Evening star., 1924-08-22
BUSINESS PROFITS
BY AIR MAIL LINE
Value to Merchants Runs
Into ThouSands-Banks
I Especially Pleased.
by J. C. ROYLE.

SPeciai Dispstcn 10 Inc star.
NEW YORK, August 22.-The
United States air mail service be-
tween San Francisco and New York
has been so successful and SO ad-
vantageous to business that cities off
the main transcontinental line are
clamoring for feeder" airplane lines
Seattle, Portland aud Tacoma are
desirous of a line which will cut
into the main route somewhere in
Utah. Los Angeles and San Diego
also want the air service hooked up
directly with them. and cities in the
middle and intermountain west have
made similar requests.
For the present at least the Post
Office Department will be content
with a change of mail train schedules
which will permit quick connections
The transcontinental air mail serv-
ice now is on a paying basis and will
be permanent Business men on both
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have
reaped such advantages that they are
determined not to permit it to die.
Service Mems Thousands.
Bankers here and in San Francisco
say it is impossible to compute ac-
curately the value of the service in
dollars. but unquestionably 1t runs
into thousands day for Atlantic and
Pacific points over and above the ex-
pense of the service itself It has
proved a money maker and a money
getter for banks, Industrial firms,
merchants and practically every line
or business which can use it.
Obviously the largest visible return
produced by the service in dollars
and cents is in the speeding up of
bank collection items. San Fran
cisco and New York banks benefit
two days each way in making these
collections. Large firms, especially
those with branches and Offices on
either coast. are finding the service
invaluable for transmitting confiden-
tial instructions, and speeding up
plans and blue prints for construction
projects and the like.
Great Help to Fruit Dealers.
Large fruit distributors in Califor-
nit have notified the Post Ofice De-
partment that they are getting tre-
mendous value from the service
through quick transmission of inven-
tories to distributors. Fruit goes
from California by trains moving al
most as speedily as passenger sched-
ules provide for. Formerly inven-
tories of fruit shipments reached des-
tinationS at almost the same time az
the fruit, or behind it. Now these
tors two days before the fruit can ar
rive. enabling them to plan selling
campaigns two days in advance.
Similar advantages are experienced
in handling bills of lading for silk
shipped from China and Japan. The
Post Office Department now has made
arrangements for the transportation
of mail originating in Japan over the
air service routes and, as result.
bills of lading for cargoes. frequently
exceeding $5.00O,000 in value, will be
received two days earlier than for
merly, and the shippers will be paid
that much sooner.
No Damper ON TeleErams.
One of the odd benefits Of the serv-
ice has come to light in the report of
a California apiarist, who wrote post
Office authorities that the traffic in
queen bees from California to other
parts of the country had been great
ly stimulated by the service, since
the bees were required to spend less
time in transit without attention.
1t is not believed that the service
has proven detrimental to the tele-
graph companies. since there has
been no appreciable falling Off in
business from coast to coast report
ed. The sending Of delayed delivery
messages may have been curtailed
slightly, but the use of telegraph
wires for short immediate messages
has not suffered II
The service mas been spectacular
because of night flying and the wide
expanses Of plain. desert and noun
tain traversed, and this perhaps has
taken place in the mind of the gen.
eral public. But behind the romance
of the flying mail is hard business
proposition, which is highly profitable
and undoubtedly bound to be perma-
nent.