Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1925, Page 4

2% ] Flyers Killed by Stupid OFFICERS SACRIFICE AIRMEN TO DEFEND POLICY, HE SAYS War and Navy Leaders Have Made Air Officers Ashamed of Clothes They Wear, Former Assistant to Gen. Patrick Alleges. . (Continued from First Page.) “Congr also provided that not less than $30,000 out of monies al- overweight. Her whole structure |ready appropriated, could be spent for was badly strained, he said, when | the aerial bombardment of battle- the glant ship broke away from her | Ships and Shippinz Board vessels mooring mast last Spring, tearl while under their own steam and out the nose of the big blimp and| MOVINg. so as to set at rest any doubt otherwise damaging it. He also de-|of alrcraft’s ability to destroy and n the | clared that the reduction he num- | Sink any sea craft which floats ber of valves in the in ags, made | water, to save the expensive hellum gas,| It Was evident then that the Amer- made the ship more dangerous to the| ican people were awakening to the | crew | necessity for a change and that if | ays N ras Publicity. | this change were to be prevented by Al posion (Ryas Euliiody. | the War ana Navy Departments, that harging that the Shenandoah was | they mu t at ones WHAL vk on a prop ida mission to offset | the result? Steam was gotten up by the publicity of the Arctic and!'the Navy on the one hand to dis- Paclfic failures, Mitchell declared that | prove and deprecate the value of air- | the tour of the big ship meant lttle| power and show the value of the t0 the development of aviation or (0| surface vessels and battleships, and th | on the part of the Army to fool the muzzled by the| public as to the value of ircraft, | a_white- | cannon and mi Any op' sh board,” he declaved he erations by the e to xlnk’ pression allowed to get out shakes|the ships as the law the faith of the people in airshiplof the land were stopped. Now what transportation and hinders its com-! have the Army and Navy done to lllv{('ml development.” show that the existin olete sys- Commenting on airplanes bor-|tems should be maintained? rowed from the Army and entirely inadequate for the work in hand,” for Denounces Propaga use in the MacMillan Arctic flicht.| “First, the great naval Mitchell declared the expedition was | maneuvers—the es of “more propaganda.” ¥ a fleet THE SUNDAY Ch STAR, W SEPTEMBER 6 1925—PART 1. War to the present and of commanding the greatest air forces ever brought together on the planet. - I owe the Government everything—the Govern- ment owes me nothing. As @ patri- otic American citizen I can stand by no longer and see these disgusting per- formances by the Navy and War De- partments at the expense of the Uves of our people and the delusion of the American public. “The bodles of my former compan- fons in the air molder under the soil in America and Asia, Europe and Africa, m yes, a great many—seent there dir official stupidity. We (Continued from First MITCHELL MUST PAY PENALTY FOR OUTBURST, OFFICERS SAY Davis Declines to Comment on His Statement. Page.) to glve the public all may make mistakes, but the crim- inal mistakes made by armies and navies, whenever they have been ab “This, then, is what I have to say on this subject and I hope that every American will hear it.” er; Gen. Hinds Expects No Action. Maj. Gen. Ernest Hinds, commander | of the Sth Corps Area, h: Col. d not read William Mitchell's statement in 1 he took the Army and Navy hartments to task for recent air- raft disasters, he sald tonight. “Col. Mitchel! has issued many state- there be a decision to take discipiinary | 1! receive orders before 10 or 11 o'clock | Col. Mitcnell has been called sev-|t lately al times ments attributed Weeks directed him of his testimony committee, tice of the War Department, in deal- pre ing with problems such as are lowed to handle aeronautics, show sented by the lutest Mitch o- thelr Incompetency. We would not be | 30180 W, the Jent, Juitchell pro-| Keeping our trust with our departed | PUSOTCRG (8 Crintas | comrades were e longer to conceal)anq 'then proceed along g e B dend se facts. down in Army regulations. | connectic where he advoc self-respecting ashamed in 19 « ry | to_explain sta to him the House ted 1 before Davis their Is September Silent. Colonel Believed Certain to Face Court-Martial. ipressfon that officers uniforms for rea- are 5 U sage of the Curry bill for a unified 7 service which had _been previo dismpproved by the War Departm | In this instance, Mr. Weeks said | was not concerned with exy in't do to ze ith a & e appointment ‘ | of personal views of tr ments in the past criticlzing these de- | Of