The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-03-13
BY GEORGE DAVIS
Times Special Writer

same chance the railroads were
given. That and freedom from
political control"
He paused. smiled and then add
ed Politicians and airplanes do
not mix well"
Aviation once meant flaming
death, splitting bullets and daily
CANDLES with life TO Americas ace
Of aces. Now it is a problem of
cold figures, charts and reports. The
strong, sun-brOwned hands that
aimed the guns which doWned
twenty-five German planes moved
swiftly through a stack of reports
on his desk He lifted a paper
studied it, then spoke slowly
SAYS Cost Has Been Cut
The cost to the government of
carrying the air mail has gone
down" he said. The revenue has
increased. The gap between income
and expenditure has thus been
sharply reduced. 1t is inevitable
that aviation, given fair chance,
will soon return a profit"
Colonel RickenbaCker, vice-presi-
dent of North American Aviation
Corporation, the General Motors
subsidiary that owns control Of three
great air lines. carefully chose his
words as he commented upon prev
iOus government operation Of trans
p0rtatiOn systems.
The government. you know, has
not done so well in the transporta-
ton field" he said. After the war,
it was nightly glad to relinquish
control of the railroads. The ship
ping board now is trying to get out
of the steamship business. I don't
know why I should expect any bet
ter luck with the transportation of
air mail"
Industry Needs Revenue
An air transport system, he
pointed out. must have revenue
from every possible source, the same
as railroads or shipping
"A rail company would have a
difficult struggle If it had to exist
solely on the revenue from pas
sengers, or freight, or mail" he
said. why, then. expect the
younger and relatively weaker air
transport system to exist without
the AID of the mail payments?
We must not make believe; we
must face the realities. If the gov
eminent permanently assigns the
mail job to the army. our air trans
pOrtation system Will be wrecked.
A few lines might struggle along
for a brief time, with infrequent
schedules and almost prohibitive
rates. Hundreds of millions of
dollars invested in air line Sc
CuritieS would be swept away. Hun
dredS Of men, who have risked
their lives to pioneer a new indus
try, would lose their jobs
Shows Decrease in Payments
RiCkenbaCker produced a table
showing the decrease in annual pay
ment by the poStoffice department
for every mile flown with mail in
the United States The table. by
fiscal years. follows:
1929 .........si09 1892 .......... 50
1880 ---.--..-. 98 1888 ...-.-..-. sd
1881 .---...... 70 1884 .......... 30
During the same period, he said,
the annual mileage increased from
1O212.511 to almost 36000.000
With the assistance of technical
experts. Colonel Rickebacker has
prepared a proposal, How the
transportation of air mail can be
made to return a profit to the gov
eminent and the air transport in
duStry." It is a long. detailed study,
bristling with columns of figures and
estimates.
Opposed to Stigma"
It recommends. first. the elimina-
ton Of the stigma Of subsidy" in
referring to air mail appropriations,
charging that 1T is unjuStly as
sumed that the air mail operators
are being subsidized. whereas it is
the general public which is being
subsidized in view of the fact that
without passenger and express rev.
enue. the SO-Called air mail subsidy
would not equal the cost of the
transportation Of the present volume
of air mail over the vast mileage
and the number Of schedules and at
present speeds"
Colonel RiCkenbaCker recommends
reduction of air mail rates to slim
ulate use Of the service. The letter
rate. he believes. should be cents
an ounce, a postcard cents and
lettergram. a single sheet that folds
into an envelope, 3 cents.
Also. he recommends a method
of payment that will penalize those
not carrying profitable loads and
reward the others"
The schedule of minimum rates
he recommends would begin with
40 cents an airplane mile this year
and gradually be reduced until the
rate would be only 25 cents at the
end of five years.
Sees Profit to POstOffiCe
4 estimate Conservatively that the
poStofice department would be max
ing an annual profit Of more than
S2000000 at the end of the third
year and a profit Of almost $780,
600 in the fifth year, he said
Operators Of the long. heavy lines
can make a profit for the govern
ment almost Immediately. The lines
that extend into sparsely settled
areas. where the mail loads are
light, must be aided for a few years.
The government should tackle
this air mail problem in a sensible.
buSineSS-like way with a disregard
Of politics. Operators of the busy
lines should be paid q low rate per
pound mile. They are willing 10
work for that low rate today. too"
Colonel Rickenbacker finds one
bright ray of sunshine in the present
army operation Of the mail
1t may result in having a lot
Of obsolete. dangerous equipment
washed out. he sad. The army
is loaded up with junk planes. The
way things were going it had no
chance TO get rid Of the obsolete
equipment. II the boys wreck some
planes. then congress may give them
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