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conducting experiments and, beginning with 1929, the Department regularly sought funds from Congress. [[superscript]] 1 [[/superscript]] This interest and determination were not to be thwarted by the failure of bidders to come forward when funds were last available. The Department pursued plans and negotiations, even in the face of the World War. Finally, with an appropriation of $100,000 for the fiscal year 1918, the Department impatiently brushed aside private interests, who seemed too slow, and, in cooperation with the Army, instituted a regular operation between New York and Washington to May 15, 1918. [[superscript]] 2 [[/superscript]] The cooperation of the Army continued until August, [[superscript]] 3 [[/superscript]] and then the Post Office Department carried on alone until 1926. In that time the Department's record in mastering one of the most complicated technical problems with which man has yet been faced deserves to be entered in the annals reserved for the great feats of human history.
Some Department operation continued into 1928. During that span of eleven years, there were two when it completed 84 per cent of its scheduled miles, one year when it completed 86 per cent, two years 95 per cent, three years 96 per cent, and one year 97 per cent. Its final record was 93 per cent - 13,768,072 miles flown out of 14,749,967 scheduled. [[superscript]] 4 [[/superscript]] But its greatest achievement was the inauguration of regular night flying, in 1924. [[superscript]] 5 [[/superscript]] "Of all American contributions to the technique of air transportation operation, this was the greatest." [[superscript]] 6 [[/superscript]]
However, true to our history, the Department was simply preparing for the day when private enterprise could be induced to enter the field and take over operations. [[superscript]] 7 [[/superscript]] 
On December 17, 1924, the twenty-first anniversary of the Wright brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a contract air mail bill, [[superscript]] 8 [[/superscript]] and the Air Mail act of 1925 became law on February 2, 1925. [[superscript]] 9 [[/superscript]] This bill authorized the Postmaster General to enter into contracts for air transportation of air mail at a rate not to exceed four-fifths of the revenue derived from such air mail. [[superscript]] 10 [[/superscript]] This
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[[footnote]]
[[superscript]] 1 [[/superscript]] [[italics]] Id. [[/italics]]
[[superscript]] 2 [[/superscript]] Warner, [[italics]] The Early History if Air Transportation, [[/italics]] pp. 5-7.
[[superscript]] 3 [[/superscript]] [[italics]] Air Mail, op. cit., [[/italics]] p. 1.
[[superscript]] 4 [[/superscript]] [[italics]] Id., [[/italics]] p. 6. The 97% figure is for 1928, during which the Department operated only the New York-Chicago run during July and August. 
[[superscript]] 5 [[/superscript]] [[italics]] Id., [[/italics]] p. 3. The first demonstration of night flying on a mail run actually occurred in 1921. Warner, [[italics]] op. cit., [[/italics]] p. 27.
[[superscript]] 6 [[/superscript]] Warner, [[italics]] op. cit., [[/italics]] p. 27.
[[superscript]] 7 [[/superscript]] [[italics]] A Brief History of the Contract Air Mail Service from 1925 to 1933 [[/italics]] (mimeographed by Post Office Department), p. 1.
[[superscript]] 8 [[/superscript]] Kelly, [[italics]] op. cit., [[/italics]] p. 137.
[[superscript]] 9 [[/superscript]] Public No. 359, 68th Cong.
[[superscript]] 10 [[/superscript]] The regular first class rate was then 2c, the air mail rate 10c. Thus four-fifths of the air mail revenue would have been the amount of the surcharge. The Act of 1925 also authorized contracts for carrying by air any other first-class mail, at a rate not to exceed four-fifths of the revenue from such first-class mail.
[[/footnote]]

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