The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1919-01-24
THE AERoPLANE MAIL
H. H. Windsor in the February Popu-
ular Mechanics Magazine.


been made in the world in other than
postofice affairs, since the day when
the old stage and its six-in-hand
numbered up to the tavern with its
passengers and important event
the mail. The mail is the one big
lottery approved alike by church
and state, and in a way mildly sat
isles that spirit of gambling which
seems inert in even the most correct,
for one never knows what may come
next-a bequeet or bill.
The history of letter carrying has
always been an interesting picture.
1t starts with the solitary messenger,
on foot, Drawing the dangers of wild
animals and wild men. Then the
mounted courier, first a plodding
horseman on an Indifferent beast,
and later a regular Paul Revere with
frequent relays of fresh, feet horses.
Next the stage with its impressive
function, whose arrived was really
an event. From Ctage we diverge to
steamboat and railroad train, and
some look forward to near future
in which even these two shall con-
verge in those swift vehicles of the
air which are hoped to leave behind
all previous carrying agencies as a
mere speck of the horizon. Ever
since the British airman carried a
piano as ballast from somewhere in
England to another somewhere in
France, anything short of moving a
house via the air route seems pos
sible.
The service 10 so new and mex
perienced, however, VIC should not be
too impatient of immediate results,
for obviously generals important
orders which must reach a distant
point regardless of danger to life or
loss of machine, If only minutes can
be saved, is quite different PROPOSE
ton from the great bulk of business
and personal correspondence which
can already be transmitted between
points thousand miles apart in as
many minutes by telephone or tele-
graph as an aeroplane would require
hours to accomplish.
Mere business documents will never
warrant the peril to life and limb
which is an accepted risk in warfare.
The few attempts with long-dis-
lance mail planes which have been
made during the past 30 days sug-
gest the need of considerable per-
fecting of air craft before regular,
dependable air service is possible.
The attempted fight from the Pa
cific coast to Washington with only
two scheduled stops got no farther
than Arizona, while the attempt to
start daily planes simultaneously
from New York and Chicago was a
complete fizzle: In each case the
mail eventually was brought by rail-
road the second half of it's Journey
and consumed from twice to three
times the time it would have made
on fast mail train. To accomplish
even this, Carl Smith, balloonist
and aviator of eleven years expert
ence, was killed, and his machine
wrecked. Other aviators were in
jured, and machines damaged.
Until dependable night service
is possible, there would seem little
present advantage to business inter
ests in an air mail service which re-
quires nine daylight hours, for at
present air mail between New York
and Chicago must be posted either
long before, or received after, bust
ness hours. Botn the 18-hour trains,
in service for years up to the war,
and the present 20-hour trains, are
far more serviceable, for letter
leaving New York at noon reaches
Chicago at 9:15 a. m. the next day.
Allowing one hour in which to de-
liver and two hours for reply, the
answer leaves Chicago at 1920 p. m.
and reaches New York at 9:45 the
following morning: a total of less
than 46 hours, against ~ hours
business time required by air serv-
ice-unless letters are to be written
and posted before six o'clock in the
morning.
With the return of peace and the
opportunity to develop the plane un-
der conditions of deliberate expert
ment, the same spirit of inventive
genius which evolved heavier-than-
air machine, can be counted on to
perfect it. There will naturally be
some days in every year in which no
plane can navigate, just as there are
now some days in which trains are
stalled by snow or water, but few
unusual storms do not constitute the
average weather, altho there prob
ably would be more such days for
planes than railroads.
The perfection of planes in the
next few years will be one of the
4 r. - g.