Evening star., 1934-04-18
GREATER A|RMA|L
| PLANNED FOR j. S.
Controversy Proves DeveI-
opment Essential to Prog
ress, Officials Say.

On the wreckage Of the old contract
airmail system, officials of the Post
Office Department are planning to
build larger and more efficient air.
mail service than the country has
known.
One Of the most encouraging re-
suits of the present airmail contro-
versy has been confirmation of the
theories Of the department as to the
real usefulness of airmail to Ameri-
can business and the public generally,
according to Charles P. Graddick,
superintendent of the airInail service.
Cancellation Of the domestic airmail
contracts and the difficulties faced by
| the Army Air Corps in taking over the
| airmail service have served to empha-
size the part played by airmail in
modern American life, postal officials
hold.
Public reaction to the cancellation
OF the contracts, according TO postal
officials, shows clearly that airmail
has come to play vital part in the
everyday life Of the Nation, and that
to serve the public need the service
not only must be maintained, but
must be expanded.
Essential Progress.
"Airmail represents essential prog
ress," explained Stephen A. Cisler,
general superintendent of the airmail
and railway mail services. 1T is the
obvious duty of the Post Office De-
partment to improve the speed and
efficiency Of its mail service in every
possible manner. 1t would be Just as
reactionary and contrary to public
good TO abandon airmail service as it
would be to abandon railway mail
service and go back to stage-coach
days"
Complaints which have been re-
ceived by the Post Office Department
from sections of the country which
have lost airmail service under the
I recent shake-ups are convincing proof
of the necessity for the service, in the
opinion of Harllee Branch, Second
| Assistant Postmaster General in
charge of airmail.
The complaints which have been
received show that loss of airmail
/ services is a real loss to the citizens
who are accustomed to using the
service" Branch explained.
The only reason we are not get
| ting a tremendous volume of COM
plants over the reduction of the
service IS that. with the cooperation
OF the Army Air Corps, We are able
! to maintain the most essential routes
and are caring for the most urgent
demands. Then, too, there is an ap-
probation on the part of airmail
users, as reflected IN letters to US, of
their belief that it IS necessary to
reorganize the airmail and that, until
the reorganization is completed, they
owe 1t as good citizens to put up with
the inconvenience Of reduced Serv-
ice"
Financial and banking institutions
are among the heaviest regular users
OF the airmail service and the routes
now being flown by the Army were
calculated to best serve the needs of
the Federal Reserve Bank districts. It
was pointed out.
Complaints against reduction of air.
mail service received by the Senate
Investigating Committee are chiefly
from banks, clearing houses and COM
merclal institutions, it was said.
While similar complaints are most
numerous among those received at
the Post Once Department, other
complaints show many lines of busi-
ness are affected.
ClearanceS of Cancelled checks and
transmittal Of interest-bearing fnan-
cial paper are responsible for heavy
use of the airmail by banks and finan-
cial houses. The Post Office Depart
ment has estimated that $4,000 .OOO,-
900 worth Of Cancelled checks are
handled annually by alrmall in the
United States.
The Illinois Merchants Trust Co,
has reported that in one month ST.
600 in interest was saved by use of
airmail. The Continental National
Bank d Trust Co. Of Chicago reported
to the Post Office Department that an
estimated saving of from $1,000 to
$500 a month was effected in send
ing clearances to New York by mail.
Telegraph Bills Increase.
One business company in Texas has
reported to the Post Office Department.
that since the airmal contracts were
Cancelled its telegraph bills have in
creased several hundred per cent.
One bank has just reported the
handling of financial papers totaling
$l,958, 900 in value in a period Of nine
days by airmail between New York
and Chicago. Another reported on
SIS, $4,000 worth Of clearances it
saved S1,144 in interest, above the
cost Of airmail postage.
A bulk of the motion picture news
reels circulated through the country
for current showing travels by air.
mail, according to postal officials.
Many hospitals and doctors send
serums and other medical supplies by
airmail regularly and there are many
stories in the airmail files of emer-
gency shipments of medicines by air.
mail to halt epidemics.
Armail is used regularly in crime
prevention to expedite transmittal of
finger prints, photographs and rec
ordS.