The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-30
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ATION
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director.
Washington. D. C
THE FREEDOM OF THE AIR.
L-What Shall Our Air Craft Pro
gram Be?
Washington. D. C

I.-What Shall Our Air Craft Pro-
gram Be?
Washington, d. c., Dec. 27-Now
that the war is over. shall the right to
navigate the air in this country be
thrown open to all persons on equal
terms, or shall the government retain
the control over manufacture and
Tying of airplanes and balloons which
it now has?
This is a question which congress
will undoubtedly be called upon to
answer, and the importance OF which
seems scarcely to be realized by the
public.
There are several angles to the
problem presented by the future OF
nying. One of them is the military
angle. The freedom of the seas and
the ownership of the earth are up TOR
discussion, but that freedom Of the air
is also an important factor in the fu-
ture of the world does not seem SO
generally realized. Aircraft have
been considered heretofore chiefly as
accessories to armies and navies. But
aircraft are no longer merely scouts
and couriers; they are powerful
agents of destruction. 1t seems GER
. tain that their use will be matter
for regulation by the proposed League
of Nations, as well as the use of ar
mics and navies.
The other angle is the industrial
angle. There will Undoubtedly be
keen competition between the nations
in the development of airplanes for
peacetime purposes. How can this
development best be stimulated and
protected in the United States?
Altho these questions have not had
much publicity, it is known that they
are being carefully considered by the
general staff, by airplane authorities
Of the army. navy and marine corps.
and by some farsishted congressman
and senators.
All plans are necessarily vague as
yet. At present the army, the navy
and the marine corps has each its own
air service. That these should be
combined into one organization, pos
sibly under the direction of a new
portfolio in the cabinet, has often
been suggested. and the advantages Of
orally agreed upon. But how \lar2e
this air service should be, and what
the scope of it's activities and duties
should be in time of peace, are mat
tiers upon which a great variety of
opinion can be heard. Probably ac-
ton taken at the peace table with
regard to the use of air forces will
have a great influence. But regard
less of this, there seem to be two dis
tinct schools of thought as to the part
that the government should play in
the development or aeronautics. The
the government should exploit the air
plane solely as an adjunct to whatever
military and naval establishment it
may maintain in the future. On the
other hand, the most radically COM
structive idea put forward Is that the
whole development of flying should
be under government control and di-
rection, including the mapping of the
air, the scientific study of the atmoa-
phere, and the establishment of routes
and landing fields.
In point of size, a personnel for the
air service of only 5000 has been rec
commended by some high authorities,
while a force of $4,000 is about the
largest that has been authoritatively
suggested. In a modern air service
there are about twenty to twenty-five
men to each plane.
OF course, the moot and most deli
cate question of government control
or ownership versus free private initi-
alive, which is also involved in the
problem of the railroads and the tele-
phone and telegraph lines, enters also
to some extent into this questions of
the future of the air. For several
reasons, however. it does not enter
to the same extent. For military
reasons. the government must neces-
sarily have a considerable degree of
control over flying, and for a con-
siderable period at least the practical
uses of airplanes will be chiefly for
this, and for other purposes which
are recognized functions of govern
ment
Leaving out this question of princi-
pie. the advocates of extensive gov
eminent control over flying bring for
ward a number of practical reasons
why such control is desirable.
For one thing, the government has
at present control of practically all
patents used in the manufacture of
planes. 1t is well known that before
the war there was some litigation over
airplane patents in this country, and
that none of the manufacturers had
the Use of all of them. But when the
war broke out the government readily
obtained the use of all patents then
existing, and it has control of all i'm
provements patented during the war.
only a1rplanes manufactured on gov.
eminent contract, therefore. may en-
body all the discoveries and improve
ments. The advantages, from a prac-
teal and scientific viewpoint, of hav-
ing the government act as a clearing
house for discoveries and inventions,
instead of leaving private concerns to
fight over them, seem obvious.
Again, the government owns thou
sands of planes, has thousands of
trained fliers and mechanics now in
its employ. and owns millions of en-
glnes and parts. To let this great
plant, equipment and personnel go to
pieces will be an immense waste of the
peoples money.
A third reason advanced for gov
eminent control is that a large in
dustrial development and practical use
of the airplane must be preceded by
great scientific development-not so
much in the airplane itself as in the
knowledge of the air. Air currents
must be studied and charted, a prac-
teal means must be worked out for
observing the wind at all elevations.
When the weather bureau is able to
furnish daily reports on weather con-
ditions at the elevation of 5000 feet:
10000 and $4,000 feet, just as it now
sends out daily bulletins for the
weather at the surface of the earth,
flying will be about as safe as auto
mobiling-possibly nsvre so. Such a