Personal view partments and unless he has gone|Gen. Mitchell ~But that much further than heretofore, I do not | ments regarding War D ATttty dlasirlinary aetion, Gen. | Practices deserved careful e Hinds said. i “I do not expect any word from the | Was Demoted by Chiefs. War Department with reference to| oo = = 0 IR Col. Mitchell's case tonight, even if |, W0 (U "0 ot o) Fie there should be occasion for com- | time 1o glve th m ation with me at all. Should | ¥atisfactory explan t to the action, or to Investigate the au- i €°% P thenticity of Col. Mitchell's Durrlorltd;“:; ;'{““A”"‘( statement, it is unlikely that I would [ *¥Piruoon o led 10 transfer of the latter to of office of Afr Service upon the Gen. Mitchell's term No Leniency P i Ax far as can be learned.” he said, B ; in the ALY roehiaR duty in ‘Fexas as a colonel “tt was t-and-dog fight all the the parade up our Pacific Licut. W. L. Rickardson; ioficlal photo er of the Shenandoah and one of the survivars of the crash, with |~ ~Only in cases of eniergency, where |, Col Mitchell has continuously put e e e and entrance into San Fran- e Witlch was. smashid i the i Pt e, Kelvhardson was the first survivor of the Shenandoah 1o &r | business is of the utmoat importance, | frward his ideas of the value of air- the pilots and the Navy Deportment. | cisco harbor and then the trip to hington, and he made the first official report 4 Secretary of the Navy W ‘National Photo. | ave. orders communicated to me by | Craft since he was transferred and s there an airman who does not|Honolulu. Press representatives and A = 22 — odes | the War Department at night, snd it | on & recent visit to Air Service head know that with the little jitneys they | ¢ cssfonal committees galore | is not likely that Col. Mitchell's state- | Quarters declared he would carry th took up there the pole could not be | handled, fed and entertained,|and her whole structure was badly |done this Summer? .After borrowing |around New York—with the result|ment is of sufficient moment to war- | f8ht for a unified Air Service and rem»lr].m : rding to the g ‘qu old N sl,ra!n;vd. I belleve that the number | some afrplanes from .the An‘sl\' mi that the Coast Artillery tells the pa- | rant this.” for a general overhauling of the de Col. Mitchell’s statement follows nda system. It was her: of valves in the bag containing | were entirely inadequiite 10 the work | pers the story in greatly exaggerated| Gustom: i .| fense system to Congress at the De- “I have been ed from all parts | that the Navy had taken the helium had been diminished m)!m hand, th % went on @ie MacMillan | terms, whereas the chief AlE Serv- "fl',,“,ff ierht ';’.’,’.?,’,Z?’io"ihl"“.;’e“f;‘,, L‘emfier 5’95 jons. H of the country to give my opinion | Hawaiian Islands. as to save hellum gas, which is ex-|trip to the Arctic. More DPropag: ‘|ice has been completely muzzled. An | volving Col. Mitchell would be for |aroused War Depar E about the reasons for the frightful{ “Now, let us see what actually|pensive in money, but which made the | As far as can be learned from | interesting example of some of the|the War Department to request Gen.|but no official notice was taken of vere aeronautical accidents and los ened had there been | Ship more dangerous to the crew. The |tance, they had a and & 8 figh anti-aireraft target practice was the | Hinds to substantiate the authenticity | (hem. | iy equipment and treasure that havi Suppose that we had been at|Shenandoah was going west on a|the way up and back, betwea MacMil-| testing of the listen device for air-|of the statement as carried in press| After his return to San Antonio, curred during the last few days. This | th a Pacific power and this|propaganda mission for the Navy De-|lan, the pilots and the Navy Depart-|craft at Camp Dix, July 27 Gispatches and make recommenda. | Col Mitchell declared his intention to statement therefore is given out| surface vessels had been in|partment to offset the adverse pub-|ment, and of course got now® re and The umpire had told Capt. Hall, | tions, after which the department | £ publicly by me after mature delibera- | San Francisco harbor. Instantly the|licity caused by the failures in the|did nothing. Is there an airnm?n Who|commanding the airplane bombers at | would consider the necessity of taking | Air Service tion and af 2 sufficient time has | Pacific power's submarines would |Pacific and the Arctic. Note—Propa-Fdoes not know that with the lttlejyfrcn] Field, that in the next anti-| disciplinary action, Gen. linds said.|Written on elapsed since the terrible accidents to | have planted all entrances to the|sanda and not service is the keynote | jitneys they took up there ther POl€|gajrcraft test he was at ty to fly So far, 1 ‘e mot read Col.