68 : The Atlantic 



picture of the central importance of the Atlantic Ocean may appear 

 novel to many people. 



Possibly the discovery of the air has had something to do with our 

 forgetting the importance of the sea. In less than half a century avia- 

 tion has had a spectacular development: the attempted flight of the 

 Atlantic by Harry Hawker; the flight of Alcock and Brown; the 

 round-the-world flight of the NC4's; Lindbergh and many succes- 

 sive adventurers by air have each in turn been the cause of public 

 interest and enthusiasm. Today, transoceanic flights, though still a 

 novelty for some travelers, have become a commonplace experience 

 for others. In this time the airplane has also proved its usefulness in 

 war both in independent operation and as an adjunct to the older 

 services. In time of peace, in transport and in commerce, the airplane 

 can perform valuable services, though at relatively high cost. It is 

 largely, therefore, confined to operations in which speed of delivery 

 justifies the high economic premium. Any examination of air routes 

 and shipping routes at sea or air routes and railroad routes ashore 

 will show that air travel and transport for the most part parallels rail 

 and steamship services and that it must be regarded as a supplement 

 to their activities rather than as an entirely independent medium. All 

 types of air services are, however, a very small percentage of other 

 travel and transport. 



We can all be enthusiastic proponents of the intensive development 

 of the airplane as an instrument of travel and the development of an 

 air arm as an instrimient of warfare. We can do this without in any 

 way forgetting or jeopardizing our recognition of the fact that pres- 

 ervation of the United States as a nation or as a member of an asso- 

 ciated group of Atlantic nations depends upon the maintenance of 

 naval and marine and maritime services. 



Probably also a curious line of thinking that developed before and 

 during the last war has, in some measure, influenced our attitude to- 

 ward the ocean. This is thinking connected with the word "Geo- 

 politics." In the early years of this century a British geographer, 

 Sir Halford J. MacKinder, propounded the theory that while in the 

 past political and economic control had largely rested in the hands 

 of the maritime nations, the development of mechanical means of 

 transport on land would, in the future, make it possible for a nation 

 controlling a large core of land and being land-based to dominate a 

 continent. He went further and made this more specific. He drew a 

 map in which he showed that the core of the greatest land mass in 

 the world was the great plains in the center of Eurasia. He predicted 



