The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-09-01

4 Regular mail service by aeroplane to
inaccessible and isolated points may be
established within a year by the Post
office Department. Official regular serv-
ice for rapid special delivery between
New York and Washington. New York
and Chicago. and between other centers
| Is also a probability for the immediate
| future. transatlantic service, in the
opinion OF department, is far from an
impossibility
Every effort is being made by the
Post-office Department to aid the inaugu-
| ration OF regular aeroplane mail delivery.
Any aviator or aviation company has
! only to make application to the DEPART
ent to be permitted to carry mail II he
offers regular service, the department will
give him a contract.
Two and a half hours after letter
was mailed in New York 1t would be in
Washington, IL sent by the aerial mail
service. From New York to Chicago
would require a little over ten hours.
The transcontinental trip from New York
to San Francisco or the trans-Atlantic
trip could be made in about forty hours
instead of about five days.
Second Assistant Postmaster General
Joseph Stewart, in charge of the aero
plane mail service, is an ardent believer
in the practical possibilities OF aerial
mail service.
should Offer Subsidy.
Mr.. Stewart believes the government
should offer a subsidy for aeroplane fleets
devoted to mail carrying. as an encour-
agement OF rapid development.
The stamp ~. S. Aeroplane Mail Serv-
ice' on an envelope is no longer con-
sidered a novelty. by the Post-office De-
partment at least Mr.. Stewart the other
day received letter by aeroplane mail
service from Portland, Greg, carried by
Aviator Walter Edwards to Vancouver,
Wash, and from their by train to Wash
ington. ID. c. Had the aeroplane serv-
ice been used over the entire distance
the five days in transit would have been
reduced to about one-third. Aviator Ed
wards holds a post-office contract for the
regular carrying of mails.
IF Congress will grant the necessary
appropriation. we will select routes de-
sirable for regular aeroplane mail serv-
ice and advertise for contracts Mr..
Stewart declared to-day. This would
be an effective means of encouraging
development In effect, 1t would be a
subsidy for aeroplanes devoted to car
rying the mails, and would serve TO
assist the building up of fleets of ma
chimes for this purpose. An apprOpr!a-
ton OF $4,000 for this purpose was re-
quested this year. but Congress refused |
to grant it. An Appropriation undoubt-
eddy will be requested again next year.
and IL We are successful in obtaining
1t there should be practical develop
ment within a short time"
The most obvious use for aeroplanes
as mail carriers. in the opinion of Mr..
Stewart. is TO points not easily reached
by other means.
There are points in Arizona and New !
Mexico. for example. that at present |
require much time to reach, and even
then only with difficulty. An aeroplane |
service would make the mails quicker !
and more regular. On the treacherous
Alaskan coast. and to the interior OF
Alaska. the delivery Of mails is at /
times attended with great danger"
Fairbanks. the largest town of Alaska !
and the center of its industries. is To- !
Gated 800 miles from the coast. In the |
summer the mail often requires more |
than a month to reach il. In the win |
ter 1t is carried over the ice by dog |
sleds at a great expense to the gov
eminent and danger to the carriers. !
who often are frozen TO death. Aero !
plane delivery would establish a serv-
ice of about eight hours from the coast /
or about thirty hours from Seattle.
These examples are ones that occur
to me as obvious cases. but doubtless
there are many others the Assistant