Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1925-09-23
Mail Service PvOUeS
Commercial Flying
Pays, NeW Declares

statement with an allusion to the con-
troversy over the nations air defense
in which he declared it is of course
understood that the postoffice depart
ment has no place in any differences
existing among military and naval au-
thorities as to the best method for car
rying on their aeronautical operations" :"
"Our activities in the air." he con-
tinued, "have been directed toward the
performance Of an important public
service in a manner to demonstrate to
men of means that commercial avia-
tion is a possibility. This is what we
have had in mind in carrying the trans
continental air mail. 1t is not our be-
lief that the government should perma-
nently continue to provide this service
under government auspices and at gov
ernment expense but the service is a
most important one and if it was pos
sible for it ever to be undertaken by
private agencies it was first necessary
to demonstrate that it was an entirely
feasible thing.
First Routes Failed
The department several years ago
in cooperation with the war depart
ment, made several we'll meant but un-
satisfactory experiments with the air
mail; for instance, service was estab-
lished between New York and Washing
ton for which the war department for
a short time furnished both planes and
pilots. 1t was later taken over COM
pletely by the postoffice department
but it was never a success for the rea-
son that the d stance between terminals,
approximately 200 miles, was too short
to permit of any substantial saving in
time 5and it was discontinued. Two
other routes. one between Chicago and
st. Louis, the other between Chicago
and the Twin Cities, undertaken in
1920, also failed to justify their contin-
uance and were abandoned
1T became apparent that if the ser
vices were ever going to amount to any
thing, it had to be undertaken on a
much greater scale of operation and
between points far more distantly sep
arated. Service on sections Of the
present transcontinental lines was in
augurated at different times, that be-
tween Cleveland and Chicago and Cleve-
land and New York in 1919 but it was
not until Sept. s. 1920, that through
service between New York and San
Francisco was attempted.
Even then. the carriage was not con-
tinuous. Mail would be transported by
plane from San Francisco to Salt Lake
City or some other point along the line,
then given to the railway mail service
for the night, to be picked up again by
plane at a point farther along the line
next morning. 1t was not long, howev-
er, until it became apparent that if the
transcontinental service was to amount
to anything it had to be operated by
night as well as by day. To do this re-
quired the establishment of lighted
airway to guide pilots, illuminated
landing fields and many other special
facilities including equipment of planes
themselves. This airway was estab-
lished from New York to Rock Springs,
Wyoming, 1886 miles, at an expense Of
$514,405.68 and the first through day
and night service was started July /,
1924.
Maintaining Schedules
"Since that time we have been able
to meet our schedules with a degree of
regularity that has been highly graft
flying. OF course there have been in
stances of delay and interruption, just
as there have been to passenger trains
/ am inclined to think that inquiry
would develop that our delays have been
less numerous than those Of the rail-
roads.
The schedule westbound, New York
to San Francisco, a distance of 1865
miles is "a hours and 20 minutes, which
includes stops at IS stations for service
| and exchange Of mail; that for the
eastbound trip is 29 hours and Is min
utes, the difference being accounted for
by the fact that the prevailing winds
are from the west and help the east
! Continued on Page Two)