Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-10-07
AIR MAIL s GROWTH
| FORCES REWS|ONS
Volume More Than Doubles
on Certain Routes, New
Lines Increase.

So rapid has been the growth Of tn
air mail service in this country, espe-
cially since the reduction of the air mail
postage rate on August /, that reorgani
cation of the entire system for the pur.
poses of better administration has beer
forced upon the Post once Depart.
ment.
Not only has the amount of mail car.
ried by air increased by leaps anc
bounds more than doubling In volume
on certain routes, but the number oil
air mail routes also. has increased ma.
terially. In order to maintain closer
supervision over the actual operation Of
this steadily mounting aerial traffic, the
Post once Department, effective Octo.
Der l, divided the air mail service into
Is divisions, coinciding as closely a.
practicable with the divisional lines OF
the Is railway mail service divisions.
Speed Up Delivery.
This administrative change was or.
dered by the Postmaster General as an
other step in the direction of speeding
up the transportation and delivery OF
air mail letters and packages. The ali
mail planes today fly more than $4,000
miles every day with the mail, and the
tremendous length of the combined
routes made imperative the establish
ment of some system which would
make possible more frequent inspection
of the routes now in operation.
THE expansion of the air mail Serv-
Ice" the Postmaster General declared
has reached the point where it Is i'm
practicable to handle it with the pres
ent official force, and 1t would be- I'M
practicable to increase such force TO the
extent of covering the far-f1ung routes
throughout the country. The railway
mail service, through its division super
intendentS and chief clerks, is so Situ-
ated as to be in position to keep IN
close touch throughout the country
with the air mail service in conjunction
with its other duties"
Under the new arrangement, the
Postmaster General explained, the
division superintendentS Of the railway
service, through their chief clerks, will
be expected to make frequent inSpec-
tions of the service over air mail routes
in connection with railway post office
line inspections, post Office clerk exami-
nations and other present routine
duties. These officials will be held gen.
orally responsible for the service in so
far as it relates to the proper routing
and dispatch of mails, the handling and
distribution of mails at the flying fields
and its transfer between the fields and
post offices.
No Personnel Change.
Assistant superintendents of the air
mail service viii have supervision of
the physical operation of the entire
service on all air mail routes under
their jurisdiction, 1t was explained, and
will be responsible for proper operation
and maintenance Of schedules by con-
tractors. They also will make field
investigations, confer with chambers
of commerce and other business inter-
ests desiring information regarding the
service and will in other ways CO.
operate in increasing the efficiency and
speed of handling Of the air mail
service.
No changes in personnel of either the
air mail or the railway mail service
are expected to result from the change
Of administrative method.
This change Is IN line with the gen.
eral trend of aviation development away
from the original status Of romantic
unreliability toward the more prosaic
but more useful standing as a modern,
safe, dependable means of cutting down
space and time, in the opinion Of
aviation leaders. It Is, they hold,
recognition of the fact that airplanes
are as reliable means Of transpor-
tation as the slower methods which
have previously led the field.