1908

Jack Johnson in his prime.

 

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“He’s no flier, he’s a liar.”

 

French assessment of Wilbur Wright

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May: Five years after Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers remain mostly unknown. They have solved many of the puzzles involved in flying successfully, but fear others will steal their ideas. Now they are finally ready to prove to the entire world that they, more than anyone, are masters of the air.

 

They will later explain the key to success this way, that it comes “by keeping your nose right at the job.”

 

In a reading for my students, I explained:

 

By 1907, in France, Henri Farman was able to fly 3400 feet in 94 seconds, and became a hero overnight. Leon Delagrange, another Frenchman, flew two-and-a-half miles in 6 minutes in early 1908, and “France went mad with joy.” The Wrights (who had received almost no credit) remained far ahead of such men; and in 1908, Wilbur finally headed to Europe to prove it.

 

At first, people were doubtful. (Remember, neither brother had flown in over 30 months.) “He’s no flier, he’s a liar,” said several of the French who came to witness Wilbur’s tests. Doubts soon vanished, both in Europe and the U.S. First, Wilbur flew in careful circles over a practice field, proving that the Wright plane had far better controls than anyone dreamed possible. Delagrange, who saw how Wilbur could fly, spoke for all the rest. “Well, we are beaten! We just don’t exist!” he exclaimed. Rene Gasnier, another early airman, added, “We are as children compared with the Wrights.”

 

A British observer added a darker note: “Wilbur Wright is in possession of a power which controls the fate of nations.” Men could see at once that the gift of flight could become a tool of war.

 

At the same time, Orville made a test flight in the United States which lasted 1 hour, 14 minutes (September 12). Nine days later he traveled 41 miles by air. On October 3 he went 35 miles in 55 minutes, with history’s first passenger. Meanwhile, Wilbur stunned Europe again with his mastery of the air. He took up the first female in a plane, Mrs. Hart C. Berg. Several times he gave rides to kings and queens who now came visiting. Then he made a trip of 77 miles in almost 2 ½ hours on the last day of 1908.

 

The Wright brothers.

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“Pure and wholesome” water for cities.

John Leal, a pioneering doctor conducts a number of experiments related to killing dangerous bacteria in water. He discovers that small amounts of chlorine do the trick and begins adding it to the public reservoirs of Jersey City. For his troubles, he gets sued by the city, which accuses him of failing to provide “pure and wholesome” water to the citizenry.

 

His experiment quickly cut deaths from cholera by two thirds. Chicago began adding chlorine to city drinking water in 1912, Detroit the following year, Cincinnati in 1918.

 

In this same era vaccines are developed for whooping-cough (1914), tuberculosis (1921) and diphtheria (1923).

 

Insulin is discovered in 1922.

 

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“A foster-child of the special interests.” 

In a series of lectures at Columbia, Woodrow Wilson delineates some of the problems of the age:

 

“He now referred to the iniquities of ‘special interests,’ lobbies and newspapers, declared that ‘our very constitutional principle has fallen into dangerous disrepair’ because of the advantage in prolonged litigation that was given to certain men by the very fact of their wealth, but he conceived of the Senate as relatively free from corrupting influences and in truth ‘the choice of the people.’” (10/147)

 

In an article entitled “Freemen Need No Guardians,” he warned “that the masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States,” that “the government of the United States at present is a foster-child of the special interests. It is not allowed to have a will of its own. It is told at every move, ‘Don’t do that: you will interfere with our prosperity.’ And when we ask, ‘Where is our prosperity lodged?’ a certain group of gentlemen say, ‘With us.’” (10/290) 

In reference to prohibition, he once said, “The state should not supervise private morals.” (10/154)

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Mowing down the “Great White Hopes.”

 

Jack Johnson defeats Tommy Burns to win the heavyweight boxing title, a shock to white Americans. He then “mowed down a series of ‘great white hopes.’” The most shocking of his wins might have been in what was billed “the fight of the century,” against James J. Jeffries in 1910. John L. Sullivan admitted afterward, “He is one of the craftiest, cunningest boxers that ever stepped into the ring.”

 

His real problems involved living lavishly and comporting with white women. In 1913 he was convicted under the Mann Act, for bringing a woman across state lines for “immoral” purposes. After an all-white jury convicted him he fled the country and did not return until 1920. He then served a year in a federal prison.

 

Even Muhammed Ali was impressed, as he once told Howard Cosell:

 

They say I’m controversial and they say I’m bold, but I was nothing like Jack Johnson. They had lynchings and rapings and burnings and every time he’d fight they’d lynch Negroes and burn houses. This man was told if you beat this white man we’re going to shoot you from the audience. He said, “Well just shoot my black so-and-so, because I’m going to knock him out.”

 

Here’s a Negro during the time you’d be lynched for looking at white ladies. He’d walk down the street and left the country with them. He was bold. He had to be a courageous man.

 

The NYT, in an article (2/11/18), noted that his family had not talked much about him in later years. One relative remembered, “they were ashamed of him, that he went to prison.” Now there was talk about correcting that with a pardon. Senator John McCain backed the idea.