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destinations for hire, while others took over the work of crop dusting, 
forest patrol, timber cruising, and aerial photography. 
A notable development in the air-mail service was the inauguration 
of the night service between New York and Chicago on a nine-hour 
schedule. The greatest American achievement of the year in air- 
craft performance was that of the United States Ajr Mail Service; 
it covered a distance of 1,681,350 miles in day flying and 839,044 
miles in night flying with but one fatal accident, at the same time 
successfully completing 95 per cent of its scheduled flights. 
The most important factor in the speeding up of the mails during 
the year was the enactment of the contract air mail law authorizing 
the Postmaster General to enter into contracts with private concerns 
for the transportation of mails by air over selected air routes. This 
law offers an opportunity for connecting up the principal cities in a 
network of air-mail routes and has given an impetus to the perfecting 
of commercial airplanes from the point of view of capacity and 
safety. It has also created considerable activity on the part of muni- 
cipalities and commercial organizations in connection with the es- 
tablishment of landing fields for this service. Following its passage 
many petitions for air-mail routes were filed, air-transport companies 
formed, and bids submitted, and by the end of 1925 nine contracts 
had been let and three other routes had been advertised. 
In a report issued by the joint committee on civil aviation of the 
Department of Commerce and the American Engineering Council 
a survey of conditions in aeronautics at home and abroad was made, 
and attention was called to the fact that the delay in development 
of civil aviation in the United States is due to the need of a definite 
legal status and an established Government policy to encourage the 
civil and industrial uses of aircraft, as well as to a need for commercial 
aircraft and equipment best adapted to profitable commercial opera- 
tion. 
Of importance to aeronautics and to thase establishing landing 
fields is the American Aeronautical Safety Code issued through the 
American Engineering Standards Committee, having been prepared 
by the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Bureau of Standards, 
and representatives of all important aeronautical interests. This 
code presents a statement of the best practices in design, construc- 
tion, and operation of airdromes, airways, signals, balloons, airships, 
and parachutes, trafficand pilotage rules, and qualifications for airmen. 
The year 1925 is noteworthy for the greatest awakening of American 
public interest in the question of aeronautics and aeronautic develop- 
ment since the first plane was flown over 20 years ago. ' 
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