The Washington herald. [volume], October 24, 1920, Image 20

About The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
u. s. mai
TRANSPORT
IN COST TH
SAY AERIAL
Reduction in Rates Pi
Millions of Other I
Day?200,000 Mes
Sections?Departme
Operation.
By CLIFFORD
Until science dusts its mental
partment a thought-transferring m
anteed mileage at the customary 2
ami lovers must continue to put 1
service.
Tough luck, of course, but Mw<
In this befuddled day of speec
average mind does not jump the t
sustained thrill at the mention of "
granted.
The brilliant achievement of th
across a transcontinental air ma
down as a remarkable thing, not
which probably won't amount to m
T*kfa for Granted. i
The average American expects
the "government" to do these
things. The United States is expected
to do everything first, now
and eventually. And, therefore,
after such achievements pass from
the front page they are quite often
forgotten. This same average American
looks upon the air mail as
"good stuff," but something never
to affect his daily life, and conse
quently fully as essential as a finger
bowl to a mother-made Thanksgiving
dinner.
The attitude is not far from "Now
that we've discovered the North
Pole, which movie shall we see tonight?"
Perhaps the easiest way to convince
one that the United States
Air Mail Service is a personal matter
is to say that if there is a letter
from the North or West In one's
, mail tomorrow morning, it undoubtedly
traveled part of the way behind
a roaring aeroplane propeller.
One may never know whether It
did or not, unless he glances at
the postmark, and figures out the
traveling time in comparison with
known railroad traveling time. For
there is no distinguishing mark on
air mail these days. The era of
special stamps?at a quarter each?
ani special cancellation marks has
passed. Air mail service has been
developed from a novelty, providing
curiously marked envelopes to
show great - grandchildren, to an
every-day affair?as much an everyday
matter as coffee for breakfast.
Prodorf Accurate figures.
Though the service is still in its
infancy, it is no longer a "stunt."
The Postoffice Department gives
you these figures to digest.
Four separate lines are now
in actual operation.
The total daily mileage covered
by the Air Mail Service
ie ?.9S0.
At twenty mail stations. 300
mechanics and 50 pilots transport
approximately 5.000 pounds,
or 200,000 first-class letters,
daily.
The Air Mail Service operates
sixty-five planes, with fifteen in
reserve.
Operation costs thus far have
proved 15 per cent cheaper than
railroad transportation.
If there still persists the thought
that the United States Air Mail
Service is little more than a "stunt."
understand that its dependability is
practically a 25 to 1 shot. Twentyfive
days out of thirty the Air Mail
(delivers on time, faster than railroad.
On the Washington-New
York run. at least, this monthly
performance has been regularly
maintained. There is no Sunday
fly ?n?.
The four routes now in actual
, op- ration are:
The Transcontinental run. New
York to San Francisco, a distance of
2.6^0 in lies.
The Washington to New York run,'
1 19.'? miles.
The Chicago to St. Louis run, 270
' Bile#.
And the Chicago-Twin cities' run |
1 Minneapolis and St. Paul), 370
; nlle*.
Planes traverse all runs in both
hrections every day.
I Han Uecome Fact.
With planes taking off from intermediate
stations on the overland ;
Toss-country route, fourteen different
loads of mail, each load averaging
350 t<> 400 pounds, shoot throuprh J
i/ie air lanes daily. Which may
f-nally bring the conclusion that the
e lement of "stunt" has been pushed
?*ut 'of the United States air mall
nrvtce.
Forgetting for the moment the interest
which naturally is attached
t Washington's participation in the
!r mall," consider the magnitude
the task to keep in daily op^ration
the greatest of the four runs,
tr.e New York to Frisco "hop."
J.aown in the service as the "Transc
>otlnental." which began operations
September 8.
It should be clearly understood
that this long distance jump over
2.*50 miles as the crow flies is not ,
undertaken by one machine, nor is
the same mail expedited to and
f*om the Pacific Coast entirely by
air transportation. The business of
the planes on this route is to make
rail connections which help to beat
th#* steam lines at their own grame.
Here then is an explanation of
the manner In which the transit I
time of mails between New York
and San Francisco is reduced from
niaety-one to fifty-seven hours in |
winter months and to fifty-four I
hours In summer.
Explanation of Speed. /
There is only one through train)
cornection in twenty-four hours between
New York and San Francisco.