|be supplemented at an early date our naval aircraft, to find out s harbor with mines, would have cov-|in these undertakings. could not be reached? Another” €X |ynder conditions which 1 be used | Mitchell's purported statement, nor | Serles of articles to lift the lid of y bout what happened ered all the approaches with these Sees Navy Off Path ample, says the Navy Department. f |in war. Capt the um- | have 1 had any word from the War | 3¢crecy which, he de the 5 fon is 2 death-dealing engines B e ST o the incapacity of aircraft .| pire aheaa of Department,” he concluded Department had imposed on avi hese aceide ‘It the surface vessels ever got| ~What business has the Navy over| “At last the great antiaircraft teshs|giide into the target conditions, but he disclaimed resp St or itie dnc ! through = these, the . whole . bacifie|the mountain yway? Their mis-|took place. A battleship goes out int0 | the Coast Artillery had had ull their - s sibility for the cartoon | 4 e If;:é‘vl:enlg- Ocean would be districted oft into|#i0n 18 out in the water, not only out|the sea. She takes the airship Shen-f practice with planes that had flown S ths Falucje s 7 | AR BT S - e BEIDRAL Gu— 4 s a o each o - the water, but undei h andoah and has her tow a target a ver at a fairly constant altit al LOOTERS OF AIRSHIP lepartment o | the > 10 War Departments. In | e submarines sla be oaclennd | 0Ut of sight, away from the land— |33 miles an hour at a known altitude, | \ith their motors s Sl e cule Secretary Weeks |SEES ALL-METAL AIRSHIP. thelr 1t to keep down the de- | for the purmese of (acking the oaer | that is why we have the Nav. in broad daylight and on a certain | ¥ Wppe richt of the test the planes = e ships and attac h stant attack of gun fire from sub- marines that can carry any size can- £ e non and use projectiles containing :"m‘\{"’ utmost lengths to carry their|guq high explosives or armor pierc- 3 {og (e ne er water to o “All aviation policies, schemes and | W IPe¥ use under water torpedoes stemis are dictated by the non-flying | (it SOF S NG T0e, 08, o and officers of ‘the Army or Nav who L ATDR or X > can produce gas clouds which will| know practically nothing about it. The completely envelop any fleet. | lives of the airmen are being used | = E “If any vessels of the fleet sur- merely hawns an = ?5 pawns in their hands vived the submarine attacks, crossed Sees Congress Abused. | the sea and came within hundreds of | “The great Congress of the United | Miles of the hostile coast, they would them velopment of into_an _tn- | ng dependent department, separate from the Army and Navy and handled by meronautical experts, and to maintain the existing systems, they have gone 1 States, that makes laws for the or-|De sent to the bottom forthwith, by ganization and use of our air, lana|alrcraft. and water forces, is treated by these | Sees Planes Superior. two departments as if it were an or-\ “I¢ the Pacific : . el e Pacific maneuver showed anization created for thelr benefit, (o anything conclusively, it was that w evidence of any kind, whether | ajrcraft acting from land bases can true or not, can be ziven without re-| qestroy straint. Officers and agents sent by | within the War and Navy Departments to|alrendy ha 2 B s Ny et iartments 10 |already had been amply proved by incomplete. n\fl\ll‘IllUY;L’ or r{.xw in uu.r DOmtGRduA S ‘esm.“‘ — formation about aeronautics, which | i (4 i e )‘“‘"“x"m oo g BN iEcr ey horie o e itales aibEn = s not a position of de(‘lshe,‘.nflu v o e e eIt of e Brean | ence in the control of the Pacific Its value consists in being an ex- ignorance of the question that they : 5 : e he ilowention that ~heY | cellent submarine base to act against . hostile surface seacraft and subma- fore a legislative body i “The airmen themselves are bluffed | finef. The control position of the fumen ¢ Pacific is our own territory of Alaska and bull-dozed so that they dare not X : tell the truth in the majority of cases, | 214, the Peninsula of Kamchatka, op- any surface fleet coming s radius of operations. This se ships would be under com-| knowing full well that If they do they | Posile; 1t ' reporied that from $60.0 Just for this Pacific parade of our Navy—more properly, the vessels be- longing to the United States, be- cause, in fact, it is no Navy in the modern conception of the term. What would this amount, applied to development and improvement of air- planes and submarines, have meant? ‘“Next to get publicity and make a noise about what it was doing with will be deprived of their future