568 ANlSrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



ration of the Pan American Airways System which started in 1927 

 with a run of 90 miles from Key West to Havana. This line ex- 

 panded rapidly to 12,000 miles in 1928, encircling the Carribean, and 

 then to South America in 1930, further extending its mileage to 

 30,000. We all know and are proud of the more recent developments 

 of Pan American Airways wherein the Pacific was spanned in 1935, 

 bringing the total mileage to 33,000, and the Atlantic in 1938, raising 

 the figure to 54,000 miles, a truly remarkable development and one 

 envied by all the countries of the world. Pan American has fur- 

 nished a most important service to our country in extending com- 

 munication services to the far-flung points on its routes. In the 

 future, this dual role, transportation and communications, will be 

 important in international affairs. 



But to return to a somewhat earlier period, we find that by 1931 

 there had been completed the phase of mergers which sought to com- 

 bine the great number of individual air-line companies previously 

 organized into basic groups much as we know them today. If avia- 

 tion's "infancy" ended in 1911, we can say that its "childhood" ended 

 in 1926 and its "adolescence" in 1931. 



One of the first air lines to be formed in Europe was K. L. M. in 

 1920. Its record of expansion and achievement has made it one of 

 the greatest lines in the world. We, in this country, are rather proud 

 of the fact that the equipment which it has used during the last 5 or 6 

 years has been of American design and manufacture — Douglas planes 

 with Wright engines. Imperial Airways was formed in 1924, Luft- 

 hansa in 1926, and Air France in 1933. Perhaps the most significant 

 difference between foreign air lines and our own is in the matter of 

 subsidies. In the first place, the amount of subsidy abroad was and 

 is larger than ours ; and in the second place, the subsidy has usually 

 taken the form of direct payment to the air lines as against the 

 American way of payment for carrying the mails. In addition to 

 the far smaller proportion which the subsidies of our air lines bear 

 to income from other sources than maintains abroad, the method of 

 determining it, as mentioned above, is of equal importance in induc- 

 ing American air lines to make themselves self-sustaining economi- 

 cally. This is certainly the ultimate goal and its attainment is much 

 more nearly approximated here than abroad. It is so much the case 

 that many doubt the correctness of calling air-mail payments here a 

 subsidy as they seem really to represent a legitimate Government 

 expense in providing a most necessary service. 



This very brief history of air transportation can be concluded by 

 stating that after 1931, which ended the period I called "adolescence," 

 wherein its own development was its chief concern, the industry 

 started its next period of "young manhood." Its strength was by 



