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Show Tenth Anniversary of Airmail Service In U. S. over to private iniative for operation under contract so that to-day the country is literally a network of airmail air-mail lines. Sixty-three of the most important commercial cities of the Nation are within the confines of this network, leaving only a very few of any prominence to be hooked up later. Twenty-two routes in operation, and five others under contract and scheduled for operation during the current year, bring the total mileage of the air-mail system to 12,550. ' Two additional routes, with a mileage mile-age of 1,350, are under advertisement advertise-ment and contracts probably will be let during the year. ! At the present time air-mail pilots are flying every day a total distance ' of 22,110 miles and carrying on an average of 5,700 pounds of mail daily. Several thousand miles will , be added when the other routes are placed in operation, so that the end ! of the year will find pilots flying with the mail close to 30,000 miles every day of the year. The progress of the air mail service ser-vice during the 10 years of its existence exis-tence is a matter of deep gratification gratifica-tion to myself and the entire Postal Service and it is felt that no greater great-er service can be performed than in familiarizing the public with the economy, the speed and the efficiency efficien-cy of this new mthod of mail transportation. "Ten years of Airmail," is being observed throughout the United ! States this week, and the event marks another epoch in the achievement achieve-ment of science in mastering the air as a means of not only mail j transportation but of passenger j carrying as well. Harry S. New, j postmaster general, in a circular, j gives some interesting data con-; con-; cerning the advancement of mail service since May 15, 1918, a portion of which follows: It was on May 15, 1918, that the first regular service, operated with j planes and pilots borrowed from the ; War Department, was inaugurated j between New York and Washington. j This route was not destined to live long because it was soon discov-1 , ered that the time saved in the air j was nearly all lost on the ground i because of the distance between the flying fields and the main post of- fices. ! But the experiment furnished the ' start and yielded the first lesson I which was that mail transport by air to be successful, must cover i greater distances. From the small ; beginning of the New York-Washington route grew the transcontinental transcontinen-tal system which first began operating operat-ing on regular schedule, flying night and day, July 1, 1924. A year later an additional overnight service was i inaugurated between New York ; and Chicago. ' 'The riext step, under congressional authorization, was the letting of con-' con-' tracts to private flying companies , f or the transportation of mail over : lateral routes, connecting important ' cities with the main line. Then, the ' transcontinental system was turned |