Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-01
CONQUEST OF HI AIR,
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskiu

WASHINGTON, May 1:-That
federal activities in aviation are well
organized and that there is no un-
necessary duplication or overlapping
of work is shown by the report just
made to the general staff by the
aeronautical board Of the Army and
Navy. This is the answer TO those
who have been urging reorganization
in the interests of economy and eff
cheney.
-Four government agencies-the
Army, Navy, Marine Corps and pos
tai service-are using aviation, and
five scientific branches of the govern
ment are lending their assistance in
the development of the art, science
or business, whichever it ma be
termed, of fying-the National Ad-
| visory Committee for Ae|ronautics,
an Independent establishment; the
Weather Bureau, Department of Ag-
r%iculture: the Bureau of Standards,
Department of Commerce; the Blu
reau of Mines; Department of the
Interior, and the Forest Products
Laboratory, Department OF Agricul-
ture.
Many people have the idea that
other government agencies than
those named are using aviation, but
this is a mistake. The forest fire
patrol is operated by the Army for
the forest service. A boil weevil pa
troll along the Mexican border is just
being organized. to be operated by
the Army. Prohibition enforcement
officers occasionally borrow flyers
from the Marine Corps and other
m itff1Y ~ hf.1 Y oh ne fs ~ lFc ETNnnia1
observations, but are not maintaining
a regular airplane scout service.
The Army also does flying for the
Geological Survey in an experiment.
al way, and in this there has been
demonstrated the practicability of
rapid and accurate map-making by
aerial photography. The Coast Guard
is not officially operating airplanes,
but some of its members who were
air pilots during the war do use air
planes in connection with their Off
cial duties.
The Army, Navy and Marine Corps
of course, are developing and using
aviation primarily for purposes of
military preparedness. The primary
object of the air mail service has
never before been publicly defined,
bhh 40 0LdAth ~ a 6iftNAdi ltPpA al
ed for by President Harding and sub
mitted by the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics it is:
Purpose of Air Mail Service
To demonstrate the safety, relia-
bility and placticability of air trans
portation OF the mails and incident
ally of air transportation in general.
In particular, the report states, it
should
Develop a reliable thirty-six hour
service between New York and San
Francisco and make that service
self-supporting by creating the nee
essary demand for it and charging a
rate between ordinary postage rates
and night letter telegraph rates;
Keep strict records of the cost of
the service and strive in every way
to reduce such costs to a minimum,
thereby demonstrating the value OF
air transportation from an economic
point of view, and in particular max
ing it possible for private enterprise
eventually to contract for the carry
ing of mails by airplane at the rate
which not only would not exceed the
income from such a service, but
would permit the Post Office Depart
ment to provide other postal airway'
to meet the demands of the people
for more rapid transportation of the
mails.
In the present undeyeloped state
of the art it would be wholly imprac'
ticable to operate an air mail service
under a contract system, the repor
to the President stated.
This advisory committee cooper
ates with other agencies of the gov
ernment and co-ordinates all the re
search and fundamental investiga
tional work undertaken by all tn
branches of the government using O.
concerned with the development o
aviation. 1t commands the bes
technical skill of the country TO
scientific study of the problem of fly
ing, and the Armysand Navy depend
upon it largely for the solution o
the more difficult of these problems
The aviation work of the Bureau
of Standards, as stated by Actini
Director Fay c. Brown, is for tn
most part undertaken in cooperation
with the Army and Navy air service
and the National Advisory Commit
tee. They finance the work and de
eide on the problems to be solved
They also furnish the practical flynn
experience and in a general way the,
do the engineering work as distin
guished from the scientific. Til