Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-04
AIR MAIL ACROSS OCEAN
AND COUNTRY PREDICTED
Postmaster Thornton Optimistic Regarding Possibilities of
New Kind of Service-Johnson Tells
of Its Advantages

ANSCONTINENTAL and transat-
L lantic aerial mail service was pre-
dicted today by Postmaster Thornton in
reviewing what has been accomplished
SO far in the service between Philadel-
phia and Washington and Philadelphia
and New York
AS soon as a machine is made which
VIII be strong enough to carry 1000
pounds of mail transcontinental aerial
mail service will be started, Mr. Thorn
ton said
Mr. Thornton has been discussing for
several days with aerial clubs in and
near Philadelphia the possibility of aerial
service across the Atlantic to carry mail
to American soldiers at the front.
The route of such a service, II the
necessary plane can be perfected, would
start at New York, he said, and the
first landing would be made on the north
ern coast of Ireland
From there the mail could be sent in
airplanes TO London and thence across
the channel TO be relayed to the front
As to the possibility of developing
plane for this work Mr.. Thornton be-
lieves it can be done.
q. remember reading about twenty
years ago." he said, "a story Of a bird
man who sailed to the Arctic regions
and created quite a furore among the
natives there Today the birdman Is a
reality. l can see no reason why tho
alrplane cannot undergo the same evo-
luton as the locomotive, automobile
and steamship
1T is a matter of history that Rob-
ert Fulton With his steamboat and the
first locomotive we're sneered at. but
today they have reached high state Of
Development
Il realize that II Will take some time
f1r tt,a
of the airplane, but we must always look
far into the future. Especially must
we consider the situation that will
come at the end of the war Many air
planes have been built to carry on the
war and many more will be made
When peace comes there will be
many industries that have devoted their
entire energies to turning out airplanes
The use in the war Of the airplane has
opened the minds Of the inventors and
turned their attention to t. Until the
war came few gave air travel serious
attention, regarding It more for novelty
than for practical use"
Mr.. Thornton pointed out that air
planes in the service to New York and
to Washington have been avera ging 100
miles an hour and that this being true
the possibility of planes travelling 15O
miles an hour does not seem far off
T. ?. johnson. superintendent Of
malls, believes one of the biggest possl-
bil!ties of airplane mail service is the
replacing Of the telegraph to a certain
extent AS foundation for this belief
he cites the fact that in every instance
in which kilograms were sent to the
destination cities advising of the de-
parture of airplanes from here the
planes arrived first.
Another fact cited by Mr. johnson to
support his statement is the cost The
airplane postage is twenty-four cents
and there is no limit as TO the number
of words, while the telegraph tolls are
much higher and the sender Is ham,
pered by the word limits
Mr. Johnson said he received word
for the first time today that the Wash
ington-New York-Philadelphia service
was being used extensively by Boston
and other larger cities because it is
faster, even though they have to send
their mail part OF the way by train.
Liberty motors are used in some cases
between here and New York. but not to
Washington. The reason for this Mr.
Johnson explained is that the landing
station at Washington is not large
enough to accommodate the larger planes
that are necessary to carry the Liberty
motors Liberty motors are expected to
cups Will Slollll Delter IMAM
the others. and this will mean greater
efficiency for the service, Mr.. johnson
said
The average number of pieces of mail
carried from Philadelphia Is 500 a day.
from Washington 500 a day. and 1000
from New York. Explaining the fact
that the service at present is not being
used as extensively by Philadelphia busi-
ness men was anticipated Mr.. John
son said that there is very good railway
mail service from here to New York