Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-05-14
L. S. Seeks Uniform Rules
FOrPOstWar World AirLines
Series of Bilateral Talks Are Now Underway
To Work Out Agreements Covering Many
Difficult Freedom of Air Problems
By Ed,Uard A. Harris.

| showed its willingness to support the
! principle of freedom of transit, when it
! Joined with Britain. Sweden and the
! Netherlands in urging addition of such
| a protocol to the Paris convention of
1919, but the proposal fell by the way
side.
Favors BilateraI Agreement.
But while the United States still ap-
| pears to be strong advocate of free
dom of transit, there is no certainty as
| to its attitude toward the next step:
Right of commercial entry. The right
of commercial entry" is the right of an
airline of one country to transport pas
sengers and commodities to and from
one or more points in another country.
Present American policy seems to be to
leave the right of entry as it now stands
"a subject for bilateral agreement.
There is no definite indication at this
time that the United States or the other
nations are prepared to reach a COM
prehensive multilateral agreement on
the matter In its ultimate phase, the
right OF commercial entry would mean
abandonment by the individual nations
OF sovereignty of the air above them.
1t would comprise real International
ization of the air. No government as
yet has Endorsed so sweeping program;
yet some air experts hold that it Is
destined to come, sooner or later.
In this connection President Roosevelt
CIIrnricnH OF
last October l when he remarked
casually that in informal talks with
Prime Minister Churchill they had
reached the conclusion there should be
worldwide freedom of the air after the
war. But the excitement died down
when he explained he thought each
country should control its own internal
aviation and freedom of the air" meant
freedom for the reciprocal use of air
bases and freedom of transit.
One of the first high Government
officials to call widespread popular at
tention to the subject was Vice President
Henry A. Wallace, who early last year
made several pointed references to
global freedom of the air. This
prompted freshman Representative Clare
Boothe Luce, Republican, of Connecticut.
In her maiden speech in the House, to
characterize the phrase freedom of the
air. as "globaloney"
Stirred Interest in Subject.
Her speech was confusing. to nut It
mildly, and aroused storm of criticism.
She was represented as advocating
american control of the skies, but later
she insisted she had merely meant to
call for United States control of the air
over its own territory. In any event,
the teapot tempest served to stir I'D
further interest in a vital issue.
Both Canada, which sits astride the
air corridor to the Orient, and the
U. S. S. R. are expected to forge ahead
In international service after the war,
and the Netherlands and Sweden plan
to establish transatlantic air routes.
Before the war the United States led
In the international air transport field
with 62,305 route miles of scheduled flying
through 80 foreign countries and COL
omes. 1t operated the only trans
Atlantic airlines from the North Amer
lean continent and the only trans
Pacific line. It's commercial routes
threaded through the Caribbean and
Central America and traversed both
coasts of South America, with a con-
Meeting cross-continental link between
Santiago in Chile to Buenas Aires in
Argentina.
The German Lufthansa air system
totaled 33,O38 route miles through 26 for
elgn countries and colonies. 1t owned or
controlled routes in South America and
China, with. service between those two
widely separated territories, and it had
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