Scope and Contents From the Series: In an article published in August 1940, Hinckley, then assistant secretary of commerce, discussed the relationship between civil aviation and the federal government as it existed before the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. There was no coordination between the federal services and the civil aviation industry. For instance, Hinckley states: "The Post Office Department let mail contracts; the Interstate Commerce Commission had power to fix mail rates; the Department of Agriculture provided weather...