The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-03-10

operators. These companies today naturally argue that this method , offers the most practical solution to the problem of maintaining U. s sovereignty over It's own air, since such franchise contract does not give to the other nation-Argentine for example-the reciprocal right to fly its planes to or over the United States.
 The U. s. Government cuts nc figure in a deal Of this kind, other than the normal control which any government has over its own citi- zenS and corporate entities. Some government ofYlcials are openly Eos- tile to any private citizens making an airline franchise contract with foreign government, though other foreign business has been done that way for years.
 This brings up the second meth cd by which an international air agreement can be made for planes of one nation to fly over or land on territory of another nation. This is to have the two governments make the contract.
 INTERNATIONAL
 COMPLICATIONS
 Here you run into complications. When two governments make the deal tendencies are Tor them to grant reciprocal rights. We let you fly over our territory if you let us fly over yours." Or, in the case of a country like Argentina, which has no aviation industry of its own, that country might say to the American State Department, We will let your airplanes fly over our country if you will let us ship to your country and sell unlimited quantities of our superior Argentine corned beefl" AS this IS Q treaty between two governments, 1t must be ratified by the U. s. Senate, and if they run true to form, Senators from the cattle-raising states will have Some- thing to say about that. Also the U s. meat packers. Such opposition might end in no treaty at all.
 An international air treaty be- tween governments also runs into the problem of national defense. Again consider the case of Argen- tina. It might grant franchises to Italian and German airllnes, as 1t did before the U. s. got into the war. and as 1t might do again after the war. Then, suppose the U. s. government wants to come along and negotiate reciprocal-air- rights, freedom Of -the-air treaty with the Argentine, so that any U. s. airline that wants to can fly It's planes to Buenos Aires.
 Suppose Argentina should agree to such treaty. She might extend the franchise to the Italian or Ger man company operating within her republic. That being the case, the U. s. would stand committed to grant landing rights on U. s. soil to Italian or German planes. MIGHT AID ENEMIES OF U. s.
 still another possibility is that Argentina or Ecuador or any other country might form an aviation company of her own to operate un- der the reciprocal air rights treaty made with the United States, and then hire Germans or Italians or even Japanese to run 1t. A situa- ton like that was actually in the making in Colombia before the war, when German pilots and aviation interests formed company to oper- ate airlines in the Colombian re- public-lines which might have been extended by reciprocal agreement with Panama and fly over the Pa mama canal.
 At this point. a pertinent question from Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. Well. :" says she, "are we going to have a peaceful world or aren't we?"
 If peace has to be enforced, none of the victorious nations is going to be able to surrender a thing. Every method of policing the air. of main- taining sovereignty of the air, will have to be safeguarded.
 If, on the other hand, everyone agrees to peace and 1t is continued on 8 beautiful 50-5O. what -mine's yours basis, then all nations must agree to the principle of "the rights of innocent passage and free land- ing" which means that any plane of any nationality can fly, land. re- fuel and get service any place 1t wants to--proyided 1t doesn't carry arms Or nick lin nassAn1erE.