Thi* train is No. 35, leaving New
York at 8:40 p. m. Since the bulk
of New York's tremendous mail is
deposited in letter boxes in various
parts of the city after 4 p. m. it is
clear that this mail, amounting to j
car'oad lots, cannot be collected, de-I
livered to the postoffice and dis-j
trlbuted In time to get all of the J
Sar Francisco and Pacific Coast j
mail on the 8:40 train. There is no!
through Wain service until the next
nig'it at 8:40 o'clock.
The New York plane, ar 5:30 a. m.
T?iC*day. takes 400 pounds or 16.000,
o* thes?# left-over letters and deliv- '
ers them to train No. 35's connection I
at <'hicago Tuesday afternoon. This
mail has been advanced twenty-four I
hours.
Tim Air Mail at Chicago then I
awaits the arrival of train No. 43 at
li.-aso. from which it take* i.ootl
of San Francisco bound mail
LSERVIC
:ATIONLESS
AN BY RAIL
, DIRECTORS
uts Work on Par With
.etters Handled Each
sages Carried in AH
nt Has 65 Planes in
L. MEREDITH.
attic and gives the Postoffice Deadline
capable ot delivering guar-cents-an-ounce
rate, bill collectors
up with ijo-miles-an-hour air mail
c can't have everything.'*
I, billions and shock-absorbers," the I
rack jior experience any degree of j
120 miles per." Speed is taken for;
ie United States in literally putting !
il service is absent-mindedly put
altogether unexpected, but a thing1
uch as a pure business proposition. I
I
'and carrics it to Cheyenne where it
: overtakes train No. 35's connection
and delivers the mail to that krain. j
j These 1,000 pounds of mail have
been thus advanced twenty-four ]
hours.
At Cheyenne, the Air Mail takes
from the train the 16,000 letters origj
inally carried by plane from New
| York to Chicago and delivers them
i that same afternoon in San Francisco
j The train would not have arrive^
j in San Francisco until the next afternoon.
I By this service the Air Mail haa
i advanced 400 pounds of mail forty- i
, two hours and 1,000 pounds twenty- |
; four hours into San Francisco.
And on the eastbound run, the
mail plane leaves San Francisco at I
daybreak for New York, advancing
the mail twenty-four hours by putting
in on train No. 20, leaving Og- j
den at 6:25 that night. The plane,
leaving Salt Lake at 6 a. m. ad- i
vances the mall from the Salt Lake j
and Los Angeles line, and local accumulations
in Salt Lake, twelve
hours into Cheyenne. There the!
New York bound mail is taken from
train No. C and advanced into Chicago
twenty-four hours. The plane
| leaving Chicago at 6 a. m. advances
the mail to the New England and
Atlantic States one full business ;
day.
Mont Difficult Route.
The transcontinental daily air
1 mail is the most difficult permanent !
; flying project yet undertaken. It I
has required the working out of |
1 infinite details for a daily operation j
of a route nearly 3.000 miles long, i
I under fiying conditions which in |
I winter promise to be most trying,
j At Chepenne, Salt Lake and Ileno J
the daily flying with a full load of
j mail must be made at altitudes
{ranging from 12.000 to 14,000 feet'
above sea level, and over high wind- i
I swept plateaus with powerful headwinds
to cut down speed of the
planes. Intensely cold weather and ;
snow will be encountered this win- |
tvr, all of which has demanded ad- I
I vance preparations. Powerful ra- I
jdio stations for communication with
j the planes in the mountain sections
j have been installed at Reno, Salt j
i Lake, Cheyenne and Omaha, and 1
every precaution is being taken for j
| the safety and comfort of the pij
lots.
j Nearer the mail heart of Wash- j
I ington, perhaps, is the Washington- i
' to-New York branch of the service. |
J Those who might believe such serv- j
| ice is an occasional happening may j
; step to the rear of the city post- j
office any weekday morning a few j
j moments before 10 o'clock. The;
| air mail truck rushes out at 10, j
j with 350 to 400 pounds of New York !
j mail, bound for College Park. Md. j
i Thirty minutes later the truck pulls i
! up tfc a waiting plane, whose en- |
| gine'begins its roar as soon as the:
I pouches are stowed in the forward
i cockpit.
