The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1920-06-05
COAST TO COAST
AIR MAIL Line.
Government Officials Plan to
Have Service in Opera.
ton Soon,
UNCLE SAM WILL MAKE PROFIT
Planes Will Garry Letters From New
York to San Francisco in SO Hours
LAY Route as the Crow
Flies

nave du dir mali route from new
York to San Francisco. Congress has
just increased the aerial appropriation
to $1,415,OOO, an increase for the 1920
Fl fiscal year of $664,500, to be used
for this project
This will mean that soon it will be
possible to mail a letter in New York
at 6 p. m. Saturday and get it to San
Francisco by 8 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 a straight fifty
word message through by wire costs
$4.7O, a night letter $1.3O, or a ten
word straight message $1.30.
At the same time Uncle Sam will
make a profit on the letter.
The air mail routes already estab-
lished are from New York to Phila-
delphia; New York to Cleveland, with
a stop at Bellefonte, Pa; Cleveland to
Chicago, with a stop at Bryan, Ohio.
Chicago to Omaha, with a stop at
Iowa City.
AS the Crow Flies.
The route is going as straight as
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, 1,5O0-pound capacity
especially built for mail service, will
be put on the New York cleveland
and Cleveland-C Chicago routes. The
air mail business is growing by leaps
and bounds, despite the fact that it
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 frst-class mail will be car
ried by airplanes.
IAN airplane can put cumbersome
mail distributing coach out Of bust
ness" is the way one aerial mail d.
vision attache expressed it. 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.
It 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 -
noon eastern time Is 80 p. m. by rally !;
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 IL :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 each. Four 1,50O-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-fve 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 81 ,260
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 8 cents for
delivering it. This would make the
gross revenue for 1850 pounds Of
special delivery mail $3.50.