Aeronautics: Railroad in the Air

Much of the difficulty which the railroads ascribe to automotive and potential air and pipe line competition should and could have been relieved by an alert and aggressive railroad policy.—Report of the National Transportation Committee headed by the late Calvin Coolidge (TIME, Feb. 20).

Last week Boston & Maine Railroad showed alert aggressiveness. It opened an airline between Boston, Portland and Bangor. Me. Other railroads have collaborated with airlines (e. g. Pennsylvania and Santa Fe with T. A. T.. New York Central with American Airways), but Boston & Maine is the first to establish air service of its own. The road contracted with an outside company newly formed by Paul Collins and Amelia Earhart Putnam who were executives in defunct Ludington Lines (New York-Philadelphia-Washington), to operate the airline. The railroad pockets all revenue, pays the operators a flat sum per mile.