What made the U.S. Post Office Department decide to start its airmail service so early, before air travel was even common?

 Frances Dreyfus | Buffalo, New York

T HE POSTAL SERVICE formally introduced its airmail service in n 1918. Postmaster General Albert Burleson and Second Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger wanted to stimulate investment in aviation, which was still viewed with skepticism. (The first commercial airline had opened in 1914 and closed after just three months.) Through public interest, they hoped to put additional pressure on Congress to fund airmail so they could expand delivery while making it t more efficient. A few individual post offices experimented with airmail in n the 1910s, but aircraft development didn't really accelerate until World War I. Postal officials turned to the expertise of the U.S. Army and partnered I n the first regularly scheduled airmail routes, between the major cities of Washington, Philadelphia and New York, beginning on May 15 a few months later, the post office took over all aspects of Air mail service. Ultimately, the post office wasn't just delivering mail. It was demonstrating that flight could be fast convenient transformative for communication transportation and American life.