good doctor was a scoundrel and a bounder. Though rather than making off with his fiancee, it turns out that H.P.'s sins have more to do with arcane shenanigans over surplus spare parts after the last war. An appended mini-article on the automatic slot, not to beat a dead horse, is for those interested in gadgets that make good planes worse and bad planes better. Engineering 23 June 1939 Article on Callendar-Hamilton modular bridges, which apparently can be quickly and conveniently set up anywhere. Your son is quite excited. Remember him playing with his Meccano sets? It's like that, but for adults. Alleged adults. The Engineer, 23 June 1939 Leader: A French submarine has followed USS Squamus and HMS Thetis to disaster. It is a 1379t boat of the Redoutable-class called, le Phénix, of all things. Kingsley Wood says in Parliament that we are currently spending almost 2 million a week on armaments production. We await the summer supplementary estimates. But will they simply follow the original estimates and be an authorisation to spend even more? Is that even possible? The Economist, 24 June 1939 Leaders: The paper turns 5000 (numbers, for it is only Engineering that reads as though it were older than Methusaleh) today! The big celebration is deferred to the centennial on 2 September, 1943, but it is worth celebrating all the same. Especially given that the crops will be in by that time, freeing the young men and horses of Europe for other duties. “The Meaning of Tientsin†is that Japan means to humiliate Great Britain. Am I unpatriotic to hope that it tries, and that we will give them a thorough trashing? “The Armaments Profit Duty:†is introduced; “Reconstruction in Spain.†Notes of the Week: Delays in Moscow; Supply Bill advances to the floor of the House; 230,000 men are now registered under the Militia Training Act, and those who supposed that a “serious lack of physique and good health†would be discovered are confounded, for only 2.3% were rejected on these grounds. The British working class proves disappointingly robust for some. They should have asked me, and, no, I will bear no ribbing about common tastes. There are to be no film duties, upon which matter the paper is profoundly ambivalent, since while it is opposed to duties in general, it is also opposed to special favours for individual industries. In the tradition of the paper, I look for a third hand (perhaps that we are currying favour with advanced opinion in America?) but there is no space. Again, under the heading of “He Only Does it to Annoy. . .†the paper speculates about Herr Hitler's latest (prospective) outrage. How long until the annexation of Danzig to the Reich is announced? Meanwhile, the annual August period of high tensions approaches, and the German manoeuvres will be on an “unprecedented scale in peacetime.†Which would be alarming if that is not how they were cast every year. But does he really only do it to annoy? Speaking of which, there is feverish work on East Prussian fortifications. “Future Population:†the imminent decline of the British population needs to be addressed by extraordinary means. Well, there you go. Now, our family has rarely had problems in this matter. Searching back through our history, it seems to me that money is the key. Take a prize off the Carolinas, have a son. Take a Manila galleon, have a daughter. It is only when one speculates on advancing into higher offices that it all goes for naught. So: money. Money is the key. Hmm. Let us see what the article has to say: well, it says that we need to . . . celebrate motherhood more. Yes, quite correct. That is exactly how they are doing it on the continent. More medals for fecund mothers will quite make up for having to raise ones' children in miserable poverty. Gentlemen, I think I see where the problem lies. Extending, I am not afraid to suggest, through the entire expanse that lies between one of those ears of yours and the next. “Agricultural Development:†the ‘drift from the land’ is necessary to secure higher living standards for all, and those who call for increased subsidies to farmers to halt it are guilty of “muddled thinking.