Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-05-29
COAST TO COAST
AIR mai. LINE
Government Officials Plan to
Have Service in Opera
ton Soon.
UNCLE SAM WILL MAKE PROFIT
Planes Will Carry Letters From New
York to San Francisco In SO Hours
Lay Route as the Crow
Flies,


have an air mail route from New
York to San Francisco. Congress has
just increased the aerial appropriation
to $1,415,0OO, an increase for the 1920
p fiscal year of $685., 800, to be used
for tails project.
This will mean that soon 1t will be
possible to mail letter in New York
at p. m. Saturday and get 1t to San
Francisco by s a. m. Monday. By
rail the same letter could get there
no sooner than 8 a. m. Wednesday,
more likely Thursday. The postage will
be 2 cents. To get straight fifty
word message through by, wire costs
$4.7O, a night letter $1.3O, or ten
word straight message $1.30.
At the same time, Uncle Sam will
make profit on the letter.
The air mail routes already estab-
lished are from New York to Phlla-
delphia; New York to Cleveland, with
a stop at Bellefonte, Pa; Cleveland to
Chicago, with stop at Bryan Ohio.
Chicago to Omaha, with a stop at
Iowa City.
As the Crow Flies.
The route is going as straight as a
crow can fly toward the coast. With
the new appropriation at an early date
the route will be extended from Oma-
ha to Cheyenne, to Salt Lake City or
Ogden, to Reno, to Sacramento and to
San Francisco.
The first branch route will run
from Chicago to st. Louis, which
service Is to be inaugurated as soon
as the factory delivers the planes,
which have been ordered for some
time. In due time. when appropria-
lions are made, this line will be ex-
tended on south to New Orleans.
At the present time twin motor De-
Havilands and single motor DeHavi-
lands, capable Of carrying $50 and 400
pounds of mail, respectively, are being
used. They will be transferred to
new routes and Martin and Thomas
Morse planes, 1,50Opound capacity,
especially built for mail service, will
be put on the New York; Cleveland
and Cleveland Chicago routes. The
air mail business Is growing by leaps
and bounds, despite the fact that 1t
Is carried for the same rate as other
mail. The experiment has been so
successful that Postmaster General
Burleson looks eagerly to the time
when all first-class mail will be car
ried by airplanes.
"An airplane can put cumbersome
Notwithstanding coach out of bust
ness" Is the way one aerial mail d.
vision attache expressed 1t. Several
of these distributing coaches have been
eliminated between Washington and
New York. The airplane simply car
ries the mail, from the south, destined
for New York, from Washington on.
1t arrives In New York early enough
to be distributed at the postoffice to
the carriers for the days delivery.
New York to Chicago in Nine Hours.
Mail leaving New York at $50 a.
m. by air reaches Cleveland at II
noon eastern time (S:30 p. m. by raid
Chicago at 3:15 central time (by rail
at 4 80 the next morning.. Air mail
leaving New York at 9 a. m. reaches
Washington at II :36 a. m. and by rail
it arrives at the capital at p. m.
Five Martin planes have been deliv-
cred to the government. They cost
about $4,000 Zach. Four 1,5OO-pound
capacity Thomas Morse planes are
being constructed, and when they are
delivered the Chicago-St. Louis branch
will be established.
The postoffice department now has
forty-five planes and twenty-five fly
ers. When the routes are extended to
the coast it will have eighty planes.
Since the service was started May Is,
1918, six pilots have been killed.
There are forty-two letters to the
pound. A Martin or Thomas Morse
plane can carry mail on which $1,26O
ordinary postage has been paid, to
say nothing of the stimulant the rapid
service offers to persons to send let
tiers special delivery. All special mail
is supposed to go by the quickest
means. The extra profit to Uncle
Sam in a special is 2 cents, the boy
on the bicycle receiving cents for
delivering it, This would make the
gross revenue for 1900 pounds of
special delivery mail $3.50.