Evening star., 1932-07-24
D00L|TTLE TO RACE
OVER MANY ROUTES
WASHINGTON USED
30 Packages of Letters to Be
Dropped Marking 18TH
Birthday of Mails.
EXPECTS TO TRAVEL
1900 MILES IN DAY
Flyer to Be Accompanied on Hop
by Great Observation-Disclosures
of First President.

Travelling each hour distance which
required nine days in Washingtons
time, Mai James H. Doolittle and Anne
Madison Washington, great-great-great-
grandniece of George Washington, will
take of from Kittery, Me, early tomor-
row morning In an effort to cover in
single day the routes Travelled by Wash
ington during his lifetime.
Doolittle and Miss Washington are to
drop 80 packages of mail at prominent
points reached by Washington in his
travels, and effortSAwill be made to have
all letters Cancelled at the widely scat
tered points on the same day.
Starting from kittery at sunrise, Maj
DOolittle is expected to make his first
landing at WaShington-HooVer Airport
at about 745 am tomorrow to take
aboard fuel. Miss Washington may
give up her place for the remainder of
the trip to her nephew. John Augustine
Washington, jr, 10, of Logan, w. Va,
upon arrival here.
Marks 18th Anniversary.
The flight arranged as a part Of the
Bicentennial celebration, will COM
memorate the l57th anniversary of the
founding Of the United States postal
system. Miss Washington will be max
ing her second airplane flight when the
fast low-wlng monoplane leaves the
ground at Kittery, the farthest point
north reached by her illustrious kins-
man. Her first flight was made last
Wednesday from Washington to New
/ York in an express monoplane of the
| Ludington Airlines.
The 80 packages of mail will contain
letters commemorating the flight These
have airmail stamps and will carry tags
| requesting the finder to deliver them
Immediately to the nearest post Office
1t is hoped that all will bear the same
cancellation date and that all will be
delivered on Tuesday, the anniversary
| of the establishment by the Continental
Congress of the postal service, with
Benjamin Franklin as the first Post
master General
Expected to Get 30 Each.
The letters will be addressed to many
prominent persons. 1t is expected that
each will receive a complete set of so.
The list includes President Hoover.
Postmaster General Brown, w. Irving
Glover. Second Assistant Postmaster
General in charge of airmail, Chase c.
Cove, Deputy Second Assistant Post
master General: Earl b. Wadsworth,
superintendent Of the Contract Airmail
Service; Senator Bingham of Connecti-
cut, president of the National Areo-
nautic Association: Senator Fess and
| Representative Sol Bloom of the BIZ
centennial Commission, and others.
The mail packages are to be dropped
at kittery, Me; Portsmouth. N. H.;
Boston, Providence, New Haven Brook
lyn, Morristown. N. j.: Trenton, Phila-
delphia. Valley Forge, Pa; Wilmington
Annapolis, Washington, Mount Vernon,
Fredericksburg, Wakefield and Will
liamsburg, Christiansburg and Win
chester, Va: Sunbury, N. c.: Union
town, Pa; Pittsburgh, Point Pleasant,
w. Va, Pomeroy. Ohio: Waterford Pa
and Rome, Crown Point, Albany, West
Point and New York, N. Y.
Will Show Vast Strides.
One purpose of the flight is to DEM
onstrate the vast strides made since
establishment of the postal service
Prior to July &c, ITS. there was no
general post office system. Each colony
maintained its own department under
supervision of the British crown. BY
an act of July 26. ITS, the Continental
Congress, at its second session in Phila-
delphia, authorized establishment of the
first general post office and on the fol-
,, lowing day Benjamin Franklin was ap-
pointed the first Postmaster General
of the United States.
During Washington's first term as
President the Post Office Department
consisted of IS postmas;ers, operated
over less than 1000 miles of routes, and
had an annual expenditure Of approx
mately $4,000. On its 155th anniver-
sary, in 1880, the Post Office Depart
ment maintained 49,063 post Offices,
with routes covering more than 500 900
miles and a gross financial turnover of
more than sos, 900 900.
! The flight also will show the con-
traSt in speed of travel. Washington,
considered one of the greatest travellers
in the Colonies, was able to average
about 20 miles day by hard going
Doolittle expects to average 180 miles
per hour and to cover 1900 miles be-
tween dawn and dusk.