career, sent to the most out-of-the-way places to prevent their telling the truth and deprived of any chance for advance- ment, unless they subscribe to the dictates of their non-fiying bureau- cratic superiors. These either distort facts or openly tell falsehoods about aviation to the people and to the Congress. “Both the War and Navy Depart- ments maintain public propaganda agencies which are supposed to pub- lish truthful facts about our national defense to the American people, The: departments, remember, are Suppoi ed by the taxes of the people and were created for the purpose of protecting us from invasion from abroad and from domestic disturbances from with- alrcraft, this ‘'so-called - Hawailan flight was arranged for. Even if it had been successful to Honolulu, it would have meant little, either com- mercially or strategically, compared to what a flight to Europe or Asla would. Three airplanes w built to participate in it. These showed noth- ing novel in design and were untried for this kind of work. One never got in. What has actually happened in these departments is that they have formed a sort of a union to perpetu- ate their own existence, largely irre- spective of the public welfare—and acting, as we might say, about a com- away from the Pacific coast, another flew a few miles out and was forced to land in the water and one was lost on account of being out of gaso- line somewhere on the high seas. mercial organization that had entire control of a public necessity—'as an illegal combination in restraint of trade.’ ys Policy “Disgusting. “The conduct of affairs by the two departments, as far as aviation is concerned, has been so disgusting in the last few years as to make any self-respecting person ashamed of the ! clothes he wears. Were it not for the patriotism of our air officers and their absolute confidence in the insti- tutions of the United States, know- ing that sooner or later existing con- ditions would be changed, I doubt if one of them would remain with the colors—certainly not if he were & real man. “The story is a long one, beginning practically with thé inception of avi ation in this country, so I shall men- tion only a few things in connection with the disgraceful performances vhich have occurred this Summer. eeing no progress in our efforts, which had been continued for years, to convince or even serfously interest the governing bodies of the War and Navy Departments to better our aero- nautical condition, we were stirred to § further action by the killing of Lieut. { Plerson and Capt. Skeel in the dilapi- { fdated racing airplanes during last October's air meet. ) caused by an arrange- ‘ment between the Navy and Army that the Navy should take the races one year and the Army should take them the next year, thereby equaliz- ing propaganda, not service. Instead of building new airplanes our men were given the old crates to fly at those terrific speeds. Of course, they came to pleces, as they were designed for only one race two years before. This was done in spite of the fact that we had sufficient money to build new ships according to entirely ad- vanced patterns and new safety fac- tors. Foresees Bill's Passage. “We in the air fraternity then and there decided to put the issue squarely up to Congress and the peo- ple. We received an immediate re- sponse from the people and Congress, because they saw the right of our proposition, which was to make a single department of national de- fense with subsecretaries for the land, the air and the water, each to have an equal voice in our national defense system. The general scheme, by the way, has been adopted by practically every civilized country in the world. Had this measure reached the floor of the House of Representa- tives last Winter, it probably would have passed by a large majority. # Flays Patrol Plan. “Patrol vessels were stationed every 200 miles, a distance entirely too far apart for an experimental flight of this kind, with such primi- tive flying machines as the PN-9s are. Double or triple this number of vessels should have been there. In fact, the whole Pacific Fleet should have been placed there, instead of joy-riding around the Antipodes. As it was, when these slow-moving air- planes, going about 75 miles an hour, were first sighted from the destroy- ers, the destroyers should have steamed out full speed in the direc- tion the airplane was going. This would not only indicate the proper course to the plane, but would place the destroyer closer to it in case of accident. As the airplanes were only moving at about 75 miles an hour, a destroyer could have been speeded up to within 30 miles of that speed. “Why, If they expected to run short of fuel, as indeed they might, did they not make arrangements for refueling the airplane while it was in the air, by another airplane, as we have repeatedly done? Why did they carry a crew of five, when the weight of two men in fuel might have car- ried the ship through? “What happened to this really good-for-nothing, big, lumbering fly- ing boat, when its brave navigators began to run short, of gasoline over a heavy sea? The probability is that they beld her up as lonz as they could. As they neared the water, caught by a sudden gust, she might have been thrown into a stall and gone down straight under the waves. 