New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-16
Great Aerial Parcel Post
Shows Success in Long Use
Route Is Berlin to London, Freight Is Bombs Pacticabv
in Peace Times Is Questioned Neither
by Germans Nor British

in five minutes, all nboardp Or.
Local TO Monte Carlo leaves from
track nine; let 'em OF FIRST, pleas.,v
The ramifcations Of the British En-.
pire scheme are endless because branch
lines can be established from any poin,
and all of Europe can be covered. tn,
advantage OF the British Empire, ana
so Of all he Allies, is In the fac. .h,,
nearly all the important centres Of trf.
fc are British territory, or, in oth.
words, the British Empire can proyid.
a whole scheme in itself.
In the plan given above Russia, Italy.
France and Greece supply what the En-.
pire omits; LEIPZIG alone, OF German
territory, appears, and that can be
avoided If necessary.
Both the German and tire British
plans take account Of the necessity for
| regulation.
II Germany follows her normal meth.
cd the whole concern may be taken
over By the government and 10 troubl.
can arise between competing com.
panies, merged interests, individual
flyers and other conflicting Interest,",
In fact the German Federal Council
presently will discuss a general serie,
OF regulations for air traffic, including
such questions as Imperial mails. land.
ing stages, customs officers and police.
The British traditions OF liberty and
Of individual enterprise make any such
blanket regulation hard TO conceive. In
fact, the first problem which Britain
has TO solve is that Of the ownershio
of the air.
Lawsuits have established the land.
holders proprietary right 70 the air
above his property. How far up doe,
that right extend?
Lord Montagu proposes 20 establish
a limit by lsw-2,00o feet, or nearly
half a mile. The level above tina. 4.
reserves Cor commercial vehicles. ay.
ing with silenced engines and al
speed no greater than eighty miles an
hour.
1t is not generally understood By
laymen that aeroplanes lose speed Is
they go up, and that above $1,000 feet,
for example, the ordinary biplane has
lost more than 30 per cent Of its dri,.
|, ing power. Incidentally, that is why
have the full speed Of a biplane a,
these great attitudes. Because CON-
mercial planes. which will correspond
10 freight trains, will want to eeono-
mize in gasolene consumption and will
be comparatively slow, az best. they are
assigned TO the 2,000-4,000 foot level
The zone above the ordinary CON-
merce level would be for general air
I traffic, ordinary flying and express bag.
gage. Planes there would fly at s0-l20
miles en- hour, also with silenced en-.
gines. The zone from 6.000-l0000 fee.
would be for the official planes Of each
, nation, such as those carrying naval,
military and civil forces, police planes
and all others authorized By the GOV.
ernments participating in a special air
convention drawn up before the lines
were begun. The ordinary mail ser.
vice would also use this level
Above 10000 feet Lord Nontagu
would internationalize the air. Here
would pass the very fastest planes,
carrying special delivery letters. gov.
eminent dispatches and all goods, pas
sengers and messages which demand
immediate transportation. A business
man in hurry could mount o this
level and reach London from New York
before his partner, starting by train
from the American metropolis, could
reach Chicago.
Details Worked Out
Lord Nontagu's proposals have been
met With great enthusiasm, but aerial
experts have criticised his scheme Of
levels because of the difficulties with
atmospheric conditions. A fog blanket,
for example, might occupy a whole
level and make all traffic impossible.
But generally it is accepted that the
police 'planes-yery swift things, some.
thing like the Sopwith pups" now used
by the British army, and mounted with
machine gun-would have the right
to fly at all levels and would be able
70 swoop down upon an offender on any
J level. In place OF the local constable
the aerial police would take the regis
tered numbers OF planes breaking the
| speed limit and might sweep up along
! side an errant plane with reques, 10
report 10 the police station the next
morning.
Many other details already have been
worked out. The zones are 10 be hve
miles wide; port and starboard are 10
/ be indicated By floating signals ana
/ lights landing stages will be arranged
and customs duties on air-borne trsfhe'
/ Of course, will be levied, although an
smuggling will be easy. Enthusiasts
! free-traders in fact have declared that
the aeroplane spells the end Of tsrH
/ walls.
The Geneva conferences which have
made international mails possible prob
! ably will De the model for the confer.
erce which certainly will have to DC
called 10 get aerial traffic into action
: In the course of time i is possible tnH
I agreements FOR interactiU will be
reached with the German Zeppelin
| routes. 1T
The poli..cal implications OF ootn
! schemes for air traffic are brought 20
minG a. soon as one thinks OF the Ger
man plan. Although the Germans
would be the last 20 admit II, the 81
route il their final. despairing resource
I for tlcy now realize that the war has
cut them or by land and by sea irom
their richest markets. IN
'If we cannot 80 TO Bagdad by lshd'
they seem TO be saying, land II We car
no. keep no 4 colonial empire by Sea
then we viii establish an ar route let
our commerce and we viii begin aga
our peaceful penetration Of foreign
countries Our commercial travelIeI
and our secret agents will be that mu'"
closer home. -, :,
"At first il will be costly 20 snip u
bulk, but German goods will always n
main cheaper than the manufacture
OF our enemies. German thoroughn.
will pave the way for German produces,
and in the end we shall win back "n''
the war has cost US"