The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-01
Aircraft
to Enter
Business
Commerce to BE Carried
Overhead. Says British
Expert.
(eY BASIL NJ. MANLv.)

(6Y BASIL NJ. MANlH.)
Even If the war should end
in a few months, it would still
be to the interest of the
United States to spend mil
lions Of dollars in the devci-
opmcnt Of her airplancs, be-
cause Of the enormous part
which they are destined to
play in the commerce of the
future, IS the opinion Of
Commander J. w. Seldom of
the British royal air service,
who has been cooperating
with the United States gov
eminent on the aviation pro-
gram.
NO one Can conceive the enormous
-
plane" SAYS Commander Seldom. ",,n-
Tess ne has lived in intimate contact
with the phenomenal DEVELOPMENT in
flying since the beginning of the war
and has seen the wonderful perfor-
mances OF the best present day ma
chimes.
"eut the possibilities come
home keen'y to the average man
when you can tell him positively
after the war IL will be poss;ble
for the airpiane to carry uas.en-
gers long distances for only about
h&H the cost per mile that you
pay in this country for taxicabs,
Sixteen cents mile per passenger
Tor distances up to say 500 miles vii,
not only pay all costs, hut should give
clear profit Of something like 100 per
cent.
When you consider how many peo-
pie there are who would willingly pay
nigh price to make the trip from
Washington to New York in two hours
or from Chicago to New York between
breakfast and dinner. it Is easy to un-
derstand there will be large traffic.
Little or No danger.
And on good days there will be it,
tie or no danger. A first class machine
In the hands of a good pilot can he
landed with perfect safety even If tho
engine breaks down a.ld In reasonably
good weather is unlikely to have an ac
cidcnt that will destroy it. This Is
particularly true where river or
lake connects two cities so you can
fly low over the water and have a good
landing place at every point, In your
journey
Think also Of the hundreds OF
places In this country which can now
be reached only over bad roads or
slow trains. Tho airplanc would take
YOU to them in short time and with
a perfectly comfortable Journey,
Airplanc Across Atlantic.
II am sure also Il Is even now feas.
iblc to cross the Atlantic in n Zcppc-
lin. and II will not be long after tho
war before n 2a-hour schedule with
airplancs between New York and Lon
don is established.
Then there Is the air mail service,
iHtiuulHc inc CARRYING OF UBnI pack
ages. We already have machines with
big lifting capaclty---I myself have
flown an airplane that weighed ten
tons-and is really only a step from
that to big planes that will curry u
Erofit-p paying load of several tons.
"Th;nk Of what it will mean to
business when letter or impor.
tant drawings can be sent from y,
New York to London in "a hours
for less than the cost of a cable
message today.
when the war ends. England
France and Germany, too-cvcn II We
have DESTROYED all her war planes
will have developed their airpanc in
dnstrics and their pilots to the point
| where they will be ready to plunge di-
rectly into commercial flying. II tho
United States developed her. aviation
! no more rapidly before the wars end
than she has in the past, she would hc
| clearly outdistanced by ssthc Other
| countries and would have a hard time
entering this great new field Of de-
| velopment."