1 hope that some passing fisherman may have picked them up as our Lieut. Wade was picked up in the North Sea. Says Islands Unimportant. “Our Navy did not find him either; all it did was to smash his plane when it was turned over to them by the fishermen. After all, the Hawallan Islands are not a vital area with our Ppresent methods of national defense. ““Then the disaster to the Shenan- doah—kiiling Capt.. Lansdowne, the last of our really experienced airship captains; a splendid man, with his companions, following in the wake of Capt. Mabry and Capt. Maxfleld, our alrship commanders who have gone ‘before. “I do not know exactly what hap- pened to the poor Shenandoah. She was an experimental ship, built in this country. I believe she was about 50 per cent overweight in her structure. She had broken away from her moor- e, ey, aayway—Jast “Spring. airships, anyway—last Spring,! accurate gements meteorological ar are available for aircraft in this country. The Weather Bureau is under the Department of Agricul- ture and primarily organized to turn out weather reports affecting onions abbages and other crops. While t is very necessary, it is a complete fail ure as far as we are concerned. I ay this ter having flown across mountains and bucked their storms hundreds of times. “The Shenandoah, 50 per cent over- weight in her structure, had members strained last Spring, possibly some of them disintegrated from the action of the non-freezing compound in the radiators of her engines wherever this liquid dropped on them, and with the valves in her hellum gas bags reduced, strikes a storm. She is caught in an up current of air. Due to her ex- cessive welght, her reserve buoyancy is low. She is carried high up b; current and her gas bags begin to ex- pand, due to the altitude. The crew valves her in an attempt to allow- the ®as to escape, but the automatic valves, reduced in number, da not allow the escape fast enough; the pressure of the expanding gas on the structure tears the ship to ‘piect Some af her crew go to eternity Those that do not, escape by miracu- lously good fortune. Storm Warning Not Given. “No notice of the storm was re- celved in time to avoid it. Hen sur- vivors are muzzled by the Navy De- partment, pending a whitewash board. Are all these thing so or are they not? Iam down here in Texas and have not all the data at hand, but I am sure the facts are practically as stated. “What results? The Navy Depart- ment announces that this shows that America cannot be reached by hostile aircratt. What has that to do with it? The way that America will be reached from Asia is by the way of Alaska. “The water that has to be crossed is “scarcely wider than the English Channel. The route from Europe is by the same course that the round- the-world flyers took to Iceland, Green- land and North America, whenever a country gets powerful enough to undertake the operation. What has the loss of a seaplane near Honolulu and an airship over the mountain to do with it? impression is given to the public at large that the Shenandoah was a modern ship, properly con- structed, properly operated and com- pletely equipped. This was not the case. It shakes the people in air- ship transportation bBecause they are not given the exact facts on the sub- ject. This s not an argument neces. sarily for the maintenance of many airships by the Government, but it is a demand for the facts in the case 80 that we will not be hindered in the commercial development of this splendid aircraft on account of the accident to an airship due to incom- petence in the Navy Department, and the criminal negligence in the order- ing of this trip. If we took the safety valve of a locomotive off to save water in the desert and it blew up, killing the engineer and pas- sengers, would we say that rallway were no good in deserts and go back to camels? Tells of Own Experience. “An interesting sidelight might be thrown on the development of air- ships in this country. When I came back from the war in 1919. I