Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-11-22
The Country Home
Air Travel i'm Europe
BY MRS. W. lei. FELTON,

have Deen reaQlnS very inter-
esting article in a current magazine
written by Hon S. M. FELTON,, rail
road magnate of Chicago, on the air.
plane passenger transportation in
frequent use in Europe.
What he saw over there aston
ished him. 1t is astonishing for you
and I to read about the speed of
these transits.
A company Of railroad notables
were gathered in Paris for dinner
together. One man had been in Lon
don all day and had come over to
Paris, and left London in the late
afternoon, three hundred miles dis
tant.
Another man had left Warsaw in
the forenoon, thousand, miles away.
Mr.. FELTON, understood that Polish
railways were in exceedingly bad
condition. While he looked some
what blankly at the London trav-
eler, he looked incredulously at the
Warsaw tourist. Mr.. FELTON, in
quired casually:
t'You left Warsaw this morning."
Surely, I have to go back and forth
often. The service is excellent. We
must make an early start, half-past
six in the morning, but there is an
hours rest at Prague and another
hour at Strasburg. The time in the
air is about ten hours"
Just think Of it! One thousand
miles in ten hoursi
Said Mr.. FELTON,: "These men had
travelled by air and held it SO COM
monplace as not to be worth men
tioning" The regular time from
r 70 nd rHnrfnT,Y1ond W
cry day in the week is only two and
a half hours. He found that every
man around that table used these
anrplanes, and paid the excess
fare just as people who want extra
speed pay for the use Of limited
train in this country.
The distance separating Paris and
London is to be exact 287 miles,
about the same distance of Boston to
New York. The fastest railroad
train covers it in five hours. From
Warsaw to Paris Mr.. FELTON, says is
one thousand and sixty-seven miles,
and the distance between New York
and Chicago is nine hundred and
twelve miles. The fastest trains
make the Chicago trip in twenty
hours. These trains are the pride
of our country.
To cut out an hour of this, SEIZED
ule time would cost the railroad
millions of dollars. Even the road
beds would need renodeling or re-
building.
American fastest trains are the
wonder and pride of the world. They
represent the limit in railroad speed.
Mr.. FELTON, had an eye-opener as
to the value of airplane travel. He
had believed it to be too dangerous
for general use or purposes, but
what he saw in Paris, as to adapta-
bility was a revelation to one of the
greatest of our railroad managers in
the United States.
Europe seems to have realized it's
possibilities far in advance of our
own country. Mr.. FELTON, declares
you can travel anywhere in Ger
many by air. To the number of
eighteen passengers, giant mono
plane can furnish Pullman car COM
forts. (There is, also regular air
service between Havana and Key
West) In Europe, thirty pounds of
baggage goes fires. Foreign railroad
lines allow only sixty pounds to
passenger on rail transportation.
What they call commercial flying
in Europe lin France and Germany
must be considered safe. They have
landing places prepared for emergen-
cies. They have s:so plenty of ham
gars and workshops if needed in
emergencies, They are careful about
safe engineers, such men as rail-
roads procure with iron nerve to
run their fast world renowned linn
tied trains in the United States, &C.
cording to Mr.. FELTON,. X.
Every twenty-five miles there are
great flares which show the regular
landing places, and it is thus demon
strated that regular routes are laid
off, and hangers fitted with Access
series for the aviator who conducts
these passenger trips on schedule
time.
The Germans are said to be nearly
as active as the French in airplane
transportation.
The expensive part of airplanes is
with the engines. When engines
cost less, the fares will be reduced,
The Paris London trip costs six gum
cas-, thirty dollars. With reduced
cost of engines it is calculated that
the price may be less than Z cents
per mile. When we consider the
cost of building cars and construct
ing road beds and the up-keep of de-
pots and terminals, it is evident that
it will soon be cheaper to navigate
the atmosphere.
The venturesome people enjoy the
thrill of air voyages. The staid and
prudent people are not eager to
adopt such transportation methods
But the time is coming when these
bird wagons" will be as often seen
as automobiles!
I have long since predicted that af-
fluent people will have push but
ton in their homes and the air chauf-
feur will appear instanter, to go
Journey that will distance automo-
biles or limited railroad trains for
speed,
I will not see, but younger people
will remember my prophecy.