Wanhington Boy*.
j Another thirty seconds and the
j plane is nosing its way with a rush
I toward Newark, the terminal for
New York delivery. Three Washington
boys are on this run?W.
M. Barr, Paul P. Scott and Randolph
G. Page.C all former fliers.
Page is the second oldest flier in
the mail service,-this being his sixteenth
month of duty. Page was
the pilot on the first New York-to- j
An O. Henr
I*. "The knights are dead; * \
Their swords are rust. #
Except a few who have to hustLe
all the time
To raise the dust."
DEAR READER: It was summertime.
The sun glared down |
upon the city with pitiless j
ferocity. It is difficult for the suni
to be ferocious and exhibit com-i
punction simultaneously. The heat I
was?oh, bother thermometers!?i
who cares for standard measures,
' anyhow? It was so hot that?
The roof gardens put on so manyl
extra waiters that you could hope
j to get your gin fizz now?as soon as
i all the other people got theirs. The
J hospitals were putting in extra cots
for bystanders. For when little
I woolly dogs loll their tongues out
and say 'woof, woof!" at the fleas
that bwe em, and nervous old black
bombazine ladies screech "Mad dog!"I
and policemen begin to shoot, somebody
is going to get hurt. The man
from IJbmpton, N. J., who always
wears an overcoat in July, had
turned up in a Broadway hotel
drinking hot Scotches and enjoying
his annual ray from the calcium.
Philanthropists were petitioning
the Legislature to pass a bill requiring
builders to make tenement
fire-escapes more commodious, so
that families might die all together
(of the heat instead of one or two
] at a time. So many men were telling
you about the number of baths
they took each day that you wondered
how they got along after the
jreal lessee of the apartment came
back to town and thanked 'em for
taking such good care of it. The
young man who called loudly for
cold beef and beer in the restau-J
rant, protesting that roast puHet ?
and Burgundy was really too heavy '
for such weather, flushed when hb
? COVERS 6,980 IV
\ ^v_ J .. ___ deposed Luias
t S^SEATTLE hfow in operation
i Sact LAKECrrW iM/^t Ghcyenne i
^ ^ ^_i?*!z y I *">"' '
r.SAN francisco j / J I
S i Dmvm
\ _ /- / 1
I PW ]-pt?
\ v * rn^
)_ u^i, ^"sSjJ^ ,cj | dal.
; CjS*?nii
_ t^Gordo Cjyi
^ I OQ^toSueno ^
r. j <^5tAndr??? ^r\j^ / A
K v '"- / k t?.w \ /
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* lmu^\
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Chicago hop of the Inaugural trans- The windshield may be in windcontinental
trip. shield heaven, the steering wheel
At the Newark end of the "line" ma>' be a bit loose, and a few of
th?* Washington bound mail plane *be cJr"?^tT8 may be "in the spirit,"
takes ofT at 9:30. arriving at College but somehow you and the mail will
Park between 11:30 and 12:00 I Ket there on time, without you and
o'clock. Five minutes after the ' the mal1 being prematurely dislanding:
gear scuffs up jts cloud or i tributed on the way. The mail Just
dust ut th?* end <>f the downward , K^t s JLhere and the manner of
glide, the mail pouches are bound- ] JUI"P 's onl>" a detail. Once the
ing city-ward via motor truck. *ruck comes to a stop beside the
Which. summed up in the business < waiting ship. you will want to i
man's terms, means that mall c ou* and *ear around the field,
dropped into the New York post- jJu"1 *? ,ive up to the mad Pace to
office early in the morning is deliv- whlch y??ur TtXQ9 ha*e become acered
in Washington. 200 miles dls- cu8tomed llt Th,s rushing business
tant, that afternoon. ! *?ts you ,ike a phot in the arm and
before you know it you have caught
. arks KuHheil to Office. the spirit of this branch of the posSometlme.
if you ever get the tal service.
chance.?good luck and a permit,? At the field you nnfl tnis same
take a ride on the front seat of an spirit of "Must" in every man on
air-mail truck. You will perhaps the lot. Pretty landings, good flylive
a less nervous existence if you ing. performance records, every d<*never
seek the opportunity, but tail of keeping the mail moving
never consider life complete until comes in for its commendation, but
you have experienced such a lift. j first in the mind of every mechanic ,
')
y Story?A Midsummer Knij
met your eye, for you had heard he landed a three-pound brown last
him all winter calling, in modest week."
tones, for the same ascetic viands. "Nonsense!" cried the other man.
