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Show AIR MAIL PROBLEM IS GROUND DELAYS Slow Delivery It Cause of Most of Complaints. Washington. The majority of complaints com-plaints concerning slow delivery of air mall concern delays which occur on the ground, It Is admitted by officials of tbe I'ost-Ofllce department. The department de-partment has launched a new effort to Increase tbe speed of ground handling ao that the main value of transporting mall through the air may not be lost Jhrough this handicap. The problem of Increasing ground speeda la difficult, according to Karl Wad worth, superintendent of air mall service. The most that the department depart-ment can do, aays Mr. Wadsworth, la to utilize to tbe fullest extent the existing ex-isting means of transportation. Each city and the mall airport terminal presents pre-sents different difficulties. Police 8pted Deliveries. Months of experimenting have been required to determine what Is the best method of bringing New York's ulr mail from the eastern terminal at the Newark airport Into the general post office at Eighth avenue and Tweuty-thlrd Tweuty-thlrd street In most cities the municipal government govern-ment aids delivery by giving trucks which are delivering the air mall the right of way and allowing them to disregard dis-regard the speed limits. In other cities these trucks are accorded the aume attention at-tention In traffic which fire apparatus receives. Police are notified of the coming of the trucks and see that no traffic obstructions bar the way. ' Amphlblana Used In Chicago. A special experiment was tried In Chicago In an effort to speed the delivery de-livery of mall arriving on the transcontinental trans-continental mall planes. Amphibian plane service was authorized there to deliver the mall to the city, the am. phlbluua taking off from tbe air mall field and flying to the lake front, where the mails could be delivered to trucks which then had only a short huul to downtown post office stations. This service must be suspended In the winter as the amphibians cannot operate oper-ate because of the Ice In the lake. Tests have been authorized of air mall catching devices but the feasibility feasibil-ity of placing them on the top of post office buildings Is not yet determined because of the fact that regulations provide that airplanes must not fly lower thau 500 feet when passing over cities. It is possible that regulations might be changed to allow the mall planes to use such devices, but even then It Is problematical what tbe performance of the planes would be down In the canyons formed by lull office buildings. Tbe possibility of the' use of pneumatic pneu-matic tubes for tbe transport of air mail from tbe airports to the post offices of-fices also Is under consideration. The expense of Installing tubes over such loug distances is one of the limiting factors In such a plan, according to Mr. Wodsworth. Things We Don't See So many of us go through the day and hardly notice the sparkle of sunlight on a lake or goblet, the majestic ma-jestic angles cast by a skyscraper or a picket fence, the grace of a cobweb awaylng In the breene, of a dandelion I turned white mid fluffy, of a gray road winding over a hill. Woman's Home Companion. |