Mexico weekly ledger., 1918-06-13
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VI. D IlhInhHhI IlLhll0
WIuHETs FIRST TALK

" S Hzszz==T. - ~ MeKto0s
forme basinszs men and always a
Nexie haosIsr. uho nov hvo in
wasAars@ q c writes The foliSS-
ne letter . tn Le3rcrs
WASHINGTON. d c. June 8
1878
Dear Mr. White; had The pleas
ure Il beng in The Senate gallery
vhen Senator WHEY made his maid
"a sPeesh IN favor q me Underwood
Resolution 70 Hmt dehatc spend
sod deal ef tina In the galleries Of
the Senate and House listening % the
debates There Is 80 much confusion
In the House one cannot easily get
the run q The proeodings or hear very
much of the debatoA
In the senate there Is more dccorum
and better order prevails, 70 that one
can hear most Of the speakers, eOnse-
queutly I 70 10 the Senate gallery
more frequently. must say that the
Scnators paid unusually good atten-
tion and Kept their seats while Sena-
tor Whitley was speaking, many OF
then congratulate him when he took
AIS seat Certainly the Senator is get
ting Of on the right foot for the scna-
torial race this Fall I suppose Au-
drain will be solid for Whitley for
the ncminatioa and II he is nominated
| presume good Democrats will con-
eede his election.
Prf. and Ms. Ross and myself had
a very pleasant cali on Mrs. Whitley
some two weeks ago. The Senator
was out Rosamond and Mabelle had
not seen each other in a long time and
made a remark or two during the hour.
Mrs. Whitley felt free to express
opinions about matters and people, the
unrestrained by official society ETH
quette supposed to prevail among the
wives of senators, congressman and
officials generally. Mrs. Whitley re-
turned TO st. Louis expecting to be
back in Washington with the children
later in the hummer il they could pro-
cure a suitable home in or near the
city.
Housing conditions in Washington
&c terrible; there probably T a
hundred and fifty thousand more peO-
pie here than there were a year ago,
with no more housing facilities than
when the War began.
When the ten millions Congress ap-
propriated for housing purposes in the
District is expended, perhaps condi-
tons will be improved unless too many.
thousands more newcomers flock to
Washington.
Prof. Ross like thousands Of others
was notified to vacate the house they
have been renting for several years and
because he could not rent a house had
to buy a home.
Just now / am very much interested
in the development of the Air Mail
| Service. Some of your readers may
recall several years ago / predicted
that the Government would be carry
ing mail by aircraft within five years.
Well, my prediction has come true.
Daily mail service by airplane was
inaugurated May Is between Wash
ington, Philadelphia and New York. l
mailed a letter on the first airplane
that left Washington for New York.
This letter was addressed to Witten
D%ennison, the s~ix-year-old grand
nephew of Prof. Ross. An accident oc-
CURED to this plane some 20 miles out
Of Washington, which delayed delivery
in New York, but it got there all the
same. 1t is my belief that this serv.
ice will maintained and extended to
many of the larger cities and towns in
the near future. So boost Mexico and
get airmail service.
Some five years ago / heard Alex.
ander Graham Bell deliver before the
Navy Leaguean address on Aviationa.
an adjunct to National Defense. Mr.
| Bell then advocated that air mai
routes be established by the Postoffict
Department for the purpose of devel
oping the aircraft industry and tn,
training Of officers in a practical wa!
by carrying the mail from city to city
:. Had this suggestion been accepte,
e by Congress and carried out by tn
Post Office Department, possibly MI
Borglum and others could not hav
: made the charge with a semblance o
truth that on May IL, 1918, our Gov
p eminent had no American-built fight
r ing planes in France.
e 1t is to be hoped that Mr.. Hughe
and the Senate Committee will fin
out what is wrong with the aircrat
industry and that the Aircraft Boar
will turn over a new leaf and get r.
d suits in the shape of more airplant
of the type most needed by the Arm
1. and Navy.
/ We had the pleasure of hearing Coz
is gresham Taylor of Colorado, one (
the ten congressman who went to Il
western front last fall, talk for a
hour on what he saw and heard on Il
trip. MI. Taylor was of the opiniC
l. that the control of the air was one
the most important factors in the wi
ming Of the war and that the Unit,
States will realize this in the near (
ture.
The Army, Navy and Airmen nc
urge the extension of air mail servi
Vi to give training in long distan
flights to American aviators TO
them for finding submarines viii
nd have appeared off our coasts and I
,uy bombing German cities. Alexand
Graham Bell was right, only a little
Use advance Of his time.
Yours very truly,
W. S. HATHAWAY.
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