Soup, pocketbooks. shirtwaists, ac- "Go ahead, if you like, and boggle
tors and baseball excuses grew around in rubber boots, wearing
thinner. Yes. it was summertime. yourself out frying to catch fish.
A man stood at Thirty-fourth When I want one I go to a cool
Street waiting for a downtown car. restaurant and order it. I laugh
A man of forty, gray-haired, pink- at you fellows whenever I think
faced, keen, nervous, plainly dress- of you hustling around in the heat
ed, with a harassed look around the in the country thinking you are
eyes. He wiped his forehead and having a good time. For me Father
laughed loudly when a fat man with Knickerbocker's little improved
an outing look stopped and spoke farm with the big shady lane runw
tn him. ning through the middle of it.
"No. siree," he shouted with de- The fat man sighed over his
fiance and scorn. "None of your friend an<j went away." The man
old mosquito-haunted swamp, and who taught New York was the
w greatest summer resort in the
sk>scraper mountains without ele- country boarded a car and went
vators for me. When I want to buzzing down to his office. On the
get away from hot weather I know way he threw away his newspaper
iow to do it. New York, sir, is and looked up at a ragged patch
the finest summer resort in the 0f sky above the housetops.
country. Keep in the shade and "Three pounds!" he muttered, abwatch
your diet, and don't get too sently. "And Harding isn't a liar,
far away from an electric fan. Talk I believe, if I could?but it's imabout
your Adirondacks and your possible?they've got to have anCatskiils!
There's more solid com- other month?another month at
fort in the borough of Manhattan least."
than in all the rest of the country in his office the upholder of urban
together. No, siree! No tramping midsummer joys dived, headforeup
perpendicular cliffs and being most, into the swimming pool of
waked up at 4 in the morning by business. Adkins, his clerk, came
1,000.000 flies, and eating canned and added a spray of letters, memgoods
straight from the city for oranda and telegrams.
me. Little old New York will take At 5 o'clock in the afternoon
a few select summer boarders; com- the busy man leaned back in his
forts and conveniences of h^mes? chair, put his feet on the desk and
that s the ad that I answer every mused aloud:
time." ?j wonder what kind of bait Hard"You
need a vacation," said the ing used?" i
fat man. looking closely at the ?
other "You haven-t been away she was all in whlte that d
from town in years. Better come and thereby Compton lost a bet to
?h? ,T?. T 7h? H ua.?,yhOW ^"line', had watered she
The trout I" the Beaverkill are would wear light blue. for she-ltnow
Jumping at anything now that look. I that was his favorite color, and
like a fly. Harding write* me that Compton va. a millionaire's .on,
*
1ILES DAILY AND I
V.
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Pepcndif^UpoAConjrtsiAppro^ialiori^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-"^^^""'"^l
MO?"TS?A^^^/* Jk/^
^Minneapolis L^N>BOSTO?I
GI^STPaia ?7 / / i /V. / r .'"\3
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. V __SMTAUK"i//~'<^ y^
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3m?h*\ ?U?r) y^Hic/k60 (VEl>N0^.yP>"1'-A'W^?1*
???\ \ ?y I ^^1'- C^OTV
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' f~~~ Atlanta j>
''^ ^ <X
^'Austin / >.
' JU-i-'v-lSv, U^NEWOrleans n \
SANCTON 10 'J ^
; is the business of "getting the mail | building*, this Postoffice Department,!
through." While they work in the on the outside, rather poorly lightmaintenance
shops, between take- ed and somewhat sleepy on the inj
offs and landings, these mechanics side?until you walk Into the office
will tell you storief of crashes, en- ; of Charles I. Stanton, general sugine
troubles, and poor flying con- perintendent of the air mail.
Idltions. but at the end of every I Qn the walls are curious arrangeyarn
is that same phrase?"but we maT,to ,___ ? ..
got the mail through. ahead of rail- colored tag, on small
road time." It recalls to your mind %"/ ind a b,t U?'""
the stories of the super-detective un,il >?". flnd th* taf" are lined
! who always comes back with his "pd'%i'slon" under ,he names ot
man"?always. } flying fields.
