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Show lei's Face Facts Policy Being Developed For Bringing Air Service To Many Small Towns By BARROW LYONS I WNU Staff Corrttpondent Policies that will determine whlcj of America's 6.331 towns with populations popu-lations between 1.000 and 5.000 will receive some type of airplane serv-lce serv-lce after the war " are now in Uie $ suit of proceed-I proceed-I V ' 11 Ings before the V A' Civil Aeronautics V' I board in Wash- ! ington. Just what 1 of service , ' ,v ' teach 6mall town 1 Is likely to re-V re-V &A I celve will be de-i. de-i. sift V Mim.l cided. Barrow Lyons 14 would be good Idea to tell your congressman to keep his eye on this development, which so intimately inti-mately concerns your town and your business. Only lack of planes and pilbts Is holding back a tremendous expansion expan-sion of air traffic, both commercial and private, which will reach every corner of the country when facilities and personnel become available. The rapidity with which pressure for this expansion has developed within the last year is ' revealed by the number of applications to establish new air services. By the end of last August, 233 such applications had been filed with CAB. By January 15, the number had increased to 435, and by the end of February there were 577 proposals propos-als before the board for new and additional air services. Of the 577 there were 469 which related to domestic services involving involv-ing about 500.000 route miles, compared com-pared with 45,000 route miles now authorized. Outstanding certificates of public necessity and convenience now designate 288 cities and towns which may receive air service, but only 23 are towns of less than 5,000 population. It ' Is clear that the applications before CAB will open a new chapter In air transportation, one that is full of knotty technical and policy problems. prob-lems. Various Carriers Interested For instance, some of the existing airlines feel that with their experience experi-ence and equipment they should be permitted to extend services to cover most of the now unserviced towns. But surface carriers, the bus lines and railroads, feel that they should be permitted to protect themselves them-selves against probably heavy loss of passengers and freight to air transport by establishing lines of their own. And there are hundreds of small, new companies which desire de-sire to service towns too small to be attractive to the larger companies, but which feel they are entitled to assure their existence by entering some of the larger terminals. Already CAB Examiners William J. Madden and Albert E. Beitel have made an Investigation of the need for local-feeder and pick-up air services. serv-ices. Oral arguments on this report re-port were heard beginning on April 5. It has been urged that these should be followed by hearings In regional areas throughout the United States at which local problems could be aired. When the board digests the evidence and gives consideration considera-tion to establishing an over-all national na-tional policy, it will make its recommendations rec-ommendations for local standards. If congress is satisfied "with the policies and procedure established by the CAB, no further legislation, except to implement the plan of the CAB with funds, will be required. But in a new field like this, with large and conflicting interests deeply deep-ly concerned, it would be rather surprising if congress did not take a part in developing policy. , It Is virtually certain, however,- that as soon as the war ends "strawberry "straw-berry trains" of the air will be carrying car-rying fresh fruits and vegetables long distances across our land, and that as the traffic grows more and more of the products from farms and orchards will move in this fash-Ion, fash-Ion, beating the fast freight and express trains by many hours. One of the organizations giving most thought to this development is the Airlines Committee for United States Air Policy, organized to protect pro-tect the interests of existing air carriers. car-riers. A subcommittee on air transport trans-port of the Railroad Committee for the Study of Transportation, Association Asso-ciation of American Railroads, is an. other body deeply concerned. The Airlines, Committee plans' all-cargo all-cargo services, in addition to hauling haul-ing passengers. Aircraft manufacturers manufac-turers are designing refrigerator planes flying freight cars to carry tremendous loads great distances. A plane flying only 100 miles an hour could carry fresh pork from Iowa to the Pacific coast In 15 hours, as against the present time of near ly two weeks. Pick-up mail services by which a plane without stopping collects mail at small stations along local passen ger routes, is a type of air service receiving consideration. Recently two CAB examiners recommended that passenger air service could weli be supplemented by this type ol operation. Only one carrier, All American Aviation, now flies a pickup pick-up mail service, using small, single-motored single-motored planes that swoop low ovei a mailbag rigged between two poles, and with a patented pick-up lint hook the baa. |