The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-03
AIR MAIL ROUTES
NOT new IDEA
Many Proposed the Plan Long
Before Salt Laker Sug-
geSted 1t.
OLD LETTERS IN FILES
UNCLE SAM HAS HAD SIMILAR
OFFERS FROM MANY SOURCES.

The idea of DR.. Adolph Brodbeck to Il
transmit United States mails by airship |
is not new, nor is his proposition along |
that line, submitted to the government /
this week, an essentially new thing. As
matter of fact, similar ideas were ex-
tant nearly three-quarters of a century |
/ ago, according to old letters that have |
been unearthed from the files in the
/ pOstOfflce department. The letters, |
which tell their own story, and which
! bear the same strain of hopefulness as |
| that found in the letter of DR.. Brodbeck, |
are as follows:
Mobile, Oct. q, 1S45.
Hon. Cave JOhnsOn.-Sir: l see in
the Register and Journal of this city
an advertisement for proposals for
/ transmitting the mails of the United |
/ States to and from all foreign ports,
/ and particularly on seven specified |
/ routes embracing some of the most i'm
portant commercial marts in the world.
| also learn from the same source that
/ it is necessary for those making propo- |
sitionS to transport the mails as above |
1 stated TO state the mode by which they !
will be carried, etc.
Now, without combining myself to |
strict compliance with the various |
acquisitions set forth in the said adver- |
tisement, and with the utmost respect |
for and due Difference to yourself and |
the postoffice department-and l will |
/ add the present administration, the |
! President and the whole country (as l |
am thOrOughgOing democrat)-I make |
the following proposition touching the |
transportation of express mails within |
and out of the United states, viz:
Construction Fund, $4,000.
IF the postoffice department will fur
nish me with two thousand dollars, to
be expended under the supervision of its !
own agent in constructing a machine
upon plan which 1 have fully matdred
for traversing the air ike bird, then /
will obligate myself to transport express
mails to and from all the places men
toned in said advertisement at the
speed of fifty miles per hour for one
year from the first day of May, 1916, for
an amount of money equal to what it
Will cost TO construct any one of the
largest-siZed vessels which are contem-
plated as suitable for the service men
TONED in said advertisement.
This may appear to you a strange
and visionary proposition, but 1 trust
that it viii not be treated lightly and
disregarded on that account We live in
a wonderful era. So great an accom-
] plishment or achievement is worthy of
a little effort What if Holt and others
4 have sQuandered thousands of the peo-
pies money, it does not follow that all
inventors are fools and knaves. We
: ought to trust a little sometimes to the
unObtrusive and humble. The diamond
2 is often found in the molehill as well as
in the mighty river and lofty noun
tain. L can do all 1 propose. Respect
fully, P. o. DAVIDSON"
Great Saving of Time.
Cincinnati Dec. %. 1S4s.
[ nj
partment for the United States of Amer
lca.-Sir: l take the liberty of very re-
spectfully addressing you on the sub
1ect of means of transporting the
mails throughout all America at the
rate of from $50 to 200 miles an hour;
the power which 1 propose has been
tried and proved, and l now take the
liberty, through you, of asking to have
II submitted to any scientific man that
you may be pleased to appoint to inves-
tigate It. 1t could be laid before you
in working model, and We're 1 not
quite conscious of its practicability
would not intrude upon you.
In the case of the introduction of the
telegraph to public use the government
were pleased to inquire into and sane
ton. Now what l propose would be a
thousandfold more of public benefit, and
all ask is inquiry into it by one capa-
bic of investigating and reporting on the
Improvement l propose.
'The following list will show that, If
adopted, what 1 propose land of the
complete success of which L have not
the slightest doubt would be the great
est public benefit ever bestowed on this |
great commercial country.
Reduced to Seven or Eight Hours. |
ITO New York from Cincinnati it |
takes at least four and one-half days to |
have letter forwarded by the present |
mode.
Il propose to do so in seven or eight |
| hours at the farthest. The outfit would |
be very cheap. The maintenance nearly |
| nominal. 1t will work with certainty
at all seasons. Preclude the possibility |
| of mail robbery during transmission. !
Letters or packages will be perfectly |
safe from damage by weather. The rate
of postage would naturally be reduced.
SHOULD you be pleased to entertain
what l now take the liberty of respect
fully proposing 1 shall be prepared to
communicate with any person you shall
| appoint so that the matter may be test
| ed, and have no doubt of the issue.
Hoping that you will pardon the lib
erty L have taken in addressing you, /
! am, sir, your very Obeoient servant,
| ORCHARD CLOONEY