And now that you Tiave an idea', By this ar.angement the superof
the actual working of the Air> 'ntendent 1needs only to glance up;
Mail, take a look at the machinery from 's desk to know at once the
that makes possiblo such depend-! p*act _loea,ion of every ;'ship ' and;
l able operation. I P ^ the service. His office is
_ .. 1 the nerve center of the system, the
In tke a*kinffton Office. > dispatcher's room, wherein is kept the
In the smoky.looking granite master eye. Every plane movement j
building at Pennsylvania avenue from one station to another is re- j
and Eleventh street, up in one cor-1 corded by changing the respective ;
ner on the flfth floor, there are j tags from one hook to another,
two or three crowded rooms where Though the air mail is primarily
the paper work of the/ air mail is ; a branch of the Postoffice Depaxt- j
transacted. A rather dusty-looking ! ment. and therefore under the gen-1
???????????
TKI-'C DrMm "She was aI1 in white 11,31
" L/lCd.111 lost a bet to Gaines. C<
and that almost laid him open to jdaj?the day when they had the
the charge of beting on a sure thing, j mock tournament, and the men rode
But white was her choice, and clumsy farm horses around in a
Gaines held up his head with twenty- glade in the woods and caught curfive's
lordly air, 1 tain rings on the end of a lance.
The little summer hotel in the Such fun!
mountains had a lively crowd that Cool and dry as the finest wine
year. There were two or three came the breath of the shadowed
young college men and a couple of j forest. The valley below was a
artists and a young naval officer on v'8'on seen through an opal hate,
one side. On the other there were A white mist from hidden falls
enough beauties among the young klur^e5 ^he ?reen of a hand *
ladies for the corespondent of a j breadth of tree tops half-way down
society paper to refer to them as a ,B?r,?e . Y?,U?th made mcrr>'
"hflVV? R..t tv>* ***** .. hand-in-hand with young summer.
.t?. y W.f % n aT?n? the Nothing on Broadway like that.
stars was Marj Sewell. Each one The vilIaKers gathered to see the
of the young men greatly desired j cjt (olks pursue thelr mad droliery.
to arrange matters so that he could ! The woods ra w|th the laughtcr
pay her millinery bill, and fix the ?f lx,? aod *nalads and 8p*itel.
furnace, and have her do away with Galnes caUght most of the rings,
the Sewell part of her name for- His was the privi]ege to crown the
ever Those who could stay on^ a n of thc tournament. He was
week or two wentaway hinting! at ! the conquering knight?as far as
pistols and blighted hearts. But ;-the rings went. On his arm he wore
Compton stayed like the mountains a white scarf. Compton wore light
themselves, for he could afford it. | b]ue. she had declared her preferAnd
Gaines stayed because he was , ence for biuc, but ehe wore white
a fighter and wasn't afraid of J^hat day.
millionaires sons, and well, he Gaines looked about for the queen
adored the country. tc crown her. He heard her merry
"What do you think, Miss Mary?" laugh, as if from the clouds. She
he said once. "I knew a duffer in had slipped away and climbed ChifnNew
York who claimed to like it in ney Rock, a little granite bluff, and
the summer time. Said you could stood there, a white fairy among
keep cooler there than you could the laurels, fifty feet abov* their
in the woods. Wasn't he an awful heads.
silly? I don't think I could breathe Instantly he and Compton aclon
Broadway after the first of cepted the implied challenge. The
| June." bluff was easily mounted at the
"Mamma was thinking of going rear, but the front offered small
[back week after next," said Miss hold to hand or foot. Each man
Mary with a lovely frpwn. i quickly selected his route and be"But
when you think of it," said j San to climb. A crevice, a bush, a
Gaines, "there are lots of jolly I slight projection, a vine or tree
places in town In the summer. The I branch?all of these were aids that
roof gardens, you know, and the-- counted in the race. It was all fooler?the
roof gardens." ery?there was no stake; but there
Deep*?t blue was the l*k? UuU was youth in U, wo? ruiw, tai
y
-IAS 20 SI
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Top Irft -f>e riaviland twin Hi Air
Mail plane now in use on the Chi- t
cago-Twin Cities run. Hie Air Mall j
*ervice remodeled many I>e H.. v|land
war planes to permit equipment
with twin 'liberty" motors.