†“The United State’s Flood of Imported Gold—“ is a problem. Gold is entering the United States in various ways from abroad. For Our New York Correspondent, news of cheap gold for the Wall Street masses is, of course, the worst news ever. For Our New York Correspondent, everything is the worst news ever. Except, perhaps, the defeat of Mr. Roosevelt in 1940. Government security prices are up, labour unrest is up, the wheat crop forecast is down.It is all of a piece. Although I do not think that even Our New York Correspondent believes that an influx of gold is directly the cause of a poor wheat harvest. “Germany’s Food Supplies.†Are inadequate. “The Limits of French Resources:†unemployment is falling in a highly satisfactory way. Not only total unemployed going down, but hours worked going up… Our Paris Correspondent adds that monetary expansion has been avoided for fear of a dangerous rise in prices. France, we are told, is far closer than Great Britain to full employment. In this light, a chart purports to show that “French fortunes have paid the bill.†Rentier incomes have been hit much harder than weekly wages. Let me just pause there, and not just because the next article gives me so much pain. We are told here, in tones of high dudgeon, that the rentier has born the burden of French rearmament, and that the working poor have come off relatively better. Now, as a rentier myself, and one sensitive to that status (founded, after all, on egregious fraud!), I am as eager as any to defend my class. But that does not mean that I cannot notice that Our Paris Correspondent is looking to those "working for weekly wages" for the rapid completion of the warlike armament that will secure his rents from the Hun! And speaking of aching hearts: “Canton under Japanese Control,†(from our Hongkong correspondent). “Nearly eight months have elapsed since the occupation of the city,†and Japan has still no set policy for the city. Perhaps so, but the grip of the Kempetai gets firmer every passing week. Until, let us hope, Tokyo overreaches. Grandfather, as you will have heard turns from the optimist to the pessimist in this matter. If his sources in Moscow are right, there will be no alliance, and thus a war, unless the democracies give way. Still, never a menacing cloud without a silver lining. One that you may have seen at Waneta, if you were allowed onto the car. Flight 29 June 1939 Leader: “Too Many Accidents.†The paper is disappointed with the Empire Boat's tendency to run into logs. And the recent shipwreck of Corsair in a Congo lake, at which words fail even me. First pictures of the Saro Lerwick appear. Apparently it solves all flying boat problems by going even faster. On water included. I am doomed to be the garrulous, ignored old man, with my Rattler anecdotes. Article: Robert C. Morrison, “Bigger and Bigger.†America has huge flying boats coming for Atlantic flying. And fast ones. And huge fast ones. It will be incredible. You will see. You will all see. The substance of the article is a drawing from Sikorsky and the Consolidated “speed†flying boat recently shown with two Wright Duplex Cyclones, while the phrasing comes from the mad scientist villain of a recent Republic serial showing I attended with the Cambridge aethestician, in part for reasons that I imagine you have no interest in hearing about, and in part as a smoke screen for when I invite him to see the next installment of Grandfather's "biography," coming from the same studio in a mere 10 months. I anticipate it eagerly, if only to hear of Grandfather's reaction. I keep telling him that now that we have lost our financial leverage over Mr. Rohmer, we can only be grateful that he remains a friend of the family, however odd the means by which he shows his friendship. Engineering 30 June 1939 University Training of Engineers: the paper is in favour of anything likely to lead to more boring lectures. The Engineer, 30 June 1939 Leader: The 1940 Machine Tool Exhibition at Olympia has been cancelled, because no-one will have any machines available to show(!) M. H. Rungston writes in reply to Mr. J. G. B. Sams' letter on steam cable plowing that the real answer is the diesel plow. Powerful diesels, however, are necessarily fast diesels, and then one requires some kind of transmission that will take the load. Will it not? As an oil man, I am persuaded, however skeptical about the future of high-powered ploughing of more English fields! Which reminds me to mention that it turns out that Captain Acworth's scheme for a coal wharf on our land is entirely his own. Imperial has no intention of using hydrogenated coal oil as a feedstock at the new plant. Whatever rumours you may have heard about this are manufactured by the Captain and his friends.

