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ADDRESS DELIVERED BY EDGAR S. GORRELL, PRESIDENT, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, AT THE CEREMONY OF THE OPENING OF THE AVIATION EXHIBIT IN THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR, MAY 20, 1939.

The air transport industry salutes the World of Tomorrow. The vision of the great Mayor of New York City and of the President of this World's Fair, and of those who have toiled with him with selfless zeal to transform Flushing's Meadows into a paradise not only for the World of Tomorrow but also for the World of Today, finds a warm response from this young industry.

For air transport, too, looks ahead to the World of Tomorrow when it will have completed the conquest of time and space, when the Arctic will have become a chilly Mediterranean plied by the airliners of the World's commerce. Yet air transport, like your own World's Fair, is intent not only upon the World's Tomorrow but also upon the World's Today.

A year ago the President and the Congress of the United States recognized that air transport had become a part of America's commerce so vital and so dependable that it should take its place beside the various modes of surface transportation as an established means of common carriage. So the Civil Aeronautics Act became the law, imposing upon the airlines regulation to guarantee adequate service at reasonable rates, together with other safety and economic safeguards to assure the sound growth of this industry. The Civil Aeronautics Authority, one of the finest agencies in Washington, is administering that Act with vigor and foresight in a manner which has led even the most cautious and conservative banks and an insurance company to interest themselves in furnishing financial support to air transport.

But most eloquent assurance of the place of air transport in the World's Today, and its promise for the World's Tomorrow, is the amazing growth in the numbers of our passengers and in our safety record. Our airlines all over the country are looking to new planes, extra sections, and added schedules to match the demand of the growing numbers of customers who throng the airline terminals. And this winter our safety record was better by over 850 per cent than last, and by over 1600 per cent than the year before. The winter saw our four largest domestic lines fly 50,000,000 passenger-miles without so much as a single forced landing.

To the accomplishment of the American dream of harnessing science to the service of everyman, air transport is dedicated. It is inspired by an ideal of public service which brooks nothing but the best. From the Aurora Borealis in the North to the Great Unknown in the South, from the Rising Sun in the East to the Sunset in the West, paths of commerce as broad as the all-embracing air bear proudly aloft the airliners of America. Safely and smoothly they glide to port. In the World of Today [[underlined]]and[[/underlined]] Tomorrow, America flies!