(
Top right?Randolph G. Page. Wash- 1
ington boy. second oldest pilot in ]
the Air Id ail Service, now in his j
sixteenth month of active duty. .
Pare is on the Washington-New
York run.
* I
Left center?Otto Praeger. Second *
Assistant Po*tma*ter General. un- 1
der whose general supervision the <
Air Mail la managed. (
Center oral?Putting 400 pound* of j
Near York mail aboard a Curtisa
R-4 at the Washington terminal. 1
College Park. Md Mail is ru*bed J
to the plane by motor truck from 1
the City Postoffice. ! j
# 1
i l
Right center?Charles I. Stanton.
General Superintendent of the Air .
Mail, and (below i D V. Colyer. 1
Chief of Flying, who direct opera- i'
tions asd see that the mail "geta 1
through." i
. 1 ^
At the left?Map showing air lines !
now operating and those proposed
in thla country and the We?t Indies.
1
??????????????I i
1
era] supervision of Postmaster General
Burleson, its operation is di- ;1
rected by Otto Praeger. Second Assistant
Postmaster General, through!
Stanton and his staff. The other
heads of divisions are Leon B. Lent, '
superintendent of engineering:: 1>. ,
V. Colyer, chief of flying; J. Clark |
Edgerton, chief of radio, and George j!
L. Conner, chief clerk. Through
these offices has come the gradual '
development of the air mail service, j
Until announcement is made of a),
different policy the air mail will ,
hereafter increase its network of ],
operations only through contracts :
with air-line corporations compos- /
ed of Individuals not in government
service. Study of this method of
conducting the air mail work has
brought the decision to give thisi,
method a trial.
Private Capital Let in.
By such contract arrangements,!
the service has recently closed with Ii
the Lawson Airline Corporation of
day; and thereby Compton
jmpton had wagered?"
light hearts, and something else
that Miss Clay writes so charmingly
about.
Gaines gave a great tug at the j
root of a laurel and pulled himself ;
to Miss Mary's feet. On hia arm he
carried the wreath of roses; and J
while the villagers and summer
boarders screamed and applauded
below, he place it on the queen's
brow.
"You are a gallant knight." said
Miss Mary.
"If I could be your true knight j
always," began Gaines, but Miss j
Mary laughed him dumb, for Comp-]
ton scrambled over the edge of the J
rock one minute behind time. '>
What a twilight that was when
they drove back to the hotel! The
opal of the valley turned slowly to
purple, the dark woods framed the <
lake as a mirror, the tonic air stirred
the very soul in one. The first
pale stars come out over the moun- !
tain tops where yet a faint glow
of?
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Gaines/* i
said Adkins.
The man who believed New Tork
to be the finest summer resort in
the world opened his eyes and
kicked over the mucilage bottle on
his desk.
"I?I believe I was asleep,** he
said.
"It's the heat." said Adkins. "It's
something awful In the city these"?
"Nonsense!" said the .other. "The
city beats the country ten to one in
summer. Fools go out tramping in
muddy brooks and wear themselves I
out trying to catch little fish as
long as your finger. Stay In town ]
and Keep comfortable?that's my I
idea."
"ftooM letters just c*a?* AA
rATIONS"
>LAN NEW LINES
TOUCHING COLON
)evelopment Since ^ar
Will Extend Service
From Coast to Coast.
VAY TO CUBA IS OPEN
flail Plane From Key ^est
To Havana and Panama
To Start Soon.
? 1
(tlwaukee. for th* establishment of
una from New York to AUabU;
>ittsburgh to St Louli and K?na..
City, and Cleveland to Detroit, i
ieaplanea will be uaed over the
aat named route, over lake Erie.
Though the Lawaon lines will b?
n operation soon, the. actual instalation
of regular aervlce will de>end
upon the completion of a spelal
type mail plane capable of carvins
liM pound* of mail- Ono
luch plane haa already been built
nd has successfully proved Ita
arge ioad carrying power.
A fourth contract haa been let to
he Weat Indlea Alrwaya CorporaIon.
for the transporting of mail
rom Key Weat to Havana. Cuba.
because of the short diatance haula
>oaatble In the Weat Indlea. between
he many adjacent lalanda. the air
nail la planning an Intenaive development
of the aervice in the land
>f the Caribbean The Key WeatUvana
line will atart operations
November 1.
