New-York tribune., 1918-05-04
Another Hog Island "Scandal"?

pidneS 6OfSlum charges keOpened.
Firing Squad Suggested" So ran the
headlines of yesterdays newspapers re-
counting the debate" in the United
States Senate upon the situation in the
aeroplane work.
Senator Brandegee, of Connecticut,
led off in the attack by reading a tele-
gram from Mr.. Gutzon Borglum deny
ing that he had "discussed other than
general evidence with anybody, nor will
/, except before judicial, non-p partisan
body" This was followed by reading
into the record the report" of the "fnd-
ings" of the Aeronautical Society of
America-this latter at the instance of
Senator Wadsworth, of New York.
Mr.. Borglum's charges were published
at length, with certain expurgations, in
"The New York World'' of March 20 and
21. 1t was report made to the Presi-
dent, and was given to "The World" by
the War Department.
So scandalous was this document that
"The World" printed it 'with no at
testations to its accuracy" The chief
attack centred upon Colonel Deeds, at
that time directly in charge of the air
craft production work, and so brutal
were the charges that in story of four
or five columns they were deleted by
"The World" which said:
cat this point Mr.. Borglum goes into
details regarding Colonel Deeds, de-
voting about 1900 words to an attack
;o,l, I,
to be unsupported by fact and most of
which is 1ibellous, if not untrue"
We could only say at the time that "if
Mr.. Borglum's charges are true, some Of
them ought to be subject to review by
the criminal courts. No such action has
been taken. The inference is that no
substantiation Of these charges has been
found"
This was more than six weeks ago. In
effect, Mr.. Borglum charged that Col
onel Deeds and other members of the
Aircraft Production Board had delib-
erately wrecked the whole airplane pro-
gramme in the interest of Germany. It
was these charges which formed the
basis for the scandalous editorial in
"The New York Times" of Thursday,
seeking to give body and weight to an
accusation which would damn these men
to infamy if it were true.
We can only suggest that if Secretary
Baker was so grossly and grotesquely
deceived by these men as "The Times"
declares he was, the effect was to bring
serious discredit upon himself and his
conduct of the Department of War,
and it would have been only human
nature if he had turned savagely upon
these "conspirators" and brought them
to- the bar Of public opinion.
If, moreover, there was any truth
whatever in the charges, they ought long
ago to have been brought to the atten-
tion of "a Federal grand jury" as "The
Times" now demands.
The rest of the "Times" conspiracy
and this new Senate Scandal" is built
upon the Aeronautical Society's report.
To this Senator Brandegee gives the fol-
lowing certificate of credibility:
"it is an expert report, from highly
technical and skilled association, com
posed of scientific men who know some
thing about this business"
OF Mr.. Borglum this same Senator
Brandegee says
II know there are certain gentlemen
who have heard tales that he is engaged
In some improper financial operation and
some people say he is crazy. will take
my chances on that His sanity could be
readily established if it is questioned"
We sometimes wonder what is the
limit to the credulity of United States
Senator. The present head of the Aero
nautical Society is Mr.. Frederick w.
Barker, patent attorney, who states
that he has been interested in aero
nautics since 1912.
The report" itself, according to the
newspapers, was signed by Mr.. Thomas
A. Hill, likewise a patent attorney:
Charles w. Howell, general manager of
the Sun Typewriter Company, and Leon
Cammen, stated then to be associate
editor for the American Society of Civil
Engineers"
The American Society of Civil Engi-
neers state that they have no Mr.. Leon
Cammen connected with that organiza-
tion. For the rest, the Aeronautical So
ciety claims among it's directors and
leading members Hudson Maxim, Will
lam j. Hammer (vice-president) and
Gutzon Borglum. The president, Mr..
Barker, takes credit to the society for
the appointment of the new chief of the
Aircraft Production Board, Mr.. John D.
Ryan. So far n we have been able Ia