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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0556.PDF
272 FLIGHT. MARCH x4< 1935. AN AMERICAN STOCKTAKING Some Findings of the Federal Aviation Commission that Have Their Value on This Side of the Atlantic : U.S. " G or ell Committee ': Suggested LAST summer the President of the United States ap pointed a Federal Aviation Commission to enquire -^ into conditions and to prepare a report covering all phases of aviation. This report has now been pub lished, and it forms a document of immense value to people in this country as well as in the United States. It would appear obvious that the Commission has studied the lines upon which similar bodies, such as the Gorell Committee, have worked, and has been guided by their findings to a large extent. In the first place, the Commission recommends the creation of a temporary Air Commerce Commission, to be appointed by the President, and to have broad super visory and regulatory powers over civil aeronautics, par ticularly over domestic and foreign air transport. In this suggestion there would seem to be an analogy with certain sections of the report of the Gorell Committee. The President of the United States, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, does not, however, agree, and in his message at the beginning of the report he states: — '' In this recommendation I am unable to concur. I believe that we should avoid the multiplication of separate regulatory agencies in the field of transportation. Therefore, in the interim, before a permanent consolidated agency is created or designated over transportation as a whole, a division of the Interstate Commerce Commission can well serve the needs of air transportation. In the granting of powers and duties by the Congress, orderly government calls for the administration of executive functions by those administrative departments or agencies which have functioned satisfactorily in the past and, on the other hand, calls for the vesting of judicial functions in agencies already accustomed to such powers. It is this principle that should be followed in all of the various aspects of transportation legislation." The Industry In the general introduction of the report certain matters of extreme interest are brought to light. For example, it discloses that between 1927 and 1929 550,000,000 dollars were invested in aeronautical industries, to which has subsequently been added another 90,000,000 dollars invested in municipal airports. However, a great deal of this has disappeared during the depression, and there remains about 180,000,000 dollars at the present time. Further, we find that 15,000 men and women are directly employed in the manufacture of air craft, aero engines, and accessories, a further 12,000 in the operation of air lines airports, and flying services, and, finally, 34,000 more in the Government's aviation services, 93 per cent, of whom are in the Navy and Army ; this makes a total of 61,000 Americans employed in aviation. A valuable part of the report is the summarisation of the recommendations, a few of which must be dealt with here. In the section devoted to air transport it is stated that it should be the policy of the United States to maintain a posi tion of world leadership in air transport and to take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that the most modern and efficient equipment and methods shall be applied on American domestic and foreign aii lines. Domestic air transport operations concerned at present cover daily scheduled routes totalling 133,000 miles. They serve every State in the Union but two, and regular stops are made at 178 cities, while 70 per cent, of the American people live within fifty miles of an air line stopping-place. From 1929 to 1934 the number of passengers carried per year on domestic air lines increased from 162,560 to approximately 457,000, and the passenger mileage from 31,013,000 to 185,500,000. The passenger traffic on American lines running to foreign countries has risen from 19,495,000 in 1930 to approximately 37,000,000 in 1934. On the subject of the carriage of mails, the recommendation is conservative, but predicts that the day is not far off when it will be feasible and economical for the Post Office Depart ment to despatch its first-class matter by air; nevertheless, the air transport system can no longer be planned with primary regard to postal needs, as it must be considered as a purveyor of transportation to the community, so that the Government's relationship to the lines must have equal regard to the interests of all users. Generally speaking, the Commission advocates air mail carriers being paid for actual service performed upon a basis of so-much-per-pound-carried-per-mile-flown. On the financial side of air line operation the Commission has a considerable amount to say. Its recommendation, in brief, is that the control of a multiplicity of air lines through holding companies should be prohibited. The ownership oi stock in air lines by corporations engaged in other activities, or the interlocking of diverse aeronautical interests, should be strictly controlled by the proposed Air Commerce Commission. It then goes on to advocate that the activities of holding companies and other devices calculated to restrict competition —preservation of which should serve the public interest-must not be permitted. At the present time it does not see anv advantage in prohibiting the participation of investment trus in the financing of air transport companies. The Commission rather deprecates the appoin tnient directors to a company by the Government, as it feels that management .should remain in private hands, although „ lation may be vested in the Government. ^ ^ ^ Another recommendation, peculiarly topical 11 for and against bombing aircraft, is that "there sho ^ no attempt to require the inclusion of military fef^u;'eSnojnted large amount of propaganda which has been spread in eatures design or equipment of transport aeroplanes." « is P ^ out that air transport serves national defence by mal i]a[,ie a system of high-speed communications which are ^ ^ for Government and essential industrial purposes ] ^^^1 well as peace; it creates a reserve of highly trained p ^ ^ which may be drawn on for military purposes, ai^y^ same time, it is considered that operating personne needed to keep the transport lines open. , an in- Air transport lends support to the maintenance ^ dustry which also builds military and naval nlulp expaB5ion increasing that industry's capacity for wartime gquipped Finally, it maintains a system of lighted and raaioj-j ^ ^ airways of immense military value, but which c kept up for military purposes alone. "litary a^*1' From this the Commission concludes that the m tfansport tages of air transport depend upon the volume ot ort ana operation, and that similarity of design between military aeroplanes is merely incidental
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