Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-07
POSTAL DEPARTMENTVITAL
TO u. S., BROWN DECLARES
Postmaster General Tells of Helping in
Development OF Merchant Marine
and Aviation System.
. HE full text of the address of
Postmaster General Walter F.
Brown, delivered last night in
i tl,s National Radio Forum and


broadcast over Nationwide
network of the Columbia BroadcaStlng
System, follows
To the average citizen The Post Office
Department is the best known of the
executive branches of the Federal
Government. It has Offices and agents
In every community 1t has direct daily
relations with practically every family
living under the American flag. Bust
ness and industry depend upon it. 1t
IS the national and International in
strumentality of dependable commune
cation.
The Post Office Department is the
oldest of the Government departments.
It's record dates back to July, IT'S,
when the first American Congress eS-
tablished a Continental Pest Office.
with Benjamin Franklin as Postmaster
General From Colonial days it has
been a major factor in the growth of
the Nation. 1t kept the struggling
colonies together on the long Atlantic
seaboard in communication during the
Revolution. BY substituting the stage
routes and later the shipping and rail-
road lines the United States mail
opened up all the country west OF the
Allegheny Mountains to colonization by
Eastern emigrantS. Throughout our
history it has provided at once the
channels for national expansion and
the ties which have knit the people OF
our vast country into single Nation.
Pictures Wide Scope.
Today the postal establishment en-
braces more than $4,000 post Offices and
postal stations. 1t renders service 10
l22000,000 people.
TIE efficiency of the Post Office De-
partment has an instant and far-reach-
ing effect upon the welfare of every
community. If its service is dependable
and prompt, it helps vastly in business
relations and in intercourse with FANNY
and friends. If the service goes aWry,
or is tardy and slow. business dealings
suffer and social contacts are impaired
The Post Office Department Is alert to
this fact 1t is the constant endeavor
of all of us connected with the postal
administration to reduce the hours
elapsing between the posting and the
delivery of mail. We strive to make the
service accurate, and we go to great
lengths to effect the delivery of imper-
fectly or improperly addressed mail.
We investigate your complaints. We
welcome your criticism. In handing
$1,000, 900, 900 pieces of mail a year we
make mistakes. but we try not to make
the same kind of mistake twice.
1t is not my purpose tonight to dis
cusS the routine operations of the postal
establishment. You are familiar with
cur collection and delivery service. You
know about the transportation of the
'r-ailS-by railway postal car. by motor
truck and by star route. You are &C
quainted with our money order facili-
ties. the parcel post, the c., o. D.
service. With your indulgence l will
speak of some of the activities of the
Post Office Department which are not
SO vel known. and perhaps mention
some important special problems that
are now before us.
Tells Air Development.
The nest recent addition to the
facilities of the postal service has been
the airmail This service was inau-
gurated in 1918, when an experimental
route was established between New
York and Washington with an inter-
mediate stop at Philadelphia. Service
between New York and San Francisco
was commenced in September. 1920. At
the present time the United States mail
is flown daily on % domestic routes,
totaling more than $4,000 miles in
length, and weekly or oftener on 10
foreign routes. reaching Canada. Mexico.
the West Indies and Central and South
America, totaling approximately $4,000
miles. In 1918 the airmail carried about
700 900 letters In 1880 it carried more
than 320.000,000 pieces of mail.
The airmail has, of course, been of
tremendous advantage to the business
world and to mail users generally A
letter posted in New York in the eve
nmg is delivered in Chicago on the morn
ing of the next day A letter posted in
Los Angeles is delivered in New York
within 80 hours. Mail reaches the
Argentine or Chile by air in six or seven
days, compared with about II days by
ship. The only or, perhaps. most i'm
OF nf l,A 0;,.,
Nation at large is not. however in the
facilities which it provides for the
movement of mail matter requiring
speed The Governments larger pur-
pose is TO aid commercial aviation in
the days Of its infancy-to stimulate the
development of air lines which will
carry not only the fast mail but express
and passengers as well.
Not Self Sustaining.
The airmail service is far from self
sustaining The postage which you
attach to your ailmail letters defrays
less than half the actual cost of han
ding. The remainder is paid out of
general appropriations. 1t will interest
you to know that the Post Office De-
partment is now expanding about ST.
100000 a year tor this purpose over
and above the postage receipts from
the airmail. But it is not correct to
regard this expenditure simply as a
less in one phase of postal operations.
1t Is an expenditure made for national
security, which all of us believe is in
large measure dependent upon our
keeping abreast of the other great ma
tons of the world in the field of avia-
ton. The Government is using the
Post Office Department. along with
the Flying Corps of the Army and
Navy, as a means to this end The
40 q cE IT 70 10
partment in this regard is to aid in
the development of an economically
Independent aviation industry. Our
purpose is to popularize air tranSporta-
ton and air travel. so that the peo-
pie OF our country will get the habit
Of using air transport in the ordinary
affairs of their lives-in travelling in
sending merchandise and communica-
tions-iust as they use the railroad,
the motor bus and the steamship.
Our object is to develop a nation
wide network of air lines to carry pas
sengers and express. upon which trans
portation OF the mails will be only an
incidental operation, as It is today on
railroad and steamship lines. We are
making progress. People are acquiring
the habit of flying. During April, a
year ago, $4,000 passengers were car
ried over different routes on scheduled
air transport service in the Continen-
tai United States. In April of this
year, the air transport companies car
ried $4,000 passengers on scheduled
travel. During the fiscal year 1880,
the number of passengers carried was
375 1000 During the present fiscal
year. we estimate that the number will
reach more than half million.
Passengers Increasing.
But passenger traffic, while steadily
increasing is not yet sufficient to put
&ba air tranenort lines on having