Perhaps the common attitude toward aviation as merely a dangerous pastime has arisen through the backward policy of the United States army and navy in training so few aviators and in training them in poorly constructed machines, so that the number of accidents has been unusually high.

The truth of the matter is that the aeroplane has reached a fair state of perfection. The war has demonstrated that in warfare it is indispensable; and the number of accidents, except through destruction by enemy fire or hostile air craft, has been very small.

The proposal to form a training camp for aviators at Harvard is a serious but practical undertaking. It should not be entered into in a spirit of adventure nor shunned because of its dangers, for with careful preliminary training and a thorough knowledge of the machine, the risks are not great.