My Dearest "Mrs. C.:" Dearest sister, I write to you to express my fullest satisfaction with your husband's recent decision to take the waters. His return from the lake will not be long delayed. Until then, I am at your disposal. Enclosed is Reggie's regular newsletter, and a photograph of the person who will meet your son's train in San Francisco. I am afraid, however, that although Reggie is becoming more alert to his affliction, some of the concerns you relay must derive from incipient mania. You certainly have nothing to fear from the evil machinations of the peer mentioned. As a matter of fact, he has been dead for almost two hundred years! He may live on in family history as the man whose power in the ministry prevented the Founder's legitimation, but the Founder's father could only have married who he married, and provide for his son and his son's mother, in the way that he did. There was enough risk in securing the Founder his commission! It is only our good luck that the father was then able to secure his private and public posterity at Canton by the same adventurous means that he arranged his own. O U O S V A V V! His illness goes, in my opinion, to the mysterious faces Reggie has seen lurking about, but Grandfather does not agree, and has sent his chop to Vancouver. You will be acquiring two cooks in the next week who are very good with knives. [One Photograph and three enclosures] My Dear Reggie: Have no fears. Fat Chow has been tasked to protect your "wife." Flight 1 June 1939 Leader: The actual Admiralty takeover of the FAA occurs in the same week that the press makes much of a De Havilland Queen Bee "target drone" which doodled unscathed for three hours in the vicinity of a Fleet antiaircraft live fire exercise. The times are changing, apparently. As they always are. Commercial Aviation: Notices the Yankee Clipper. Again. SANA orders two Ju-90s. It is almost as though Brother Boer resents being dragged into our Empire. I can only suggest that they should have fought harder, although, remembering our days of dragging a 4.7" across the veldt, not too much harder. Or tried being a larger, richer nation that we could not simply bowl over. Anyways, a grand and ongoing triumph of progress and Christianity. A new blind landing system is under testing at Wright Field. There are various new domestic services to use all of the new airfields we are building and equipping with much electrical apparatus of this sort. Article: “A New Multi-Gun Fighter.†I comment further on the Martin-Baker Fighter below. “A Parliamentary Party:†And here is the meat of it. Remember all that talk of British reserve, not to mention backwardness compared with Germany and America? It must smart at someone, because last week, Members of the Commons and the Lords, Commissioners for the Dominions and Dominion Liaison Officers, plus officials from the Board of Admiralty, Army Council, etc were taken to Northolt to see “pehaps the most convincing display of service flying ever staged." They watched the “world’s finest service aircraft demonstrating their functions,†inspected an assortment of secret and semi-secret equipment, and saw a tantalizing fly-by by two unmentionable aircraft which are still secret. (Though I heard some grumbling about a much larger aircraft that might have attended had it not recently been quite avoidably indisposed.) The machine park, first attraction after fourteen coaches had discharged their loads of legislators, contained three Hurricanes, three Spitfires, three Gladiators, a Hudson, three Hampdens, three Battles, and examples of the Henley, Harvard, Tutor, Oxford, Anson, Walrus, Beaufort, Defiant, Roc, Skua, and Master, but not of "every creature, clean and unclean." No Lysander was there, as perhaps Hiduminium extrusions remain on the "Intermittently Secret" list that the Air Ministry apparently maintains). Searchlights, anti-aircraft guns, a balloon, a Link trainer, and other equipment was available for inspection. “While RAF officers were being plied with questions (any normal schoolboy would not have deigned to answer many of these, though some displayed encouraging intelligence) a wing of twenty-four Vickers Wellingtons boomed over at a menacing height to give the first massed demonstration of these substantial geodetic-built craft, which have a longer range than any other aircraft in the Service.Some minutes later the Wellingtons were followed by two fighter wings embodying six squadrons of Hurricanes and one of Spitfires, the first flying in wing formation, the second in diamond formation….