HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1956-07-05, Page 7Took First Photos
From The Air
A century ago a man was fly-
ing over Paris taking photo-
graphs from the air that could
not be bettered today!
He was the fantastic French-
man, Felix Tournachon, a jack-
of-all-trades who succeeded in
a dozen brands of business and
endured a hundred adventures
by land and air, Born in Lyons
in 1820, he found fame and for-
tune under his nick -name of .. .
Nadar.
Leaving school to become a
medical student, but not having
a private income to pay for his
bed, board and books, Felix
found a spare -time job as a
newspaper writer at the age of
sixteen.
Qualifying as a doctor in
Lyons and Paris, he gave up
medicine to turn painter and
caricaturist. He took on another
job as secretary to a member of
the French Parliament, But this
was too dull for live -wire Felix,
Tall, robust and resolute, he
marched with cocksure confid-
ence into a Paris newspaper of-
fice and promptly landed him-
self an editorial post on the per-
suasiveness of his tongue.
With lively zest Nadar, as he
now called himself, wrote ar-
ticles which were avidly read.
In this spare time he drew car-
toons of continental notables,
etched with such acid wit that
they were at once admired and
feared. He wrote a short book,
"La Mort de Dupuytren," that
was published all over France
and translated, it was said,. into
every foreign language. No few-
er than 600 editions were pub-
lished.
Nadar might have settled into
authorship as his major profes-
sion; but the Revolution of 1848
broke out and he turned free-
lance fighter on the boulevard
barricades.
Civil war was widespread all
ever the Continent. Typically,
Nadar made himself odd man
out by showing sympathy for
the Poles. He tried to join the
Polish Legion.
Arrested, he escaped, only to
be arrested again in Germany
and imprisoned for months in
a German jail. Released at last,
he returned to France as a po-
litical journalist determined to
defeat the election of Prince
Louis Napoleon as president.
But Napoleon got in, So Nad-
ar got out,
"Polities — journalism —
poohl" cried the irrepressible
Nadar. "I'11 do something dif-
ferent'"
Unexpected as ever, he open-
ed a photographic studio with
himself as cameraman. His wit
and artistry made it the fashion-
able rendezvous of Paris. His
inventive skill banished the
tedious long exposure method
when he introduced to the world
the instant flash photography
by electric light.
More startling still, Nadar
took camera and lights deep in-
to the Paris catacombs to pro-
duce the most dramatic photos
ever seen of that eerie under-
world of the dead.
Then the art of ballooning at-
tracted his attention, "But aero-
nauts do nothing except float
where the wind takes them,' he
complained. To show what he
could do, Nadar booked a bal-
loon and sailed over Paris at
1,60,0 feet, leaning perilously
from the frail basket to take the
world's first air photographs
Just a century ago,
In all, he made thirty flights
taking photographs, then pub-
lished them in an album explain-
ing at the same time that aerial
photography would be valuable
for military strategy, civil town
planning and map-making—for
all of which it is standard tech-
nique to -day.
But even while he made Prac-
tical use of them, Nader attack-
ed those who believed that bal-
loons could conquer the air. 50
years before .heir time he de-
clared: "There must be engine
power — and heavier-than-air
machines! The more powerful
the apparatus, relatively the
lighter it will be. The force of
a 2 -horse -power engine weighs
less than two forces of one
horse -power each."
To show that size could not
aid steering, Nadar ordered the
world's biggest balloon. A gas-
bag 210,000 cubic feet in 75,000
square feet of silk, with a wick-
er gondola built like a two-
storey house. Named "The
Giant," it cost a fortune of 200,-
000 francs. Knowing the public
would not subscribe, Nadar set
to and earned it himself by ex-
hibiting and selling his most out-
standing photographs.
His first ascent on October
4th, 1863, ended four hours later
—the gas valve had ben left
open! Was it because Nadar de-
fied superstition by having
thirteen aboard? Two weeks
later, with his wife, nine pas-
sengers and Eugene Arnold, the
first air reporter, he set off
again, with 200,000 Parisians
paying to wave farewell. Am-
ong them was Napoleon II, whom
Nadar hated.
Danger threatened when The
Giant began to fall towards the
stormy North Sea, "Land be-
fore it is too later" yelled the
frantic passengers. Instead, Na-
dar stopped them from reaching
the gas valve by brandishing a
loaded revolver.
Luckily sea winds blew them
inland. They drifted over Bel-
gium and Holland, began to des-
cend into Germany when the
wind rose to forty-five miles an
hour. Rain slashed down. The
Giant was !lung up like a leaf
LESSON LEARNED 'IOO LATE — The brand-new Mercury had just
been equipped with safety belts, but the five who were riding
in it that morning didn't bother to use them. Not until the
car struck a utility pole, above, did they realize their mistake.
One was killed, the other four seriously injured.
