Political Hindrances

Near to apoplexy, last week, was Dr. Hugo Eckener. His Graf Zeppelin was about to sail from Friedrichshafen on a Mediterranean cruise with 28 passengers at $720 per head, when he learned that French officialdom had forbidden him to cross any part of France except at night, and except by way of the mountainous Swiss border. England had recently blocked his passing over Egypt. Cried the heckled aviator: "It is a heartbreaking struggle to achieve anything."

Nonetheless the Graf Zeppelin started for a non-stop flight of 5,000 miles.