IN MY OPINION

HOW sad, this young girl who, to win five hundred francs, threw herself by parachute from the top of a monoplane, at the Auch aviation meeting, and came crashing to the ground!...

It must be said, the saddest thing is that the public has its share of responsibility in such a stupid and atrocious accident.
Certainly, nothing is more useful than the popularization of the parachute; here, we have urgently requested that we apply ourselves to perfecting these protective devices, indispensable to the safety of aviators, and that, more and more, we spread their use. But is it necessary for that to risk the life of a young girl? These demonstrations, these exhibitions which become more and more frequent, which end up being considered as the "highlight" of funfairs, what are they for, what is the point?

Hundreds of spectators, their noses in the air, see nothing but emotion, the thrill of a moment. "Is that a real woman hanging from the parachute?"
If, let us note, it is a question of demonstrating only the excellence of the device and its maneuver, a mannequin, at a pinch, is not sufficient?
But if the aviator only swings a mannequin, if it is not a real woman, the public finds that it is not interesting, not "amusing." he thinks he is being robbed...
And it is so that he "gets his money's worth", this good public, that we seek and find parachutists at five hundred francs, who thus throw themselves into the void, risk killing themselves, and sometimes do kill themselves, as the other day in Auch...

However, I am convinced that the inhabitants of Auch are very good people, and that they would be greatly surprised and scandalized by being accused of having bloodthirsty instincts; the inhabitants of Auch would not harm a fly.
Why is it that, in order to please them, to interest them, to amuse them", we thought it necessary to offer five hundred francs to Mlle Liane d'Arcy, five hundred francs and a horrible death? All this, I repeat, so that at the moment when the parachutist climbs over the fuselage, yes, yes, you see, it's not a mannequin, it's a real woman! there are gentlemen who let out an "Ah!..." of admiration and fright, pretty ladies who hide their eyes with their gloved hands...

I believe that it is time to ban this kind of odious and absurd entertainment, and that there are, in Auch and elsewhere, other ways to have fun.

Franc-Nohain