5i..LL TROLL FOR SOULS — The lugger Enterprise makes port
in the Church of Saint Nicholas, Hastings, England, which has
been used for years as a museum of the town's 1,000 -year-old
fishing industry. Deck of the Enterprise will become a pulpit
when the church building, dedicated to the patron saint of
fishermen, again becomes a place of Norship this summer.
to 12,000 feet, then hurled clown
in a whirlwind. Rattled like
dice in the gondola, none could
think or act, Then two cords
snapped . ,
Now it was impossible to
reach the valve to deflate the
gasbag. Helplessly the whole
thing pitched earthwards and
crashed violently. Three people
were flung out. Up leapt The
Giant, Then crashed again,
bouncing for half an hour in
monstrous thirty-foot leaps ac-
ross twenty miles of town and
country.
Nadar suffered a broken leg,
His injured wife was in bed for
months. Others, receiving brok-
en arms, sprains, cuts, contu-
sions and nervous breakdowns,
sent the bill for damages soar-
ing to 125,000 francs, Nadar
paid, then declared, imperturb-
ably: "I was right. Balloons are
no good at all. I shall . found an
International Society for En-
couragement for the Study of
Aviation or Aerial Locomotion
by Means of Apparatus Heavier
Then the Air!"
He did found this society and
published a forthright book
whose translated title is "The
Right to Fly." Among men at-
tracted to his magnetic vitality
was Jules Verne, who immor-
talized Nadar by using him as
"Michael Ardent," fictional hero
of the Verne balloon books.
Nadar lived until 1910—to see
the Wright Brothers fulfil his
belief in heavier-than-air ma-
chines and his countryman Ble-
riot fly the Channel, so justi-
fying his astonishing Society of
Encouragement)
You Can Get Blood
From a Stone
At the famous Boman amphi-
theatre at Arles in southern
France, a bearded man coved from
stone to stone, studying each
through a magnifying glass. Occa-
atonally be paused to mutter and
gesticulate. Finally an American
tourist asked him what he was
doing.
"I am a chemist," he said.
"These stones are sick. They have
a plague."
The American hurried away.
A. lunatic:" he decided.
The Pasteur Institute of Paris,
however, .saw nothing Lunatic in
the report which the chemist sent
then soon afterwards. The docu-
ment contained evidence that a
Mysterious malady is preying on
France's chief historical monuments
and architectural glories spreading
like a human skin disease. Similar
observations already had been nude
at the Cathedral of Notre 1)aule,
where new and henithy stones, used
to replace afflicted ones, in their
— A symphony ofclicking scissors and whirring clippers fills the air in a huge ha,l in
Tokyo, Japan, as 400 barbers, including 40 women, compete in .the national trim -and -shave
contest. Winners are selected on the basis of speed and technique.
turn had become afflicted.
All over France, chemists, geolo-
gists and biologosts have been
feverishly trying- to arrest the
choicest works of ort.
Besides Notre 1)tuue and the am-
phitheatre at Arles, the famous
cathedrals of Rheims, Amiens and
Chartres, the chateaux of the Loire
Valley, the palaces of Versailles
and hundreds of less Well - known
French masterworks are threatened
with disfigurement.
Stone, if exposed long enough to
the elements, naturally becomes
worn and eroded, But normal
stone decay scarcely explains what
has been happening In France.
Notre Dame, a miracle of Gothic
art, was one of the earliest suffer-
ers. Almost overnight, the grinning
gargoyles and other sculptures he-
came spotted with open sores. Else-
where there appeared huge blisters
or evil -looking black crusts. Some
of the renowned flying buttresses,
supporting the cathedral's side-
walls, were found to be es close to
collapse es are the beasts of a ter -
nate -ridden house.
At Rheims the situation was
even more dramatic, Weather, fire
and war all had scarred but failed
to destroy the beautiful thirteenth -
century cathedral. Now the famous
statues over the main entrance are
emaciated to the point of ghostli-
ness, "They appear to have been al-
most bled to death," said an expert.
Superstitious Frenchmen say that
mankind is being punished for its
works of evil: the Virgin of Rheims
is wasting away in sorrow for the
sins of the atomic age. And now
the disease has spread to America,
too!
In an effort to trace where. the
consumer's fond dollar actually
goes, the United States has been
making a series of studies concern-
ing retail food costs. A report some
months ago showed that, in gen-
eral, processing and marketing
costs take a large share of every
dollar spent for food.
Some illuminating 'etailed stat-
istics concerning costs involved in
getting a leaf of bread from farm
to table have been issued by the '
United States Department of Agri.
culture, Agricultural all a r k e t i u g
Service, in recent report "Market-
ing Margins for White Bread."
*
Of the 17.7 cents paid by con-
sumers for a pound of white bread,
says this report, the farmers get
about 3,1 cents and the retailer
gets about 2.9 cents. What happens
to the remaining 11.7 cents?
1-lere is the way the USDA has
it figured out:
Bread prices, they say, have in-
creased every year since 1940. The
present average, 17.7 cents per
piumd, nnrnauts to 70 per cent more
than the 10.4 cents paid 10 years
ago.
"Most of the rise in retail bread
prices since 194.0 has come front in-
creases in charges by the bakers.
The rise took place without any
signifieant changes in servit'ns iu a
number of other fond items," the
report states.
