SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON
INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

H. R. 2908

CARD DIVISION

A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE SEPARATION OF SUBSIDY FROM
AIR-MAIL PAY, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

H. J. Res. 331

A JOINT RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE CIVIL AERONAUTICS
BOARD TO INVESTIGATE AND REPORT TO CONGRESS WITH
RESPECT TO PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE SEPARATION OF
THE PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION FOR SERVICES RENDERED
IN TRANSPORTING MAIL BY AIRCRAFT FROM THE PAYMENT
OF SUBSIDIES TO AIR CARRIERS

Report of-

Civil Aeronautics Board on H. R. 2908.

Civil Service Commission on House Joint Resolution 331.

Commerce Department on-

House Joint Resolution 331.

H. R. 2908_

Post Office Department on-

Statement of-

Page

House Joint Resolution 331.

H. R. 2908___

45

Aiken, Paul, Assistant Postmaster General, Post Office Department -

Bartlett, Hon. E. L., a Delegate in Congress from the Territory of

Alaska

134

133

259

Doherty, William C., president, National Association of Letter Car-

riers

234

Haddock, Hoyt S., executive secretary, CIO Maritime Committee.

Heacock, Amos E., president, Independent Air Carrier Conference 160, 170

Kennedy, Hon. John F., a Representative in Congress from the State

of Massachusetts.

Marvin, Langdon P., Jr., representing the Citizens Committee for the
Hoover Report__

O'Connell, Joseph J., Jr., Chairman, Civil Aeronautics Board

Pakiser, L. C., national executive director, American Veterans Com-

mittee

113

75, 238

21, 51, 118

205

Prince, Gregory, assistant general solicitor, Association of American

Railroads

169

Sawyer, Hon. Charles, Secretary of Commerce.

Slick, Earl F., president, Slick Airways, Inc..

9

91

Sullivan, Hon. John L., representing certain United States airlines.

Tipton, Stuart G., general counsel, Air Transport Association of

America

215

63

Additional information submitted for the record by-

Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report:

Association of American Railroads, statement of J. H. Parmalee,

vice president__

169

Airline Mail Pay, from New York Times -

253

Air Mail and Subsidies, editorial from New York Times.

Air Mail and Subsidies, editorial from Washington Post.

Clear Up a Subsidy Confusion, editorial from San Francisco

Chronicle.

84

85

85

Donaldson Seems To Be Getting Somewhere in Putting Post Office
Department on Paying Basis, from Port Arthur (Tex.) News__
Excerpt from New Yorker magazine..

256

257

Letter from Hon. John F. Kennedy transmitting copy of H. R.

2908 with suggested amendments__.

241

Letter from Langdon P. Marvin, Jr., transmitting letter from
Lucile S. Keyes, member, Postal Affairs Task Force...

Letters from Robert L. Johnson..

Mail Subsidy Change, editorial from Fort Worth (Tex.) Morning

Star Telegram__

251

Additional information submitted for the record by-Continued

Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report-Continued

Mail Subsidy Divorce Closing In on Airlines, Etc., from Barrons

National Business and Financial Weekly.

Pago

251

Postal Affairs Task Force, list of members

Postal Economies, from New York Times.

238

255

Postal Service Cut, from Houston (Tex.) Chronicle.

257

Post Office Reform Goes Into Reverse, from Philadelphia In-

quirer

258

Selfish Foes Stall Hoover Reform Bills, Etc., from Birmingham

Post-

254

86

Washington Watchdog, from the Committee Reporter___

Civil Aeronautics Board:

Cost and nature of studies required before separation of mail pay

and subsidy can be effected_

Principal differences between H. R. 2908 and proposed substitute

bill..

Principal features of suggested revisions to H. R. 2908 and S. 1431_

Proposed substitute bill..

Colonial Airlines, Inc., letter from Sigmund Janas, president, trans-

mitting statement_

Congress of Industrial Organizations, telegrams from

Independent Air Carrier Conference:

Additional statements of Amos E. Heacock_

Statistics on hidden airmail subsidy, tables and chart_

Keyes, Lucile S., letter from, transmitting statement--

28

33

30

26

210

86, 87

195, 198

177-181

207

278

209

National Association of Letter Carriers, speech of Hon. John J.

Rooney, from Congressional Record, May 4, 1950-

National Industrial Traffic League, letter from E. F. Lacey, executive

secretary, transmitting statement_ __

Post Office Department:

Comparison of revenues from various classes of mail with trans-

portation expeditures and with total allocated expenditures,

table_____

Distribution of transportation expenditures to classes of mail,

table...

General rules applicable to railroads, tables.

Position of, on extensions or additions to trunk or regional routes

in cases before the Civil Aeronautics Board..

Space, regularly authorized and emergency, and payments for

mail transportation, by railroads, table_

Volume of foreign mail (other than air mail), and expenditures to

steamship companies, fiscal year 1949..

154

154

148, 149

136

154

155, 156

AIR MAIL SUBSIDIES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1950

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON

INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10 a. m., in room 1334, New House Office

Building, pursuant to call, Hon. Lindley Beckworth (chairman of

the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. BECKWORTH. The committee will come to order.

The purpose of the meeting this morning is to begin hearings on the

important and significant issue of the separation of subsidy from air-

mail pay.

Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced a bill, H. R. 2908, Febru-

ary 21, 1949, to provide for the separation of subsidy from air-mail

pay, and for other purposes.

The chairman of our committee, Mr. Crosser, introduced House

Joint Resolution 331, August 2, 1949, directing the Civil Aeronautics

Board to investigate and report to Congress with respect to problems

related to the separation of the payment of compensation for services

rendered in transporting mail by aircraft from the payment of sub-

sidies to air carriers.

(H. R. 2908 and H. J. Res. 331 are as follows:)

[H. R. 2908, 81st Cong., 1st sess.]

A BILL To provide for the separation of subsidy from air-mail pay, and for other purposes

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States

of America in Congress assembled,

SHORT TITLE

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Air Mail Act of 1949".

RATES FOR TRANSPORTATION OF MAIL AND SUBSIDY FOR ESSENTIAL AIRCRAFT OPERATION

SEC. 2. (a) Subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 406 of the Civil Aeronautics

Act of 1938, as amended, are hereby amended to read as follows:

"RATES FOR TRANSPORTATION OF MAIL AND SUBSIDY FOR ESSENTIAL AIRCRAFT

OPERATION

"Authority to Fix Compensatory Rates

"SEC. 406. (a) (1) The Civil Aeronautics Board is empowered and directed,

upon its own initiative or upon petition of the Postmaster General or an air car-

rier, to determine and fix from time to time, after notice and hearing, the rates

of compensation for the transportation of mail by aircraft, the facilities used

and useful therefor, and the services connected therewith (including the trans-

1