Red Tape Tangl es
The Airways
(By Tom Chase)
(<#*) Newsfeatures>
MIAMI, Fla.—Picture a stream
lined passenger plane lumbering
along the skyways wrapped in
rolls of red tape. It’s like the
Queen Elizabeth crossing the At
lantic under sail or a diesel-pow
ered train being pulled by horses.
Fantastic? Not at all. It happens
every day. Whenever a trim clip
per plane enters or returns from
a foreign country, authorities
wade through almost enough red
tape to cover the aircraft from
stubby nose to thin silver tail.
For example — a minimum of
572 documents must be prepared
for every flight from Miami or
New York to Buenos Aires. The
figure is based on the plane carry
ing 200 items of cargo as well as
passengers. If it carries 800 items
—a frequently happens—the total
number of documents needed
runs to more than 1,000.
This red tape costs the airlines
millions of dollars a year. It
makes tickets more expensive and
slows passenger and cargo move
ment. Some of the paper work is
a hangover from the days of the
clipper ships, when sailing cap
tains had plenty of time to fill out
forms. Other restrictions develop
ed after the first world war in an
effort to limit immigration and
protect local markets.
Passports, visas, invoices, bills
of lading and the like multiplied
through the years until today they
provide assorted headaches for
travelers and transportation com
panies and complicate the entire
pattern of world air travel.
For instance—there are 52 rea
sons why an alien may be exclud
ed from the United States. They
range all the way from possessing
insufficient funds to suffering
from constitutional psychopathic
inferiority!
Let’s see what it costs and how
red tape affects the largest air
line, Pan American World Air
ways. This company and its affili
ates serve six continents, includ
ing 34 countries and colonies in
the western hemisphere.
"Its total red tape bill averages
about $1,000,000 a year." accord
ing to Huxley H. Galbraith, sys
tem superintendent of facilitation.
"The ultimate payer of this tre
mendous bill is the passenger."
Galbraith say s the Internation
al Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO^ has recommended four
simplified forms to facilitate trav
el, as well as the establishment of
money exchanges at international
airports and curtailment of cus
toms. immigration and other offi
cial requirements.
"If these recommendations went
into effect throughout PAA's
world-wide network, they would
save the airline $4,000,000 a year,"
he said. "Waiting time at airports
would be reduced by one-half."
Thus far. of the Latin American
countries, only Argentina, Brazil
and the Dominican Republic have
approved the recommendations.
The United States has not. Replies
must reach ICAO’s headquarters
in Montreal Dec. 31.
Galbraith said fines and deten
tion expenses were "very heavy
as a result of present-day immi
gration laws.”
"These laws.” he explained,
“provide that if an alien, after ad
mission into the United States,
should, within five years, go in
sane, become a public charge, ad
vocate the overthrow of the U. S.
government, or fall within any of
the 52 categories of excludable
persons—and that if these reasons
for exclusion existed when he ar
rived in the United States—the
transportation company wh i c h
brought him to this country must
foot his bill home.”
The transportation company
also has to pay a $1,000 fine in
most instances.
”PAA has been assessed $172
927.42 in fines at the Miami gate
way alone in the past ten years,"
Galbraith said, adding that deten
tion expenses—hotels, meals, cabs,
telephone calls and similar items
—amounted to an additional $43,
463.84 for the same period.
The air line even has to hire!
private detectives sometimes to
make sure the aliens do not leave
| while awaiting hearings on de
portation charges, he said.
Here's what happened in some
typical cases—
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An attractive girl from the
French West Indian island of
Quadaloupe entered the United
States as an alien two years ago
and settled in California. Recently
[a doctor found she had leprosy.
Immigration authorities were noti
fied and the girl deported. PAA
was lined 1,000 for bringing in an
! excludable alien and also had to
pay her passage back home.
Last year a young Colombian
girl came to the U. S. to study.
She changed schools and then
spent her vacation in Havana, Cu
ba. On her return to Miami she
learned about immigration laws
the hard way. These laws provide
that a person who obtains a stu
dent visa must attend a school ap
proved by the U. S. attorney gen
eral. Otherwise the student enters
on a temporary visitor’s visa.
The Colombian girl's switch to
an unapproved school meant she (
held the wrong type document.
She was deported and sent back
home at PAA's expense. Another
SI,000 fine was paid.
An Italian woman, long mar
j ried to a naturalized American,
! She made flights to Jamaica and
Havana. On re-entering the coun
try an immigration inspector
; found she wasn’t a citizen at all
' because her husband was natural
ized two ane one-half months af
ter Sept. 22. 1922. Foreigners who
1 married Americans before that
I date became citizens automatical
f
Hospital News
Aileen Tweet, younger daughter
of Mrs. Edgar Tweet from Teller
had an appendectomy and is get
ting along nicely.
Joanne Folden is a patient from
Golovin for a tonsilectomy.
Mr. and Mrs. George Lambert
are the parents of a son born this
morning. He has been named
Floyd Allen and weighed eight
! pounds and eight ounces.
_
In a Tulsa, Okla., railroad sta
tion stairways leading to the
i tracks are painted in different
colors. Train are announced by
the color of the stairway lending
to them as well as the track num
ber.
ly.
The woman finally was admit
ted as a returning resident, but
PAA was fined $2,000 for twice
bringing an alien to this country
without a passport and immigra
tion visa.
Thirteen of the American re
public have made it easier for U.
S. tourists to visit their lands since
the war. But the United States has
only taken steps which simplify
the travel of Cubans, Mexicans,
Canadians and British subjects.
Design Plant To
“BreecP Atomic*
Energ\ Materials
WASHINGTON f/P)—The atom
ic energy commission disclosed to
day that it has worked ouf scien
tific designs for a plant to “breed”
precious atomic materials.
If the plan works as ant.eipated
it will be of momentous import
ance in supplying atomic materi
als for such peacetime projects as
atomic powered ships and aircraft.
The announcement was made in
connection with a news confer
ence held by David E. Lilienfhal,
the retiring AEG chairman. Dr.
Lawrence R. Hafstad. sitting in
with Lilienthal, told about it. Haf
stad is director of the AEC's “re
actor development” program
Hafstad called it “the biggest
forward step in peacetime appli
cation” of atomic energy.
He said that while the project
still is only a pencil and paper
job, the designers are confident
that it will work.
The AEC announced that it is
beginning immediately construc
tion of a test plant.
The straight and narrow path
wouldn’t be so narrow if more
people walked it.
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foible to ,
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numoaring mei.
though nobody kiv
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