at. tempted t6 get airships for the pur- pose of making them into airplane carrlers. That is, having airplanes take off from them and land on them, S0 that they could get out in the middle of the ocean if necessary and attack hostile vessels in case of war. I obtained permission immediately from the then chief of staff, Gen. March, and the then Secretary of War, Baker. I sent Maj. Hensley to Europe with money to get the ships. We had even gone so far as to order the gasoline to Germany for the voy- age of the ship to this country. ““Mysteriously the order was, rescind- ed—all work was stopped—it was said at the time that it was against the provision of the treaty, which I do not believe was the case. Work had already been begun on the frames by the Germans. This was the ZR-, rechristened the Los Angeles, which the Navy obtained recently, six years after I ordered it. What has it been used for? Nothing but parading around the country. It is evident that whenever an airship is developed as an airplane carrier the necessity for any naval surface airplane car- rier may be done away with. Is this the reason the Navy has the Los Angeles? “The Germans are the only people who have had real experience with airships. They had many a disaster before they learned how °to handle them. I have seen German Zeppelins ears ago in terrific storms. A storm little effect on an airship properly constructed and ably handled. “What other thing has the Navy ““The course. Some officers have told me that the dirigible was heading into | the wind of an intensity of many miles | an hour and that therefore the target | really was almost standing still in the air. The Navy shoots at it all day | long in this position and hits it a few | times 2nd publishes to the people ¢ the United States the wonderful re- | sults obtained to impress them with the fact that battleships can be pro- tected by anti-airc t guns, which is absolutely and entirely false. What is our Navy for? Presumably it is to control lines of sea communication on the high seas. What is it actually? It is entirely and completely out- pointed by Great Britain in the At- lantic. What can it do across the Pacific as at present organized? Noth- ing—against an insular Asiatic power whom you all know. “The Navy has about $1,500,000,000 invested in Navy vards. The upkeep and depreciation of these amounts to about $150,000,000 a year. How many of these are uscless and how man are of any profit? Probably not many. i Suppose we took $50,000,000 of this and applied it to the development of ai craft and submarines under competent | airmen and submarine men? What | could we do with it? Cites Cost of Ships. “Every time a battleship is built the ship itself, when it is completed, may cost from $50,000,000 to $70,000,- 000. It has to be protected by sub- marines, destroyers, cruisers and air- craft, the total cost of which is around or over $100,000,000, so that every time a battleship is bullt the expenditure of $100,000,000 is neces- sary. I belleve a battleship today is a useless element in the national de- fensive armament of the United States. Suppose we had even one-half of the cost of a battleship to use in the development of our aircraft and submarines. These are only a few of the things which must be brought up before the people and the coming Congress. *“The Navy, to maintain its position, keeps asking for more aircraft, which it cannot use legally, because the legal defense of the land is intrusted to armies. In spite of the legal re- strictions, however, but to keep con- trol of aviation and not let it get away, the Navy Department contin- ually gets more money from Congress by its Washington lobby, so as to keep the political support of the air- craft manufacturers and, possibly, some others interested in them. “This year the Navy’s estimate for the aircraft amounts to $37.360,245. They only have one aircraft carrier, the Langley, which can go about half as fast as a battleship and which is an obsolete collier. It can hold 36 small airplanes. They are building two aircraft carriers which can hold 60 to 70 planes. These are practi- cally obsolete before they are com- pleted. “Where i{s the $37,000,000 for air- craft going? It is going into land afrcraft, which have nothing to do with the Navy's operations on the seas and which will be used as a political lever for the maintenance of their existing system. Navy Asks More Than Army. “The War Department. that now is intrusted by law with the aerial de- fense over the land areas of the United States and its possessions, in- cluding the protection of navy yards, ask for $24,582,000. Consider how foolish this i1s. The