It waa in this aarne vicinity that
he first International air mail servce
w-as opened last winter, when
peclal arrangements with the post.fflce
of Miami. Fla.. and the IX^
tartment in Washington. gave to
he Aero Limited Flying Company
he contract to carry mall from
bflami to Bimlnl, an laland In tha
Jahama (Britiah) group 1.0 mtlea
fthe Florida coaat- In 5# mlnutea j
int seaplanes gave the temporary
nhabitants of that island, many of
hem rich Americana taking refuge
rom the Land of Thirst, mall which
rould otherwise reach them via biweekly
steamer service.
Schedalr ( Pay.
I- In the advertisement for con.racts
over propoaed routea. there
ire points worthy of notice No
wmpensatlon will be allowed for
.rips not performed. For each such
failure In a month over 15 per
:ent of the scheduled trip* for the
nonth. twice the pay of the nonperformed
trip may t>e deducted,
knd there are many other such
>enaltles. which, summarised, show
hat a company, be f one conslderng
such contracts, must be weH
irmed with capital to prevent fallare
in performance. Extra planes
nuat be at hand to 'carry on." In
.&se trouble develops, or the great?st
enemy of the air game, tha
crash." overtakes the engineers of
hese air locomotives, itotor trucks
nust form part of me line's equipment
for the contractor must guarmtee
mail will leave the flying
ield for the ooftoftlce within five
ninutea of landing, and he not more ^
han JO minutea In tranait to the
jostofflce
Economically, the air mall haa
>een Juatlfled as alrnally as It has
seen justified as a flying propoaiion
Not only has the cost of op rationa
been kept down far below
what the original friends and supporters
of the air mall had anticipated.
but by reason of the op'r?tlon
of the service between Washington
and New Tork there haa
been a saving to the government
?t the rate of M!.60? a year and
a saving between New Tork and
Chicago at the rate of more than
1100 000 a year. This means that
in carrying first-class mail matter
which requires distribution on tha
trains the air mail operates mora
cheaply than do the distributee
rars on trains, wherever there la a
large quantity of mall to diapatoh.
One positive lesson learned from
the operation of the aerial mail i*
that the element of danger that
existed in training aviator? in military
flying" and exhibition fl>ing |
Almost entirely absent from commercial
flying. The record of the
service covering the first year of
Its operation, throws an interesting
light on the dangers of aviation^
In the y^ar period, covering a travel |
nf 138,255 miles, there was not a
case of an airplane carrying man
falling out of the sky and there wae
not a single death of an aviator
carrying malls There werw two
deaths, one aviator falling durinc
n exhibition flight when he wa*
not engaged in mail transportation
and one being crushed by a whirling
propel lor of a machine on the
ground.
Better Ki??w? In Korop*.
Two years of the closest attention
to every detail in the operation and
development of the air mall haa
demonstrated that It will supplement
every present mode of transportation.
but It will not for some
vears supplant them nor even cut
Into their operations sufficiently to
be felt as a financial factor.
Whether or not the air mall will
ever become all-air mall la something
only time will disclose, but In
the meantime Americans should understand
that the l*nited States air
mail is a "going" concern?that il
can no longer rightly be considered
a "government stunt."
kins. "I though you might like to
glance at them before you go."
Let us look over his shoulder and
read Just a few lines of one of them
My dear, dear husband: Just rereived
your letter ordering us to
stay another month. - . Rita
cough Is almost gone. . . . Johnny
has simply gone wild like a little
Indian. . Will be the making
of both children . . work ao
hard, and I know that your business
can hardly afford to keep u?
here so long . . . best man that
(ver . you always pretend
that you like the city in summer
f . trout fishing that you used
to be so fond of and all to
keep us well and happy . ?
come to you If It were not doing
the babies so much good ... I
stood last evening on Chimney Rock
In exactly the same spot where I
was when you put the wreath of
roses on my head through
all the world when vou
said you would be my true knight
fifteen years ago, dear.
Just think! have always
been that to me over and
ever,
MART.
The man who said he thought
New \ork the finest summer reaort
In the country dropped into a caf*
en his way home and had a gla?a
of bfer under an el*ctrt<* tan.
"Wonder what kind of a fly old
Harding uaed," he said to himself.
kMJu, tu Vkwlv 6/adicataJ
4 !