Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-05-05
NATIONAL AIR MAIL WEEK
NAY 1921


| ment will celebrate the 10th ami
versary Of the Inauguration oi
scheduled air-mail service and in
commemoration thereof will OBJ
serve National Air Mail Week, May
Is to 81.
Compared with present day ali
transport operation, the beginning
of our air mail service was most
humble and limited. Looking back
over the short span Of 20 years. we
find that when the service was in
augurated on the 218. mile route be-
tween New York and Washington
there was great interest and enthu5
iasm and large crowds gathered TO
witness the event. Today flights of
1000 miles with full load of mail,
passengers and express are a coin
mon occurrence.
The first scheduled operation CT
air mail service was carried on by
the army, but after a few months,
the operation Of the planes and also
constructed and maintained the first
airWayS.
The first transcontinental service
was provided by combination of
planes and trains The planes
transported the mail by day and the
trains transported it by night. AL
though successful, this combination
service did not sufficiently expedite
the air mail to make it of great ad-
vantage, and it was SO poorly pat
roniZed that there was talk of it's
discontinuance
A number of courageous and
dauntless pilots insisted it was pos
sible to fly regular schedules at
night and volunteered to prove that
it could be done A dramatic night
flight over airway lighted by bon
fires assured the continuation of the
air mail service and paved the way
for the first electric lighted beacon
airway.
Although skeptical during the
earlier years, private capital had
become so interested in aviation by
1926, 1t was possible for the gov
ernment to turn over the operation
of the air mail routes to private con-
tractors. This marked the begin
ming of passenger and express ser
vice, as during government opera
ton, only mail was carried.
During the first year Of air mail
service $4,000 pieces of mail were
carried. During the last fiscal year
ending June 80, nearly 100000, 900
ton, more than 100000 passen-
gers flew approximately 529, 9,00O,0
passenger miles and more than g.
O0O,0OO pounds of express were
handled by the air lines.
Included in the air mail are
thousands of articles whose value
cannot be estimated-such as medi-
cines, serums and vaccines which
have been rushed by air mail TO
save lives of those seriously i'll and
to prevent epidemics in communi-
t1nv
been saved to industrial concerns,
and to employees of those concerns,
by the prompt transportation of re-
placement parts for broken ma
chinery Thousands of dollars have
been saved on banking and other
financial papers, and a new facility
has been provided for the accelera-
tion of all business.
1t is therefore fitting that the
public join with the post office de-
partment in celebrating the goth
service and in availing themselves
of the many advantages afforded by
this service.
A new bicolor &c air mail stamp
will be placed on sale May "A at
Dayton, the home of the Wright
brothers. builders of the first sue
cessful airplane, and at ST. Peters
burg, Fla. where the first pas
senger flight was made. This stamp
should be on sale at all other Off
ces on May 18th.
On May 10, you will be able to
send letter by air mail to your
Cambridge and Woodsfield. This
special fight will be made just the
one day and your letters must be
mailed not later than the 18th.
Simply let your postmaster know,
and he will see that they are car
ried on this flight
All air mail leaving lChesterhill,
Malta, McConnelsville and Stock
port, will be imprinted with cachet
representing the particular office
where mailed. The privilege of u.s.
ing a cachet on the face of an en-
velope is seldom granted by the
post office department, and it gives
all Of us an opportunity Of advertis-
ing our home office. Air mail trav-
els three to four times faster than
surface mail, crosses the continent
over night. Air mail letters may
stamps or envelopes may be used,
distinctive air mail stamped en-
velopes with red and blue border
are preferred but are not necessary.
The air mail rate to any place in the
United States or Canada is six
cents per ounce. New low rates to
every foreign country. For foreign
air mail rates consult your nearest
postoffice.
Let's do our part to make air
mail week a success. Write. let
ter to an old friend during air mail
week----May Is to 21, 193S.-Sign--