Navy, an organi- zation charged with going to sea and which must operate from surface vessels, which, as a matter of fact, are practically obsolete now and which will afford no real protection to the country in case of an air at- tack, asking for two-thirds more than the Army does, which acts from land bases and is specifically charged with the defense of the land areas. The amount allotted to the Navy for new aircraft is three times as much as the Army. ow let us turn to the War De- partment. The War Department has done nothing this Summer to develop air power and has undertaken to prove by tests that anti-aircraft guns can protect cities, which is known everywhere to be false. They have fixed up a scheme to give constructive hits when the guns firing do not hit the targets at all. The firing has been at targets towed at a constant altitude, over courses which have been flown hundreds of times, at greatly reduced speeds and never in excess of 75 miles an hour. Even this was only because the wind was helping the plane along and under weather conditions that have been ideal. In spite of all this prepara- tion, the results have been laugh- able. Says Reports Exaggerated. “As an example of one of these r.!.forml.nou. the War Dej ment taken the 1id off for publicity in the second corps area—that means | The A tillery | dropped dira-tly on the target. | countr:; got their prop Ititude. Played arownd a little just out of range of the s¢ archlights and just within range of the ,listening devices on the ground thought that this was easy hecause they picked up the planes f.u’ off and plotted their course psolutelyvs but all of a sudden sounds from the w'rplanes stopped. Five or ten minuw's later, the bombers All sound had been heard around not at before this. Ground %'en “Furious.” “The fury of ti'n* ground officers, ar- tillery officers ana® Others was tremen- dous. The Air Se=vice had not acted fair and had fooled t.em—all of which a kind enemy, of coun’se, In war would never do! Discussion ¢'Ven went so far that it had to be pohiyed out that it| bombardment 23 in this fash- naanee of the was provided in our manual to attack a pl jon. This is only one ridiculous performanc “So far, practical bardment airplanes we have been used these targets for ground which other anes could well have done. Alr Service fund approximately they are completed this Fall. “Why are things The Coast Artillery sees that it i bound to be greatiy reduced on - count of the fact that aircraft are positive coast protection. The Coast: Artillery now has about 92 stations. For the ten years prior to 1920 about $2,000,000,000 was spent on coast de- fense—not two millions, but two bil- lions. What good are these coast de- fenses? None—except those in the immediate vicinity of large cities where a submarine might emerge at close range and plant a few shells in the city. ; the only bom- have in this uw towing thooting, 18t as ¥ out of ted @il be the time done this wvaw? Says Bombing Inaccurate. “What could the saving do on these useless expenditures, if used by the troops of the mobile Army station in Texas and other frontier points, living in shacks unequipped with mod- ern conveniences, cut down on every activity and rendered almost incapable in case the Constitution is menaced. of putting down insurrections _or executing the laws when al other mans fafl, and patrolling our frontiers and holding our insular possessions What would only & small part of this tremendous expenditure mean in the development of aireraft? Not one heavy bomb has been dropped by the Afr Service line units in target prac- tice for two years. Only about four or five modern sights are on hand with the bombing groups, and today, I, who know our personnel betier than_any living man, can only put my hand on two perfectly capable bombardment crews to handle aircraft in case we are attacked. ar “The other thing that the War De: partment has done this Summer is to study how the fivers" pay could-be re- duced or taken away from them. Think _of it, the whole effort of the War Department during the Summer has been to fool the people into think- ing that anti-aircraft cannon are a protection and to keep the rightful flying pay away from the pilots. “To make a long storv short, we are utterly disgusted with the con- duct of our military affairs applying to aviation. Our pilots know they are going to be killed if they stay in the service, on account of the methods employed in the old bloating coffins that we are still flying. Those that still remain have held on so long that if they got out they would starve. They don’t dare open their mouths and tell the truth, because