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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1956-07-12, Page 3Tock Urst Piliore fir. From The Air A century ago a man was fly- ing over Paris taking photo- graphs from the air that could not be bettered to-day1 He was the fantastic Freneh- 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 a •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 tool: 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; rofession; 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. "Politics - journalism - pooh!" cried the irrepressible Nadar. "I'll do something dif- ferent 1" Unexpected as ever, he open- ed a photographic studio with himself as cameraman. His wit and artistry made it the aashion- 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 1,600 feet, leaning perilously from the frail basket to take the world's first air photographs) Just a century ago. In all, he made thirty !lights 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, Nadar 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 1 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 00,000 francs. Knowing the public would notsubscribe, 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 late!" yelled the frantic passengers. Instead, Na- dar stopped thorn -from rea.clh.izag 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 flung up like a leaf LESSON LEARNED TOO LATE - The brand-new Mercury had ust 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. S ..`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 down 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 Than the Air!" He did found this society and published a forthright book whosetranslated 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 .Roman amphi- theatre at Arles in southern France, a bearded pian aoved from stone to stone, studying each through a magnifying glass. Occa- sionally he paused to mutter and gesticulate. Finally an Aulerie;,tu tourist 'asked hien what he was doing. "I am a chemist," he said. "These stones are sick. They have a plague." The American hurried "A. lunatic!" he decided. The Pasteur Institute of Paris, however, saw nothing lunatic m the report which the chemist sent thein soon afterwards. The docu- ment contained evidence that a mysterious malady Is preying on France's chief historical monuments and architecttirtil glories spreading like a human skin disease. Similar observations already had been made at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where new and healthy stones, used to replace afflicted one's, in their away. i scissors and whirring clippers fills the air in a huge hc.il in NE„I? -- A symphony of clicking s g pp 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, • w.. 4.w R turn had become afflicted. All over France, chemists, geolo- gists and biologosts have been feverishly trying to arrest the choicest works of art, Besides Notre Davie 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 be- 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 as close to collapse as are the beams of a ter- mite -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 ctnth ec .over the main entrance Are emaciated to the'point u_- 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 Rheiins 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 consluner''S food dollar actually goes, the United States has been making a series of studies concern- ing retail food costs. A report solve 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 loaf of bread from farm to table have been issued by the United States Department of Agri- culture, Agricultural M a r k e t i u g Service, in recent report "Market- ing Margins for White Bread." . * a * Of -the 17.7 cents paid by con- sumers for a pound of white bread, says this report, 'the fanners get about 3.1 • cents and tb.e retailer gets about 2.9 cents. What happens to the remaining 11.7 cents? Here is the way the USDA has it figured out: Bread prices, they stay, have in- creased every year since 1046. The present average, 17.7 cents per pound, -amounts to 70 per cent more .than the 10.4 cents paid 10 years ago. "Most of the rise hi retail bread • prices since 1046 has come from ill creases in charges by the bakers. The rise took place without any • significant changes in services in a number of other fond items," the report states. Actually, according to Ibis study, the fariner'S share in the price cf bread has shrunk, from 23 per cent hi 1046 to 18 per cent :in 1033. Vie farmer received only •one • half - cent of the 7.3 cent increase per loaf since 11)46. "The slight widening of the price spread on 11)ti i was due to higher costs at the bakery," says the t''S1)ri. "Hotu•ly earnings in bread bakeries in 1055 were approri- matoly 7 cents higher than itt 1954. This Increase was smaller than in the years immediately preceding, but