The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast limes. SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 13th, 1924. SAVING MILLIOINS BY AIR MAIL SERVICE.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 September 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast limes. SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 13th, 1924. SAVING MILLIOINS BY AIR MAIL SERVICE.

ItOl'Nii the glebe : i!: ]1: 111 • • tri|.‘i ale si. la.'itlar, and ere doing lurch t> bring home |.i the v.orhl the truth ilmt the no.\ da ol aerial navigation is nut only at hand, hut is lien*. I.e-s spot - tie mar, altbougli of far mere pres, lit value, is the roast to coast air mail servile lately attempted hy the Cnitc.l States l’o-l Oilier I )e| al l meat. and alt end v in sue essiill operation. S‘i ‘neiv is this server that many business men are m>t familiar with the conveniences it olfeis. and the real faviugs in time and expedition el ceiiini"'eial traiisa liens it affords. A letter I listed ill New Vm k. says a In. al | aper. is now di liverab!(i in San Kraneiv o within 3d hours, and at any of the intermediate stations of stoppage in pro) o. (innately less lime. Considering that a distance of aj •roximately three thousand miles separates the iv.o cities mill'll, ill.' .I:i ••' 111 " 111 :ij;• ■. 11 aim* I incredible. yet the retold is imw a eommonphiee with the postal .service. The fastest train between New Volk and Chi'ago requires twenty hollts t i conijsctc the journey. 'I he ait plane mail makes it in eight and one-half hunt's, or ii.n.sidt ring the dill'etetn e in standaid-tiiue tin hour more. In a relent talk heloi'e the hankers of Chicago. Colonel Henderson, scrum! postmn.slergeneral, in charge of the air mail department. told his audience some rather astonishing things about the new service. The mail planes travel night ami day. 'I heir path between stations, or approaching stations is illuminated hy powerful .search lights that light the way. It will he ti matter of the briefest time li.'fote a s| e.-ial night schedule is | nt into operation between the two big lilies. 'J he business man or the banket' ean finish Iti.s day’s corrcspomlenee, go home, and while lie sleeps his mail is being carried to its thousand mile destination, for early morning delivery. In like manner other impotlunl letters will lie radiating at equal speed in other directions, or coining inward. What this means may he better understood if we consider only the commercial hanks in their relations with each other. For many years the lots of time to these hanks on their “float”—that is. their collections on each oilier- has been a matter of much talk, and equally regretful calculation. The Federal Reserve Hank of New York alone has $08,000,(kill in daily process of collection, counting only eleven large cities. Omitting the one and two day points from the total, it was found that the .amount involved, were the two and three days points reduced in time to one day. was $1(1,191.780 and that the annual amount of interest on this sum was $809,059. or $2,218 daily. Chicago re.

ported that in the same manner the time amount saved through aircraft •service was $10,289,000, interesti on which was calculated at sdOl,loO annually. These two examples are cited to show the possibilities growing out of the new and quicker delivery. A computation covering business in general is obviously impossible, hut that the total savings could ho increased to millions of dollars admits of no doubt. The present soivice as scheduled comprises twelve or more sto;:s between New York and San Francisco. These do|\s, as may he imagined, are brief, lint the ten or twenty minute in-

tervals permit the change ( ,f mail and the acteptance of letters which may have Ik'cm forwarded hv rail from tributary territory, to lie carried to destination through the air. This is a valuable feature, which in time will receive due recognition. The postal charges for aircraft mail are not unduly high. The rate starts at eight cents an ounce for the first zone, which in the ease of Xew York reaches to Chicago, one thousand miles away, and increases gradually to twenty-four rents an ounce for San Francisco delivery. Hates between intermediate points are equally reasonable. A tinge of romance still surrounds the air mail service, heightened liv several demonstrations of a spectacular nature that indicate its possibilities. For example a perfectly solvent bank in a middle west city was forced not long since to send out a financial 4, 5.0.5.” cat! because of an unexplainable run started upon it. The faithful city bank correspondent some hundreds of miles away did not wait for the railway to carry aid. It bundled a quarter of a million dollars or more together, put it in an air plane, and in two or three mrs the beleaguered bank luul all the

money it required to check the run. That may lie a little unusual, hut it will lie ordinary from now on. The aircraft service is not built on romance. It is a solid business affair. Last year it flow two million miles locally, with almost negligible loss. Ihe long distance Kchedues now in operation "ill add to this retord amazingly, ,