Page:Flying Death.pdf/136

 absolutely desperate," Cawder flung at us, suddenly lifting his head. "The idea of democracy, with its illusion of individual independence, could only arise in a country of little landowners, sparsely settled and living under primitive conditions; it becomes ridiculous under modern, industrial conditions. Riven the colonials, whom we call the makers of America, had to propound the absurdest fallacies to prop up their theory. That all men are born free and equal! Equal!' he mocked, "when a few—a few can fly and the rest must crawl on the ground, as they have from the beginning of the world!"

He pulled himself up nearly straight. No doubt whatever, as I saw the pride in him, that he had been a flyer.

"West Point and Annapolis take the pick of picked men, don't they?" he referred to me.

I nodded.

"How many of them, twice selected as they are, can be passed as fit to fly?"

"Perhaps one in four," I said.

He nodded. "Flyers form the small, small minority—the minority of men naturally