Show f hectic days for the air mom 77 44 NA I 1 pa N VI ON noll Y MA NW A sia q VIA 4 4 X M 1 J rik q 4 t S nf M F top federal aviation commission center ill III fated navy dirigible macon below commander wiley of the macon by WILLIAM C UTLEY have hare been hectic days for commendations THESE the air minded and reports suggestions recommendations for governmental overn mental policies toward aviation have poured into congress faster than proposals for new government bureaus A new plan callin calling b for ordination coordination co of all forms of transportation under federal control has been suggested by joseph B eastman federal co ordina tor of transportation the federal aviation commission has suggested that a temporary air commerce commission to bear tile the same rel relation aaion to air transport that the interstate commerce commission bears to tile the railroads be created president 1100 roosevelt sevelt in a message with which lie he presented the recommendations ions of tile federal aviation commission which was created june 12 of last year to make a study of aviation agreed with the premise that all forms of transportation must be coordinated under one regulatory control but disagreed directly with the plan of establishing a separate commerce commission for the air lines the aviation commission recommended that the interstate commerce commission be given immediate authority to re regulate up or down the rates which the post office department pays tile the air transport companies for carrying th the mail the rates which have come com ever so near to ruining some of tile the companies involved the elie same commission recommended that the government start work as soon as possible on a new dirigible airship as the forerunner of an american intercontinental air transport system either to asia or to europe perhaps patterned after the travel service of the grat graf zeppelin which makes scheduled ed trips between Frederichs hafen germany and rio de janiero Jan lero less than a week later the united states dirigible macon tile the most modern beiter than air craft existent and the P pride ride of the navy foundered and disappeared into the calm P pacific with two of its crew of 83 men submits three plans coordinator co eastman Easl tuan submitted three plans to congress for the unification un of trail transport port but only one of them had his approval tile the others being offered merely to show what the alternatives are all of them while affecting affect ing aviation were aimed principally at rescue of the railroads from their current financial plight the favored plan includes 1 extension of federal control under the to cover all forms of transportation 2 association of planning prevention and ordination coordination co with the regulatory functions 3 a dismissal compensation system plus retirement pensions so that the railroads without infringing upon labor laboi rights ri gats can take advantage of mechanical mech at improvements and laborsaving labor saving devices to reducer alzor costs and 4 financial reorganization tile the first alternative plan combined the eastman plan with the compulsory consolidation of american railroads into seven systems two in the east two in the south and three in the west the other advocated out and out government purchase and ownership of nil all railroads this in mr air east mans opinion held the greatest opportunity for good and tile the greatest chances for harm lie ile did not think that the american people were ready to accept it now and did not favor the addition to the already gigantic list of government expenditures at tile the present time in ap approving provIn the unification of transportation por tation th the e president recalled that when the interstate commerce commission was created in 1887 the railroad was practically the principal method of rapid interstate transportation since that time this monopoly of transportation enjoyed by the railroad to a very important degree 7 has be been e n limited by the development develop me nt of the automobile and good interstate roads recently water transportation by lake by river by canal and by ocean has largely through the construction of the panama canal anal c and our inland waterways definitely brought brou glit ships and shipping 0 into the fhe general interstate field more recently still air transportation has become an element dwelling more upon the aeronautical element of the reports tile the president said there T h ere are detailed questions that require early action our extended mail contracts with airlines expire on or about marell march 1 and existing legislation dealing with primary or secondary routes should be revised before that time report slaps parley farley the report of the commission was will a direct slap at postmaster gene general a james A parleys carleys Far leys power powel proposing to strip him of every vest vestige ge of Corl control irol over airways of the country it was found that several of the important companies wore were tottering very nc nearly lary upon the brink of bankruptcy bank ru atcy because of the ridiculous ridiculously ly low bids they were forced to make to secure air mall in all contracts the aviation commission proposes vesting vestina the handling of air subsidies entirely in the proposed air commerce commission while the president favors simply turning them over to the already functioning CC whichever plan Is adopted the ruling commission would decide which of the airlines were in the public interest these it woul would d license for or service and would arrange the details in each case of whatever r subsidy g emed to bo be necessary to s secure e these thes e lines ines from loss the commission asks that provisions of the present airmail laws be extended by additional emergency legislation until january 1 1030 expiring on march 3 1 some of these provisions it is said would force the breakup break up of several existing lines ostensibly to prevent monopoly the present airmail air mail mall law stipulates that no company may hold more than three air mail contracts and no operator can hold two primary route contracts after aate r march 1 1935 transportation authorities whose not notable able Spoke spokesman sm in of recent days has been prof hampton K snell of the university of montana believe that the field should be limited to a few stron strong air systems as fundamental for best development cheapest and most efficient service air transport rt service despite all the alleged handicaps to service there are today approximately miles of regularly operated air transport routes in the united st states alps there is an average of plane pl ane miles scheduled to be flown down by all lines in the united states every day scheduled air lines serve directly 71 of the OG DO metropolitan districts in the united states counting as a metropolitan district an area having an aggregate population I of or more and containing in 7 one or more central cities of C or r more inhabitants air travel has grown in phenomenal leaps and bounds within the last eight years air lines in the united states carried approximately passengers in 1020 in 1934 04 this egure had multiplied times to approximately COO 00 express and mail carriage have increased C r e ased s at a similar rate for example one of the largest of the companies united air lines had an increase in express tonnage from tons in 1033 23 to tons in 1034 1934 this line carried pounds of mall mail in tile the first nine dine months of 1934 as contrasted with pounds dur ing the entire year 1933 perhaps the most spectacular of nil all the recommendations of tile the federal aviation commission was its vision of huge american built dirigible air liners plying in regular service across the seas it was a dream that had these giant air leviathans levi athans cruls cruising ln the great pacific to many parts of nf asia sink millions in dirigibles the united states navy has already sunk millions upon millions of dollars in tile the construction of dirig dirigibles ibI c s and the latest of these millions sank into the pacific with the alacon on february 12 tile the shenandoah cost 2200 the 2 the akron 5 this includes the cost of building the goodyear zeppelin hangar at akron ohio and the macon tha los angeles cost the nation not Elot liing liln being r received from germany in the treaty of versailles oddly enough it is the only one we have left now isow tile the whole plan of airship construction st seems likely to be shelved the macons crash while the alert action of corn com herbert V wiley with tile operation cooperation co of ships in III the united states battle fleet held the loss of life down to only two members of the crew has just about convinced a large share of that the united states simply cannot build and operate airships president roosevelt made the open statement that he would not ask congress for any money with which to build airships agreeing with lihn him was admiral william V standley chief of naval operations senator william D king of utah declared that he would propose an amendment to tile the presidents works bill b I 1 11 that would forbid an any of f th the Oo being spent Y for 0 dirigible e airship construction while disapproving the immediate expenditure of money for airships the pir president resident indicated lila his opinion that such craft were by no means finished in world history 0 newspaper U union |