The History of Air Mail Act of 1930 - Research Paper Example

 Air Mail Act of 1930 In the United States, the operations of air mail started in the month of August of the year 1918, after beginning in the Army Air Service in the United States in the month of May of the year 1918, with the airplanes and pilots belonging solely to the Post Office of United States. For nine years, the Post Office built a nationwide network where it flew mostly using the de Havilland DH.4 war-surplus biplanes. In the beginning, the air mail operations seemed to be very dangerous, where initially three pilots facing their deaths in crashes that took place in the year 1919, while nine more pilots died in 1920. It was in the year 1922 where the year ended without any fatal crash being witnessed. As capability and safety grew, the operations that only took place in the daytime paved way for flights to take place in the night, with the assistance of ground beacons and emergency landing fields that were lighted. Transcontinental delivery of air mail regularly started in the year 1924. In the year 1925, for the purpose of encouraging commercial aviation, the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925 (also referred to as the Kelly Act) allowed the Post Office Department to have contracts with the private airlines for the feeder routes into the system of major transcontinental. The first air mail flight that was commercial was on the 784-kilometers (487 miles) Contract Air Mail (CAM) Route number 5 from Pasco (in Washington) to Elko (in Nevada), on 6th of April, 1926 (Bankston 2009). By the year 1927, there had been complete transition to entire transport of mail that was commercial, and by the year 1929, forty-five airlines were already in the business of mail delivery in the exchange of money adding up to $1.10 per mile. Most of these airlines were companies that were small and under-capitalized and operated on the short routes and used old equipment. Subsidies for the delivery of mails surpassed the cost of the mail to be carried, and some of the carriers began abusing their contracts when they flooded their system with scrap mail at total profit or carrying freight as air mail. The Air Mail Act of 1930 was passed on the 29th of April. It is also referred to as McNary-Watres Act. In the year, 1929, Brown was appointed by Hoover to be the postmaster general. In the year 1930, Brown, after citing expensive and inefficient air mail delivery, made a request for legislation from the Congress to grant him the authority so that he could alter the postal policy. It was passed after its main sponsors, Rep. Laurence H. Watres from Pennsylvania and Sen. Charles L. McNary of Oregon, gave the authority to the postmaster general and enabled him to enter into airmail contracts that were long-term with the rates depending upon the volume or space, rather than the weight (Holanda 2009). The passing of this Act availed an authority that was very strong, though others argued that the power was almost dictatorial, over the transportation system all over the national air. The major provision that was in the Air Mail Act altered the method of calculating the payments. The Airmail carriers would receive payments for possessing cargo capacity that was sufficient on their planes, regardless of whether their planes flew empty or carried mail. This was a disincentive of carrying mail since the carrier would receive payments for a plane that was of a particular size, whether it carried mail or not. This provision was meant to discourage the transportation of heavy junk mail in order to boost profits, specifically by the carriers that were smaller and inefficient. The provision was also aimed at encouraging transportation of passengers. The airlines that used larger planes that were designed for carrying passengers would boost their revenues by carrying less mail and more passengers. The “lowest responsible bidder” who owned an airline that had its operations taking place on a daily schedule for not less than six months and not less than 402 kilometers (250 miles).The Act also availed a second provision that gave the permission to any airmail career that had a contract that has been in existence for not less than two years and ready to exchange the contract for the “route certificate” that will give it the right to carry mail for ten more years (Bankston 2009). Then, there was the third provision, and it was the provision that was the most controversial availed the authority to Brown, of consolidating or extending routes in effect depending on his personal judgment. In less than two weeks’ time after passage of the Act, at a Spoils Conference, Brown besought his authority according to the third provision in consolidating the routes of airmail to three companies hence forcing out the competitors. Later, these three carriers underwent evolution into the northern airmail route (United Airlines), Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA, which owned the mid-United States route), and American Airways (American Airlines, the southern route). Brown also authorized the extension of the southern route to West Coast. Under him, bonuses were awarded for ferrying more passengers and acquiring multi-engined aircraft that are equipped with navigation aids and radios.The federal reforms that were enacted in the year 1930 issued most airmail contracts and routes to the large holding airline companies. The airlines that were small and independent aired their complaints that this was not fair, though most of them had traded their contracts and others were not existent during the time this law was passed.The independents struggled to break the power of the holding companies. Their attempts resulted in congressional hearings and charges of conspiracy and corruption which were unfounded. These charges were aimed at monopolizing the air mail. While responding to the political pressure, the President, Franklin Roosevelt authorized the cancelation of all the air mail contracts that were domestic on the 9th of February in the year 1934. Again, the Army Air Corps were assigned the duty of carrying the mail (Holanda 2009). In the February of the year 1934, the Air Corps resumed the carrying of the mail. They flew in the winter which was the worst in decades, in aircraft that was not well-equipped; the pilots of Air Corps suffered numerous accidents that were well-publicized, many of them taking place during training. Deaths of several pilots led to public outcry. This public outcry made President Franklin to suspend the mail service from Air Corps until the situation could be improved. The struggle by the airlines that were independent to break the power that holding companies had in order to dominate the transportation through the air in the 1930s was led by Thomas Braniff. Eddie Rickenbacker, who was the vice president of the American Airways and war hero, condemned the crisis that faced air mail and termed it as “legalized murder”, after numerous deaths of Air Corps during the flight carrying the mail. Criticisms were also received from Charles Lindberg, who testified before the Congress. He criticized President Franklin for canceling the air mail contracts hastily and issuing punishment to the airlines without following due process.The Congress, after four months since the beginning of the air mail crisis, passed the Air Mail Act of 1934. This Act reduced the payment rates for the airlines. It also returned a big number of the air mail routes to the key airlines and issued several routes to the smaller airlines (Holanda, 2009). The Act also divided regulation among the Commerce Department, Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Post Office. The Act ordered the dissolution of aviation holding companies and separation of aircraft from aircraft manufacturers. The previous contractors in the air mail department had to restructure or alter names. American Airways changed to American Airlines while Eastern Air Transport changed to Eastern Air Lines. The Air Mail Act passed in 1934 saw the breakup of the big airline holding companies and also forced the airline companies to fire the executives who were wrongfully accused of collaborating to give a monopoly to the air mail. One of the victims from United Air Lines was Phillip G. Johnson. Johnson, like many others, was in attendance in the operators conference held by Walter Brown in the year 1930, where air mail routes and contracts were legally awarded. Paradoxically, United Airlines did not receive any of the contracts when the so-called “Spoils Conferences” were in progress. However, Johnson and many of others faced wrongful and unconstitutional barring from the airline business without undergoing trials (Bankston, 2009). References Bankston, C. L. (2009). Great events from history. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press. Holanda, R. (2009). A history of aviation safety: Featuring the U.S. airline system. Bloomington, Ind: AuthorHouse. Read More