Evening star., 1934-03-16

DeIRu tllUuBut tllC pOilSy Va 4OAh1SA
Postmaster General Brown In estab-
fishing transcontinental services was
sound Col Lindbergh declined to
express a view about the matter, but
he did say that from the time Brown
went into the office Of Postmaster
General until he came out CONNER
cial aviation in this country had
greatly improved.
Favors Large Company.
With regard to the transcontinental
services, three in number, Col. Lind
bergh told the committee he believed
there was real competition for service
and he took the position that better
service could be rendered the public
by big transcontinental company
instead of having lot Of smaller
companies hooked up.
The colonel took the position that
1t was unwise to have a permanent
subsidy for the aviation industry, or
for that matter, for any other indus
try. He was replying to a question
by Senator OMahoney asking whether
aviation needs subsidy.
Il am opposed to a permanent
subsidy" replied Lindbergh. He
added that while a subsidy was justi-
fed to help build up the aviation in
dustry, he believed that 1t was only
justified when the industry is pro-
gressing."
Speaking with particular reference
to the transcontinental lines and
whether they need subsidy, Col.
Lindbergh said that he thought that
the two northern transcontinental
lines could exist for the postage they
carry. plus what they get from pas
sengers. He said, in fact, that these
companies had turned back in post
age little more to the Government
than what they received for carrying
the mails.
Urges Separate Commission.
The Southern transcontinental line,
he said. was not yet capable of stand
ing alone and needed a subsidy. The
territory through which 1t operated,
ne said. was sparsely populated.
One feature Of the bill which Col.
Mndbergh criticized was that which
proposed to place the regulation Of the
commercial air lines under the Inter-
state Commerce Commission. He did
not attack the idea of Government
regulation, but what he did urge was
that there should be a separate COM
mission dealing alone with aviation
and free entirely from the duty of
passing upon train services and so
forth.
And while Col. Lindoergh agreed
that commercial aviation was a great
reserve for the military in war and
national defense, he said he was op-
posed to compelling the commercial
planes to carry military co-pilots as
Is proposed. He said this would make
it impossible for the commercial COM
panles to carry their own co-pilots
without increasing the size of the
crew.
Avoids Legal Discussion.
Col. Lindbergh declined to discuss
legal questions with the committee,
saying that he had no legal back
ground, or to try to write the Ian
guage which should be put into the
pending bill. He said that he had no
training along those lines whatsoever.
But with regard to the technical side
of aviation, he did not hesitate at all.
His comment. when he was asked by
Senator Gibson of Vermont whether
the Army Air Corps had failed in fly
ing the mail. was simple and to the
point. He said frankly that the
Army has not been as efficient in
carrying the airmail as the CONNER
cial companies have been.
THE Army had 10 days to prepare"
said Col. Lindbergh, land the COM
mercial companies had 10 years" He
said the Army planes were not as
well equipped for this work as were
the commercial planes, and he said
that If the commercial companies
should undertake to shift their serv-
ices around so as to cover new routes,
it would take them months.
Testifying in regard to his own ex-
perience, Col. Lindbergh said he had
been a flyer for u years. He gave the
committee picture of commercial
aviation companies which worked for
years before they undertook to carry
the mails and passengers. He said that
it took long time to build up these
services and long time to develop
morale and the personnel. To de-
stroy this morale would be tremen-
dous detriment to aviation In this
country.