Evening star., 1925-07-13
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

Time was when one could get rich
through contracts for carrying the
mails. The pony express came when
greater speed across the continent was
demanded, and relays of galloping
ponies brought romance and fame to
intrepid riders. The railroads super
seeded the pony express, but star
routes multiplied with the coming of
rural mail delivery.
Not all these developments were i'm
mediately profitable to the Post Office
Department. But when has immediate
profit been the major consideration in
the handling of the mail Of this coun-
try? Take the rural mail delivery, for
$500, ,0o0, 900 a year more than it's gross
revenue, yet let any economical Con-
gresham suggest that 1t should be dis
continued and he would be listed for
retirement before he had taken his
seat in the smoking room Of the
House.
Does the second-class mail pay a
pTOuls ACCOTulilS u pOSI OIllCe duul-
tors 1t does not begin to pay expenses,
yet what a protest has always risen
when it has been proposed to raise the
postage rate on long-distance news
papers sufficiently to cover expenses.
All Of this leads up to the starting
point, which Is at present the policy of
expanding the air mail service, which
costs the Government several times
the increased revenue upon the trans
NoI -
San Francisco, in operation now about
one year.
The post office officials have pro-
jected routes as feeders Of the main
New York-San Francisco route, but
the Government does not intend to
operate these feeders directly, as it is
operating the one across the continent.
1t will ask for bids from contractors
who will use their own airplanes, take
their own risk of income, contracting
to carry all the air mail on the route,
in consideration of 80 per cent Of the
total postage on the mail they carry.
They will have the right to add ex-
press business and passenger traffic at
their own rates, but the contractor
will carry all risk Of profit or loss,
and must expect q loss Of from a few
hundred thousand dollars to million
or more a year IOr the 1rSC TWO or
three years, while doing the pioneer
work of familiarzing the public with
the advantages Of speed in mail and
travel.
A few days ago Chicago bank had
occasion to send to New York City
package of million and a half dol
lars of securities. 1t is impossible
for Chicago bank to ship by train
money or securities in time to reach
New York by the opening Of the
Clearing House, at 10 o'clock the
following morning. 1t was thought
possible, however, to do so by air mail
and the trial was made. Head winds
were unfaverable during that night
and the airplane transmission was de
layed four minutes. The four minutes
cost one days interest on $1,500,0 900
which at even 4 per cent amounted
to more than $1,000.
But the closeness to success-four
minutes-demonstrat that the ave
rage result, after the machine has
found itself, will be reliable. That
four minutes will be eliminated and
| with it not only will the days interest
on such a sum be saved, but on al
the vast interchange of bank securities
which pass in both directions daily
between those two greatest cities ir
America, and in the same proportion
| the vast flow of business all over the
country. "Tine is money! Since
four minutes delay on one shipment
! cost more than $500 minute, how