†There were dive bombing demonstrations by a Battle to counter “foreign†claims to unique capabilities in this technique, Gladiator acrobatics, a high speed flypast by a Spitfire going “at least 380mph, having benefited from a shallow dive,†a flypast by 3 Sunderlands, squadron manoeuvres by Hurricanes, a flypast in succession of 10 other types, including a Powis trainer prototype. A Spitfire with the latest three blade variable-pitch airscrew was shown. A fast twin-engined type made an even more spectacular flypast in the “mystery machine†parade. After all of this, it is rather anticlimactic to report that the main Article: summary of George Lewis’s Wright Lecture on progress with American wind tunnels. “The Aircraft Engineer†covers ‘Elastic Stiffness of a Skin-Covered Framework,†and a discussion of “some airscrew considerations.†The Engineer, 2 June 1939 A writeup of the new Martin-Baker fighter. My own private instinct is to let the French have the field here with the Caudron. If it succeeds, we can buy some, as we did in the last war. The ingenuity, not to mention influence, of Messrs. Martin and Baker can be applied a little more creatively. But what do I know of aeronautics? The Economist, 3 June 1939 Leader: “A Distorted Boom†on the last day of 1938, this paper forecast that recovery in Britain would be seen from the summer onwards. This was grossly pessimistic. It was not all due to defence –the lower price of steel that came into effect on 1 January also had its impact. However, defence is a big part of it, and there is likely to be an increasing distortion of the normal functioning of the British economy if this goes on, with painful structural changes after the end of rearmament. Second Leader:“Japan’s Choice:†more war in (south) china, apparently. Grandfather predicts that Japan will be at war with Britain and perhaps Russia by the summer. The Ministry in Tokyo, he says, finds hope of securing European allies, fear of the political cost of abandoning the China adventure. “Notes of the Week:†Speaking of war in Europe, the Anglo-Russian deal is delayed again; “The New Army:†the 200,000 men of the National Militia will report for induction this week, with the first notices going out on 1 July. “Labour in Depression;†employment did not fall as far as expected in 1938. “The World Overseas:†Germany’s railways in trouble. Now here is something worth a paragraph break. An increase in American government spending is expected as“appeasement†of business in the United States is seen to have failed. I am appalled and amused at once that one reason that it is supposed that the American economy has faltered is that it is now a “mature economy.†The American population has ceased to grow, and America is no longer the land of youth. Thus, a savings glut naturally builds up. Hence, Government must borrow and activate these funds. Flight 8 June 1939 Leader: Former Secretary of State for Air Sir Philip Sassoon has died. Service Aviation: “Official†performance statistics are given for the Hurricane. It still has a peak speed of 330mph at 17,500ft (To which it climbs in 7.8 minutes). Commercial Aviation: new airfield at Derby, new Baltic airline, new services in Africa, new Bloch airliner announced. Douglas is working on a DC6, which will fill the gap in airline procurement until such time as the DC4 becomes economical. Speaking of stratoliners, the second Boeing 307 is ready for trials, replacing the first, which crashed. I am perversely glad to hear that it is not only British airliners that crash or prove to be white elephants. Industry: Rolls-Royce is breaking ground on its Glasgow site. Australia has bought lots of stuff preparatory to beginning Beaufort production. The Engineer, 9 June, 1939 Leader: Purchases from the £2 fund that the government has set aside to purchase British-registered ships destined for premature scrapping are going ahead. All very well, it seems to me, unless they need scrapping. I had a most unfortunate visit from some gentlemen from the British Coal Association, who intimated that our little railway transaction might go more expeditiously if we scrapped plans for the associated pipeline, perhaps in favour of a coal wharf. I have heard nothing from Imperial to suggest that the new plant will use coal as a feedstock, and have asked our solicitor to inquire. Captain Acworth strikes me as a little unhinged. Following Leaders: The paper is interested in recent experiments in steam-powered aeroplanes. So were we all, in 1890. At least before we boarded the Rattler. Never a truer name....; HMS Thetis is tragically lost. Your son was downcast about this, although "Miss G.C." did much to cheer him up. A very large expansion of the Territorial Royal Army Ordnance Corps, of 150 officers and 5000 men, is announced. An Engineering Branch of the Royal Navy Supplementary Reserve is announced, with no peacetime obligation. A remarkably trouble-free way to wear the blue and impress the Bright Young Things, if you ask me. Engineering, 9 June 