like the earlier ones appears to • have been passed on to the con• • sumer." • )liven if the wheat farmer "had . donated his wheat, white bread •wottld still have cost eo» suuiers about 14 cents per loaf," the 'e- pot't discloses. "Between the farm gate and the consumer's table, a number of hanri- ling triol processing steps take plane and each must be paid for," la - eluding marketing charges covering Storage, insurance, transportation, anti milling and other processing. Here is the breakdown, allow- 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 elevators, transportation agencies, flour , mills, and proces- sors of nonflour ingredients 1.0 ._ 11 Bakeries 9.8 55 Grocers 2.0 16 17.7 100 But bakeries, 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 firms the trend in profits after taxes has been downward since 1946," but figures for the first aline months of 1055 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 r1SDA in this study, it is difficult to put the finger on anyone who Is getting a lion's share of profit: Cents Flour 3.90 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 14.60 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 the 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 higher 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'iers still lag behind in income. CAN'T FIND IT, CAN'T .FIND 11' WOE IS US - Some dark moments for these boys as Billy Klaus, Red Sox third sacker, couldn't find the ball, and Wali Moryn, Cubs' outfielder, knew where it went, but couldn't do 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. ers. CLASSIFIED ADVERT1SI AGENTS WANTED GO INTO BUSINESS for yourself. Sell exclusive houseware products and appliances wanted by every house- holder. These items are not sold in stores. There is no competition. Profit up to 500%. Write immediately for free color catalog with retail prices shown. Separate confidential whole- sale price list will be included. Mur- ray Sales, 3822 St. Lawrence, Mont- real. BABY CHICKS IF you want chicks or turkey poults in a breeds. We ve have have breeds them, ed pop for eggs, special dual purpose breeds, 2 special broiler breeds. Tur- key Poults. Catalogue. TWEDDLE CHICK HATCHERIES LTD. FERGUS ONTARIO PULLETS. Started. Dayold. Including Leshihorns and Ames. p- ment. Mixed chicks, broilers. t tt o bor- der. Ask for complete list available. Bray Hatchery, 120 John N., Hamilton. MACHINERY BANKRUPT stock of new Massey -Bar- ris feed mills, hammer type, ball bear- ing, complete with hopper. Regular $45 No Federal, price $85.00 185 King St. clearto5., Toronto. C•O D FARM IMPLEMENTS NEW and used ario.hreDelivered Dant' where. Write GEORGE SOUTHI, Heath- cote, Ontario. MEDICAL DIXON'S REMEDY -FOR NEURITIS. AND RHEUMATIC PAINS. THOUSANDS SATISFIED. MUNRO'S DRUG STORE , 335 Main, Ottawq. 51.25 Express Prepaid POST'S ECZEMA SALVE BANISH the torment of dry eczema rashes and weeping skin troubles, Post's Eczema Salve will not disap• point you itching scaling and burn. inn eczema acne ringworm pimples and Foot eczema will respond readily gsthe r dlessof how stainless stubborn ointmentrhopeless they seem Sent Post Free on Receipt of Price PRICE 52.50 PER JAR POST'S REMEDIES 2865 St Clair Avenue East, TORONTO S FO MENRAND (WOMEN R BE A HAIRDRESSER JOIN CANADA'S LEADING SCHOOL, Great Opportunity Learn Hairdressing Pleasant Thousands ofesuccessfuld Marvel graduates America's Greatest System Illustrated Catalog Free Write or Cali MAR VEL lol;SFi TotlCOLS58artWrono );ranches 44 King St. Hamilton 12 Rideau St. Ottawa POPLAR POSTS OUTLAST METAL. 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TEACHERS_---W/A- .trifi Male Protestant Principal rwo-rtoolu school, Grades V -X first class certificate state age, qualifica- tions. Salary minimum $2,700 Name of last Inspector Female Protestant Junior room, Grades IdV, first Dias certificate, Salary minimum $2,200. Name of last Inspector. State age and qualifications readier Protestant For one -room school. Average 20 pu- pils. Grades 1-X. Salary minimum 52,300. First class certificate, state age, quali- fications. name of last Inspector Salary adjustment ttecordir^ to ex. perience. Duties commence September 4. Apply to F. Chaddock Secretary T. S A. Murchison 3a Lyell. Mada- waska. Ontario. Si 446T of Insect Bites- Heat/lash Quick! Stop itching of insect bites, heat rash, eczema, hives, pimples, scales, scabies, athlete foot and other externally caused skin troubles. Use quick -acting, soothing, antiseptic D, D. D., PRESCRIPTION. Greaseless, stainless, itch stops or your money back, Your druggist stocks D. D„ D. PRESCRIPTION. SAFES Protect your BUUhCb and DASH front FIRE and THIEVES We nave a size and type of Safe, of Cabinet tor any purpose. Visit es of write for price. ete to Dept. W �.I.CSCaJ.T LEI R LiMITEO TORONTO SAFE, WORKS'. 145 Front St. E. Toronto Established 1855 ISSUE 27 - 1956