{{Short description|United States federal legislation regarding postal service}} {{Infobox U.S. legislation | shorttitle = Air Mail Act of 1925 | othershorttitles = | longtitle = An Act to encourage commercial aviation and to authorize the Postmaster General to contract for air mail service. | colloquialacronym = | nickname = Kelly Act | enacted by = 68th | effective date = February 2, 1925 | public law url = | cite public law = {{uspl|68|359}} | cite statutes at large = {{usstat|43|805}}, Chap. 128 | acts amended = | acts repealed = | title amended = 39 U.S.C.:Postal Service | sections created = {{Usc-title-chap|39|54}} § 5401 et seq. | sections amended = | leghisturl = | introducedin = House | introducedbill = {{USBill|68|H.R.|7064}} | introducedby = Melville Clyde Kelly (R–PA) | introduceddate = May 13, 1924 | committees = | passedbody1 = House | passeddate1 = December 18, 1924 | passedvote1 = [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/68-2/h130 292-15] | passedbody2 = Senate | passedas2 = <!-- used if the second body changes the name of the legislation --> | passeddate2 = January 27, 1925 | passedvote2 = [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/68-2/s185 51-23], in lieu of {{USBill|68|S.|3674}} | conferencedate = | passedbody3 = | passeddate3 = | passedvote3 = | agreedbody3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreeddate3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreedvote3 = <!-- used when the other body agrees without going into committee --> | agreedbody4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | agreeddate4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | agreedvote4 = <!-- used if agreedbody3 further amends legislation --> | passedbody4 = | passeddate4 = | passedvote4 = | signedpresident = Calvin Coolidge | signeddate = February 2, 1925 | unsignedpresident = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing --> | unsigneddate = <!-- used when passed without presidential signing --> | vetoedpresident = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | vetoeddate = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddenbody1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddendate1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddenvote1 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddenbody2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddendate2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | overriddenvote2 = <!-- used when passed by overriding presidential veto --> | amendments = | SCOTUS cases = }} thumb|Pen used by President Coolidge to sign the Act The '''Air Mail Act of 1925''', also known as the '''Kelly Act''', was a key piece of legislation that intended to free the airmail from total control by the Post Office Department.<ref name="Museum">{{cite web |title=Airmail Creates an Industry: Postal Act Facts |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/airmail/public/airmail_public_postal_long.html |website=Smithsonian National Postal Museum |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=29 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129071945/https://postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/airmail/public/airmail_public_postal_long.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In short, it allowed the Postmaster General to contract private companies to carry mail.<ref name="Brady2000">{{cite book|author=Tim Brady|title=The American Aviation Experience: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ccymjJZxLcC&pg=PA303 |date=2000 |publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-2371-5|page=303}}</ref> The Act was sponsored by Pennsylvania representative Clyde Kelly, and became legislation in February that year.<ref name="Wells">{{cite book |first=Alexander T. |last=Wells |title=Air Transportation: A Management Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ej8Qslt1nfsC&pg=PA33 |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-0-7546-7171-8 |page=33}}</ref>
The act created a bidding period for small airmail routes, setting rates and subsidies contractors would receive for flying mail. The first contracts were awarded to Colonial Air Transport, National Air Transport, Robertson Aircraft Corporation, Western Air Express and Varney Air Lines. Contractors were paid $3.00 per pound of mail for the first 1,000 miles traveled.<ref name="Museum" /> Due to the surplus aircraft available after the First World War, particularly de Havilland DH-4s, the act bolstered a nascent aviation industry in the United States.<ref name="PearsonRiley2016">{{cite book |first1=Michael W. |last1=Pearson |first2=Daniel S. |last2=Riley |title=Foundations of Aviation Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oQHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |date=15 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-13372-8 |page=41 }}</ref>
By 1927, over 2.5 million miles were traveled by US Airmail Service planes, carrying over 22 million letters.<ref name="Allaz2005">{{cite book |first=Camille |last=Allaz |title=History of Air Cargo and Airmail from the 18th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPLm9omt_YIC&pg=PA63 |date=March 2005 |publisher=Google Consultant |isbn=978-0-9548896-0-9|page=63}}</ref> Further regulation ensued quite rapidly, such as those issued by second assistant postmaster general Col. Paul Henderson, which required pilots and their aircraft to receive a certificate of airworthiness from the Post Office, and that each company needed to post at least ten thousand dollars in good faith bonds.<ref name="Linden">{{cite book|author=F. Robert van der Linden|title=Airlines and Air Mail: The Post Office and the Birth of the Commercial Aviation Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqwfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|date=13 January 2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-4938-7 |page=17 }}</ref>
==Associated United States Federal Statutes== United States legislation authorizing aerial navigation and contract services for the transportation of United States air mail. {| style="border:1px solid gray; align:left; width:70%" cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0 |- style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center; background:#bbddff; color:black;" ! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|Date of Enactment ! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|Public Law Number ! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Statute Citation ! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Legislative Bill ! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Presidential Administration |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|June 3, 1926 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 69-331 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|44|692}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|69|H.R.|11841}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Calvin Coolidge |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|March 8, 1928 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 70-107 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|45|248}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|70|H.R.|7213}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Calvin Coolidge |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|May 17, 1928 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 70-410 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|45|594}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|70|H.R.|8337}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Calvin Coolidge |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|March 2, 1929 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 70-904 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|45|1449}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|70|H.R.|16131}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Calvin Coolidge |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|April 29, 1930 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 71-178 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|46|259}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|71|H.R.|11704}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Herbert C. Hoover |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|March 27, 1934 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 73-140 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|48|508}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|73|H.R.|7966}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Franklin D. Roosevelt |- | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|June 12, 1934 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 73-308 | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|48|933}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|73|S.|3170}} | style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Franklin D. Roosevelt |- | style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5;"|August 14, 1935 | style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 74-270 | style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|49|614}} | style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|74|H.R.|6511}} | style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Franklin D. Roosevelt |}
==See also== *Air Mail scandal *Aviation Service Act *Aviation Act of 1917
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/6108_Mail_A_Story_of_the_United_States_Postal_Service_The_01_17_13_00 |title=The Mail: A Story of the United States Postal Service |author=Miller (Donavin) Productions |year=1938 |website=Internet Archive |publisher=T-A-I-E Enterprises}} * * {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/gov.dod.dimoc.39351 |title=1st Air Mail |date=1976 |website=Internet Archive |publisher=U.S. Department of Defense}} * {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/aerialpioneersus00lear |title=Aerial Pioneers: The U.S. Air Mail Service, 1918-1927 |last=Leary |first=William M. |year=1985 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press}}
{{Postage stamps of the United States}}
Category:Airmail Category:United States federal postal legislation Category:1925 in American law