Actually, according to this study,
the farmer's share in the price cf
bread has shrunk, from 21 per cent
in 1948 to 18 per cent in 107)5. 'Pati
frivoler received only one • half
emit of the 7.8 cent inereuse per
loaf since 11)48.
"Pro slight widening of the price
spread on 19:15 was die to higher
costs at the bakery," says the
T.'
SDA. "Hourly earnings in bread
bakeries in 1958 were tlpprovi-
ninthly 7 cents higher than in 1954.
This increase was smaller than in
the years immediately preceding,
but like the earlier ones appears to
have been passed on 'to the eon -
sumer."
Even If the .wheat farther "had
donated his wheat, white bread
would still have cost consumers
about 14 cents ,per loaf," the re-
port discloses.
"Between the fano gate and the
consumer's table, a number of hand
and prof c swing steps take place
auuul cacti must be paid for," la -
eluding marketing chargee covering
storage, insurance, transportation,
and milling and other processing.
Here is the breakdown, show-
ing the average amount received
in 1055 by each one involved in get-
ting a loaf of bread from farm to
consumer :
Per
Cents cent
Farmers 3.1 18
Grain elevator's,
' transportation
agencies, flour
mills, and proces-
sors of nonflour
ingredients 1.9 11
Bakeries 9,8 55
Grocers 2.9 10
17.7 100
But batteries, which have the
largest take from the retail price
of bread, apparently are not rol-
ling in profits either, .for, according
to the USDA, "Profits of whole-
sale bakeries have fluctuated in re-
cent years. Judging from a sample
of six major national firsts the
trend in profits after taxes has been
downward since 1046,' but figures
for the first nine months of 1005
indicated an upturn for the year.
When the elements which make
up the wholesale price of bread are,
tabulated, as has been done by the
"SDA in this study, it difficult
to put the finger on anyone who Is
getting a lion's share of profit:
Cents
Flour 8,90
Other ingredients 1.20
Wrapping .81
Labor, production 1.70
Selling and delivery:
Sales and commissions 1.73
Other expenses (includ-
ing vehicle expense, ad-
vertising and staling) 2.11
Administrative and mis-
cellaneous, including
• purchased goods 2.52
Profit before taxes .83
14.50
These figures, reminding every-
one that hundreds of workers play
a part in getting that sandwich into
the lunchbox or that plate of bread
on tate dinner table, won't reduce
anyone's food budget by a fraction
of a cent. But it may help con-
sumers view the oft misunderstood
and maligned farmer in a more
charitable light — and also to ap-
preciate more fully the unprece-
dented services which are available
to consumers for a few paltry
cents.
It will remind them, too, that some
portion of the increase in almost
every commodity price can be trac
ed to bigher wages or increased
benefits being paid to workers.
Labor leaders sometimes resent
having this fact pointed out, but it
is a fact nevertheless.
In the booming economy, only
the farmer and perhaps some white-
collar workers and teac'ters still tag
behind in income.
CAN'T FIND IT, CAN'T FIND t
. WOE IS US -- Some dark
moments for these boys as Billy
Klaus, Red Sox third sacker,
couldn't find the ball, and Wal
Moryn, Cubs' outfielder, knew
where it went, but couldn't da
anything about it. In Boston, a
hard grounder hit by Bill Tuttle
of Detroit disappeared, and by
the time Klaus found it — in his
jersey, above — Tuttle was safe
at first. Moryn, below, had noth-
ing else to do but yawn, as a
homer by Pittsburgh's Dale Long
sailed into the Chicago bleach -
era.
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IF you want chicks or turkey poults
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BANKRUPT stock of new Massey -Har-
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NEW and used Threshers. Lowest
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MEDICAL
DIXON'S REMEDY—FOR NEURITIS AND
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•
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335 Elgin, Ottawa.
51.25 Express Prepaid
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR
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Write Hans A. Hoffmann, 880 Glen
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FETHERSTONHAUGH & Com pan y,
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all countries.
AN OFFER to every inventor List of
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free The Ramsay Co. Registered Pat-
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PERSONAL
$1,00 TRIAL offer Twenty five deluxe
personal requirements, Latest cata-
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Box 22, Terminal "Q" Toronto Ont.
REAL ESTATE
FLORIDA! Modern, furnished Retire-
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TEACHERS WANTED
Male Protestant Principal
TWO•ROOM school Grades V -X first
class certificate state age, qualifica-
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last Inspector
Female Protestant
Junior room, Grades WV, first class
certificate Salary minimum $2,200.
Name of last inspector. State age and
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reacher Protestant
For one -room school. Average 20 pu-
pils. Grades I -R. Salary minimum 02,300.
First class certificate, state age, quali-
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Salary adjustment aocordine to ex-
perience. DihdocSeAplyto F Cadk September
T. S A. Murchison & Lyell, Mada-
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SAFES
Protect you! 1100R0 and. CASH from
FIRE and THIEVES. We have a else
and type of Safe, or Cabinet for any
pu p seDeVisi t Wua or write for price,
J.6&J.TAY E. R LIMITED
TORONTO SAFE WORKS'
145 Front St. E. Toronto
Established 1855
ISSUE 27 1956