Evening star., 1934-03-12
ARMY MAIL FLYING
ENDS AS CONGRESS
SPEEDS NEW BILLS
"Fair Weather" Schedules
for System May Be Ready
This Week.
ROUTES TO BE FEWER
UNDER CHANGED sET-UP
Grounding of Entire Service Fol-
lows Presidents Appeal to
End Deaths of Pilots.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The sky was empty Of planes flying
the mails today, just three weeks after
the Army took over the job.
The order grounding the planes
made no mention of the 10 deaths
that have occurred since President
Roosevelt Cancelled the private sub
sides and turned the airmails over
to the Army, but it followed within
a day of the Presidents statement
that deaths in flying the mails must
stop"
Maj. Gen Benjamin D. FouloS,
chief of the Air Corps, directed the
order to all airmail zones, calling
upon them to:
Suspend Immediately all carrying
of the airmau until your personnel
and equipment are in position and
ready to initiate the schedules fur
nished you in radiogram.".
The order specified no airmail fly
ing should be undertaken until au-
thorized by headquarters of the Air
Corps.
Effect on Business.
What effect the cancellation of all
airmail service. even though tenn
porary. would have on American buSl-
ness. which has come to rely upon
the swifter means of mailing. was
moot question. Postal officials prompt
ly notified by airmail zone COM
manders OF the changed situation,
struggled to give the fastest possible
train routings to stacks of airmail
shunted back to them by Sundays
order
The interruption of service is not
expected to last for more than two
or three days Maj. Gen. Foulois
hoped to have a modified fair
weather. schedule by Wednesday.
The Air Corps chief believes re-
vised airmail map. with planes and
men to fly it, will be in shape by
midweek. with the l8 routes which
were being flown until today reduced
to about a dozen.
The coast forecast backbone" Of
the airmail will be preserved in the
new set-up.
Asks End to Deaths.
Grounding of the entire airmail
service followed President Roosevelt's
statement of Saturday that deaths
among Army mail courierS must
stop" The White House statement
was considered by many Air Corps
men as the sharpest rebuke given the
Army in years. These men contended
that the military aviators are as good
flyers as commercial pilots, but that
their unfamiliarity with mail routes.
coupled with exceptionally bad
weather during most of the period,
has been a heavy disadvantage.
Although the Army mail pilots were
held to earth. the disasters that have
marked their three weeks experience
in flying the mail remained fuel for
congressional discussion.
An emergency airmail bill. provid-
ing funds for temporary Army opera
ton, may get a Senate vote before
night, although considerable debate Is
in prospect
An amendment prepared by Sen
ator Vandenburg, Republican, OF
Michigan. would prohibit the use
of the emergency funds except where
pilots have been trained in blind fly
ing and carry equipment for such
flying. The amendment is intended
as a safeguard against further loss
of life by Army flyers of the mail.
Presidents Request.
Both House and Senate worked for
legislation along the lines of Presi-
dent Roosevelt's request that the
flying of the mails be returned to
private companies under a new con-
tract system that would prevent re-
currence of such conditions as led
to the wholesale cancellation of con-
tracts last month
Both Senate and House Post Office
Committees heard objections today
to parts of the administration legisla-
ton to reorganiZe the service.
In the House, Representative Kelly,
Republican, of Pennsylvania, said the
bill would continue the proposition
that caused us all our trouble" He
referred to a provision to pay car
riers by space available for mail.
In the Senate, Senator Logan,
Democrat. of Kentucky, objected to
provisions barring the transfer of
contract from one company to an
other, as we'll as the limitation OF
route extensions to 100 miles, as too
rigid.
Hits General Legislation.
1--WE can't adopt general legisla
ton to fit one case. he said
Kelly called the attention of Harllee
Branch, Second Assistant Postmaster
General, to the section in the new bill
specifying that one cubic foot of space
in an airplane shall be considered as
10 pounds of mail. for which the car
rier could receive 80 cents per air.
plane mile.
Under that provision" Kelly said,
"you go back to the space system that
caused US all our trouble.
You can contract for one cubic foot
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