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[[page with photos and a newpaper clipping]] [[image; the word "Paris" in gold lettering superimposed over an image of the Arc of Triumph]] [[newspaper clipping]] [[column 1]] New York Herald Tribune European Edition [[image: logo]] Published by the New York Herald Co. 6té. An. Française au capital de 2,500,000fr. [[double line]] Paris, Saturday, July 1. 1939 [[double line]] Magic Carpet The dramatic feature of the trans-Atlantic Clipper flights seems to be that they are humdrum. Call this a paradox, but the fact remains that what thrills everybody reading of these air voyages is the smoothness of their operation and the ordinary luxuries afforded. On the first trip, thirty persons, including the crew, soared aloft from Port Washington, L.I., one Saturday afternoon and landed in Portugal Sunday evening (still in the afternoon, according to American time), serenely enjoying every comfort en route and without a bump to remind them that they had left terra firma. Just a case of the magic carpet translated from "The Arabian Nights" to modern experience. Other Clipper trips have been similar in character. [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] The sad part of it is that a few peopleThe sad part of it is that few people are surprised. These miracles of human ingenuity are taken for granted, are taken for granted, as are, on the obverse of the coin, the equally arresting abbreviations the equally arresting abbreviations of the same spirit manifest in the totalitarian manifest in the totalitarian Will to destruction. Rigid organization, backed by science and invention, Account for both, account for both, and for better or worse we are used to it. But in that case of the Clipper performances the credit belongs, significantly enough, to the organization of private enterprise. to the organization of private enterprise. It is by no means fair to draw a hard-and-fast line, but on looking over the fantastic world of today isn't it possible to say that characteristic of private enterprise is the benevolence of its objects and achievements, while the reverse is true of collective effort? At all events, Clipper flights speak volumes for the democratic system as developed in the United States, whose encouragement of private initiative made possible the extraordinary servant of progress and good will, the Pan American Airways. For a parallel to its to its conquest of the air lanes linking the hemispheres, one must go back a century one must go back a century to the days when American clipper ships dominated the seas in the friendly rivalry with the best of other maritime nations. They succumbed to steam and to the simultaneous concentration of American interest in the settlement of the West. But now, with attention turned outward once more and in another medium, America seems in a fair way to repeat the triumphs of that golden era. Pan American long [[/column 2]] [[column 3]] Since linked North America by air with Caribbean and with Central and South America in a grip which no foreign competitor is likely to break. It has established a regular service to the Philippines is likely to break. It has established a regular service to the Philippines and China, and promises soon to provide one to New Zealand. It has given the United States and enormous head start in the race for sky-born comerce. End it has done so by coupling those infinite pains to promote efficiency and safety which commercial aviation demands with the vision of private enterprise. As the organization has pushed back its horizons, it has felt its way step by step, constantly stimulating experiment for the improvement of its equipment while developing and operating personnel constantly stimulating experiment for the improvement of its equipment while developing and operating personnel equal in every way to the ships. Even better performances than those already made may be expected. Meanwhile, sufficient to the moment is the wonder of a passage from the United States to Europe in full comfort and security consuming a day and a night. [[/column 3]] [[photo top center]] [[image: large, ornate domed building [The Grand Palace]]] [[photo top right]] [[image: a tall column in a square [Place Vendôme]]] [[photo right middle]] [image: backside of The Louvre Museum, link in notes]] [[photo bottom center]] [[image: Greek temple building (le Madeleine, link in notes)]] [[photo bottom right]] [[image: front of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris]]