they and their families might be booted out to some obscure place. Praises Men in Service. No finer body ever existed in the make-up of our country than these men. There are many able men in the Army—these should be develop- ing the ground Army_in accordance with the needs of the Nation. There are many able men in the Navy— but the bureauocracies that both of these national services malntain in Washington have passed all bounds of national decency. They are deluding the public, sacrificing our national de- fense and not only wasting the money of our citizens but the lives of its ablest men, our flying officers. “This condition must be remedied. It is not in the field of partisan politics, it concerns us all. The Amer- ican people must know the facts, and with their unfailing common sense and ability, they will surely remedy it. “As.far as I am personally concern- ed, T am looking for no advancement in any service.” Satisfled With Record. “I have had the finest career that any man could have in the armed service of our United States. I have had the great pleasure of serving in all our> campaigns fromgthe Spanish | charge of the inquirs FACE THEFT CHARGES U. S. Agents Arrive to Investigate Pillaging—Navy Men Incensed by Plundering. by By the Associated Pre: CALDWELL, Ohio, September 5.— Two agents from the Federal De- partment of Justice arrived from Cin- cinnati today to investigate the loot ing of the Shenandoah. They conferred | with Capt. George W. Steele, Jr., in here, Capt. Steele said that it appeared to him that the pillaging was just plain thievery, which might be pros- ecuted by the district attorney. It | probably; will be first determined whether the looting was done by sou- venir hunters or by persons expecting to market the stolen property. A number of valuable instruments, such as the baragraph, already have been returned to the naval authorities | by farmers who found them on their | farms, where they must have dropped from the Shenandoah. The Navy men here were incensed today when they received reports that the cap worn by the late Comdr. Zach- ary Lansdowne was on display the window of a Wheeling, W. Va. store, where souvenirs from atl cents each. Ray Karch of Greenville, home town of Comdr. Lansdowne, conferred today with Capt. Steele rela- ttve to obtaining some memento of the disaster for Greenville. is request was taken under ad vis gment. the large name, “‘Shenandoah,” painted on the side of the ship may be given him for preservation at Some other parts may be Greeuville. given him. Dublin Police Quell Riot. DUBLIN, September § (#).—Revok ver shots were fired and stones and bottles thrown in a riot which started here this morming with fighting be- tween striking members of the union, headed by the radical, James Larkin, and the police. —— Among Ing voice was trained by Tosti. ion Antonio Officials Doubi | Accustomed as departmental execu- tives, 2 attacks by doubtful t Shenandoah and PN-9 ) | were due to “incompese negligence and alm: ministration the War and Another assertion th in crediting to a brother offic one stating that conduct of the A civilian at Service ing “as to ma person ashamed of the Instructions to Gen. Hines at San undoubtedly specific references to these and efforts will be made to have Col. Mitchell expiain whether he intended Success Doesn't Col. of the and militar: Mitchell, he bekeved expressed Nav found di; become any sed ad ke g | 2 urr he | method w {jen contends tk clothes will contain charges saving gas and outdoors, just not needing docks after each 1 metal will have the two-fold Berlin Physicist Declares aa being abl cean ged vess Pres: Construction Not Feasible. into dry- in a the | wreaked ship are being sold at 26 Ohio, e the biggest of its “Just Happen” HEN a business : has grown to be sort in a community, and is still growing—it’s usually because there’s something BETTER about its values, mer- the most musical of the members of the English royal family i Queen Mary, whose charming sing- chandise and service! _ We're somewhat proud g that growing business compels us to open, in a The child who learns easily is the child who sees easily. Let us ex- amine carefully, the eyes of your child and give you our advice about glasses. SPECIAL FACILITIES FOR EXAMINING CHILDREN’S EYES KINSMAN OPTICAL 705 14th St. N, few weeks, 3 New Hahn Shoe Stores in Washington A shop for Women exclusively 1207 F St. N. W. F A shop for Men exclusively Federal-American Bank Bldg. Cor. 14th and G Sts. A new Hahn store for everybody In the Arcade Bldg. 14th, near Park Road Cor. 7th & K Sts. 414 9th St. N.W. 1914-16 Pa. Ave.- 1318GSt. © 233 Pa. Ave. SE. e ——— 7