The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-07-16
For the Good of
 the Community

N improvement aSSOclatlOn meeting Tn Montgomery a few days ago, Major Knight, in charge of the aviation repair depot at Montgomery, said more aerial routes had been charted out of Montgom- cry than any other city in the United United States and that the entire State of Alabama had been charted by airmen. By the way, he said 600 men are en- ployed at the Montgomery depot and that if congress is not too parsimonious the monthly pay roll there soon will approx innate S1,000,000
 Aviation is to be commercialized, Major Knight told the good roads people, and in time every city in Alabama and the entire country will be shipping by airships and the people will be travelling the sky routes.
 After Major Knight had expatiated on \ the air service and painted it's future in, glowing colors as a commercial transpor- tatlon artery some who had listened atten- lively wanted to know the relation be- tween air ships and good roads. The ques- tion was put to Major Knight. but others answered.
 "Airships, they said, would make trips between the larger commercial centers carrying parcels for intermediate points, landing at certain intervals for the dis charge of cargoes and to take on other packages. At smaller stations where land ings are not made either for the lack of suitable facilities or insufficient business, parcels will be dropped from low attitudes by means of parachutes. This method of delivering daily papers through the prov inces has been tried out with more or less success, it is said, by London publishers and one or two publishers in the United States.
 With the extension of the rural tele- phone service people in the country could step to the telephone, order such goods from the city as they might need, and an hour or two later have them dropped from alrships at the station nearest their homes. This station may, and often will be, some distance away, but with good roads the farmer can cover the distance in his auto mobile or buggy get his purchases and be back home with the loss of only few min utes or maybe an hour from his work"
 That may be a dream. But it was Full tons dream that gave the steamship to the world. Langley and Wright ard others dreamed of flying and all the world isnow familiar with the flying machine. It was the drearl of farmer that gave uS1the cotton gin.
 With the rapid progress made in the de- velopment of the air service and air craft during the last four or five years this dream of commercial air routes may be a reality within short time
 There are over 15,000 trained aviators in the United States and it is said of these men that they do not care to forsake the air for any other vocation or business.
 Birmingham has one or two fairly good landing places, but aviators say they are not adequate for the larger planes, and it is the larger planes that will be used in the commercial air service.
 Birmingham is suitably located for cross country air route station whether the route be from east to west or north to south. It is the industrial center of the South and by aggressive and judicious en- couragement could be made equally as i'm portant as a commercial center. Within 100 miles of Birmingham over 100000 people live These include business men and industrial and agricultural workers. With established commercial routes Bir- mingham merchants could deliver goods to the remotest portions of this rich section which includes North Alabama and parts of MiSssSippi