1939 Leader: Loss of HM Submarine Thetis. Article: Full description of the machinery of SS Mauretania, with diagrammes. Extraordinary! The Economist, 10 June 1939 “An Imperial Policy†The paper sees many colonies, notably in the Caribbean and West Africa, as trapped in a vicious circle. Wages are too low to alleviate poverty, with here a harsh reminder that the bad old days are not gone in many parts of our Empire, where poverty means malnutrition and preventable disease. Taxes to alleviate these bear heavily on the economy, notably duties that impact the price of imported necessities of life. Fixed interest charges on infrastructure improvements further reduce the colonial administrations’ room to manoeuvre. The solution will be Marketing Boards to increase the price of sugar, cocoa and such. “Food Production in War;†it isn’t enough. “Notes of the Week:†the Thetis disaster. The King goes to Washington. “Organising Supply:†the powers of the Ministry of Supply are further laid out; “German Finance†a scheme in which German contractors are paid in part in IOUs is not entirely satisfactory. I, for one, am astonished. “Japan and Great Britain;†outrage in Shanghai. I apologise for keeping you in suspense about the final destination of the special cargo. Easton will be have charge of the curios and bric-a-bracs, which are to proceed by rail to San Francisco. If you are able, you are to descend to the mouth of the Pend d'Oreille and should take charge of matters relating to the border. “The Motorisation of Germany.†Germany is catching up with the UK. If you count motorcycles as equivalent to cars. “Cotton-Rayon Controversy;†in the new organization of the textiles sector, where does the new fabric balance the old? Flight 15 June 1939 Leader Merger of British and Imperial to form BOAC is this week’s story. Commercial Aviation: Portuguese are to buy De Havilland Rapides for an Angolan service; Pan-American will carry booked(?) passengers on the Atlantic run starting June 28; France is getting ready for summer proving runs with an older Latecoere; Ensigns almost ready to return to service with Tiger IXCs with constant-speed props. How does the engine know how far to twist the screws? Your son tried to explain the mathematics, and then, when that failed, used analogies. It involved musical instruments and weights on springs. I could not make heads nor tails of it, even before he recited the dreaded words, "differential equations." Engineering 16 June 1939. Leader: Shouldn’t we be thinking about industrial dispersal? Yes, we certainly should. The Engineer 16 June 1939 In the letters, J. G. B. Sams writes that the £2/acre plowing subsidy announced by the government for all acreage left "down to grass" for at least 7 years will be, as the government intends, an important contribution to war readniess if the government's goal of 250,000 acres reclaimed is reached. But can it? Let us talk traction. Horses are ruled out at the head. They will be too costly of manpower. Two horses can do an acre a day, but require 1 man for the work. Internal combustion tractors are too few to do the work and lack tractive force for operations such as "moling" ("creating subterranean drains by dragging a vertical bar 2 or 3 feet below the surface"). what is needed is steam plowing with tackle. But whereas in 1918, 600 rented [stationary steam plow sets] kept 12.6 million acres in operation, now owner/operators report only 125 sets available for rent. Or one could conclude, as great grandfather concluded long ago, that if one needs to "mole" land to put it in corn, one should reconsider whether the land ought to be in corn, and invest instead in a strong navy to keep the sea lanes to the colonies open. The Economist, 17 June 1939 The leaders revisit foreign policy (“Defence versus appeasement,â€) and Newfoundland; then move on to the first six months of the American Fair Wages and Hours Act.†“Notes of the Week:†The Blockade of the Tientsin Concession by the Japanese continues. (Grandfather relays his gratitude from 'Arcadia.') Talks in Moscow continue. Mr. Roosevelt may run for a third term in 1940.Forty thousand storm troopers from East Prussia just showed up in Danzig. Air Raid Precautions are developing; there will be a trade credit for Poland. “Production and Prices in France:†there is continuing improvement, although the pace of it has slackened. Exports advance. Inflation is incipient, notwithstanding the fall in the index of wholesale prices to 685, against 693, 695 and 696 in previous weeks. “No Real Change in American Business Outlook.†Were the livers wrong? “Charter for Air Transport;†the BOAC Bill is introduced this week. If there’s going to be subsidies, there ought to be a Crown Corporation.

The editor parses links, but can't handle quotation marks?