Page:O que eu vi, o que nós veremos (1918).pdf/27

 I set off again, circumnavigated the Tower and went straight back to Longchamps, where there were already a lot of people waiting for me, worried about the delay.

It was a colossal success when I arrived and stopped the engine.

That same day the press announced to the whole world that the problem of balloon dirigibility had been solved.

I take this opportunity to thank the press all over the world for the sympathy that captivated me, and especially for the "Aerial Idea". It was thanks to this that they instituted incentive prizes and the inventors' brains started working to perfect the airplane, until we could, in 1918, have airplanes and airships that seem to be the result of a thousand-year evolution.

If when the first automobile appeared in the streets of Paris and if when the Eiffel Tower was circumnavigated, the press had not encouraged these initiatives, closely following their progress, we would not have today, I am