BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT, 

 MONDAY. SEPTEMBER 26, 1910 



AVIATORS ARE AT ODDS 



Recent Meet at Squanturn Was 

 Unprofitable 



Not Enough Money Left to Pay the 

 Guarantors 



Harvard Society May Lose the 

 Field 



Movement to Induce Graduates to Come to 

 Rescue 



lack of harmony In 

 more specifically, the 

 it Harvard-Boston 

 oney is at the root 

 f there is a sort /at 

 •yard Aeronautical 

 > put up the money 



There la a marked 

 local aviation circles; r 

 promoters of the reo 

 meet are at odds, and i 

 of the trouble. Just nt 

 truce between the H: 

 Society and the men wl _ 

 to make the meet possible, with thi 

 Club of New England as a more or less 

 Interested third party. The truce is like- 

 ly to end in a few days when Adams D. 

 Claflin, manager of the meet presents his 

 report. At present It looks very much aa 

 if the Harvard Society, which originated 

 the meet, secured the aviators and other- 

 wise at the beginning made possible the 

 affair, would come out of the small end of 

 the horn; it may even lose the lease to 

 the grounds and the triplane which it 

 ■bought of aviator Roe, and which Is now 

 ilt at the aviation field, 

 of the Harvard Aeronautical 

 not at all backward in making 

 that an attempt is being made 

 to push their society aside and out of the 

 field literally and figuratively; they claim 

 that the guarantors, seeing the great possi- 

 bilities of the future in aviation meets, 

 realizing the value of the field at Atlantic 

 and desiring to get everything into their 

 own hands for the national meet which can 

 be brought here next year, are trying to 



nearly 



Society ; 

 allegatio 



form a combination 

 New England to rui 



The guarantors, 

 sert that no such 

 ists. They took i 



i.Aero Club of 

 Dther hand, 



Of ! 



airs 



w-hei 



it i 



osltion, put in their r, 

 a possible return on 

 supplied the money 

 eve 



i the 

 ■ndttic 



the aviation meet 

 or less doubtful prop- 

 oney on the chance of 

 the investment. They 

 as it was wanted for 

 srd Society having no 

 flinds, and all they insisted upon was that 

 a man satisfactory to them should be man- 

 ager. The meet was held and the receipts, 

 after the expenses are all paid, will not be 

 sufficient to make the guarantors whole, to 

 say nothing of giving them a dividend. 

 This 'being the cas,e, they feel that it Is 

 only right and businesslike that the Har- 

 vard Society should indemnify them to the 

 best of its ability, and its only assets ap- 

 parently are the aviation field lease and 

 the- Roe triplane 



To James V. Martin, manager of the Har- 

 vard Aeronautical Society, and sponsor for 

 the Harvard I., the "ground hog," belongs 

 much of the credit for the Harvard-Boston 

 meet. The scheme originated with him a 

 long time ago and through his persistent 

 efforts was developed until from a seeming 

 chimera, it came within the bounds of pos- 

 sibility. Mr. Martin and those associated 

 with him secured the indorsement of Pres- 

 ident Lowell and the offer of Soldiers Field- 

 they also secured the agreements of practi- 

 cally all of the aviators who attended, dis- 

 covered the aviation field at Squantum that 

 was afterwards leased from the New York, 

 New Haven & Hartford Railroad at SI per 

 year. 



When it became clear that the Efctr.v*rA- 

 Boston meet was r 0 heTii* bluest thing of 



; its kind yot held in the -country, and that a 

 considerable sum of moneywould be needed 



| for the preliminary expenses such as the 



| permanent improvements on the field, the 

 Harvard Society obtained the assistance of 



! several Boston men who, it is said, agreed 



1 Vd* ?50 00<>" e5 t t0 baCk me6t Pr °" 



I he meet was held, and although there 

 was some conflict of authority at the be- 

 ginning, the management was generally 

 satisfactory. There were, enormous crowds 

 almost every day, and everybody expected 

 that a very large sum of money had been 

 realized, that the guarantee and all the 



Id be 



be in a position to 

 leave the ground. 



Then came the u., 

 noised about that the 



i Hi 



rd So- 



the Harvard I 



It 



of the crowds 

 was over-estimated; that the box office re- 

 ceipts did not back up the reports of at- 

 tendance, and, in fine, that there was not 

 enough money to pay the guarantors, to 

 say nothing of a profit. It was also re- 

 ported that the people who had been most 

 active in running the meet would receive 

 little or nothing for their time, and that 

 the Harvard Society would be m debt to the 

 guarantors, and could only discharge this 

 ip the lease to the field and 



Hi 



ripi; 



iety 

 ional 



iantu 



at once fancied a 

 i out, and they put 

 mce. The Harvard 

 ting the 



stt 



and 



it does not purpoL. _ 

 large profits, to say nothing of the honor 

 that are sure to accrue from that. No meet 

 can be run without a sanction from a rec- 

 ognized society, hut it has been reported 

 that the Aero Club of New England would 

 get the sanction, if the Harvard Society 

 were removed from the field. 



i tit 



> to 



Th 



themselves whole, 

 that there has been 

 Aero Club of New 

 a sanction for the 1 

 are perfectly wHlins 

 ment whereby they 

 they put into the re 

 othe 



by a Har 

 ind academic stan 

 jers of the Harvar 

 that the guarantors 

 ork any freeze-out 

 ly trying to make 



led < 



Meantli 

 which If < 



Harvard Society 

 leading aviation o 

 of the country. 1 

 to organize a pern 

 ■ation, with Ham 

 lized standing in 

 eluding perha; 



will not lose the money 



ent meet, 

 plan is taking form, 

 -will make it possible 



rantors and keep 



anizatic 



nent so 

 d gradi 



the 



its he 

 oiety, 



ad. 



3 Ha 

 nderg 



nt of s 



the 



hands of the new organization. 

 Such a plan would be in line with the ac- 

 cepted method of running Harvard athletics. 

 In all forms of sport the contests are in the 

 hands of undergraduate managers, but the 

 business end is handled by a graduate 

 manager. 



If such a society were formed the guar- 

 antors of the recent meet would be satis- 

 fied either by direct payment or by an in- 

 terest in the conduct of future m-eete, the 

 society would have the grounds which 

 would remain in the name of Harvard, and 

 jet there would be a substantial business 

 interest behind the whole thing. It is re- 

 ported that a number of prominent Har- 

 vard graduates who have been approached 

 in this connection have assented to the 

 plan and have expressed willingness to Join 

 in straightening out the present tangle so 

 that the Harvard society and the guar- 



the: 



sha 

 will 1 



