Evening star., 1918-03-28
A|RP|-ANE DELAY
BLAMED ON SPIES

Charges that German spies were
responsible for this country's fail
ure to keep mp in it's airplane pro-
Erar were made In the Senate to-
day by Senator Ovefman of North
Carolina. and that there are spies
In the Curtiss plant.
Il Stirred by charges in the Senate of
delays in the aircraft program, the Sem
ate military committee this afternoon
summoned Maj. Gen. squier and Col
Deeds of the Signal Corps, in charge of
the aircraft production, and Howard
Coffin, chairman, OF. the aircraft board,
to appear Immediately to testify as to
the real status of the airplane program.
They were to appear tomorrow, but the
committee deemed it important to hear
them At once.
To obtain additional, information re-
garding the airplane situation, the
Senate military committee today called
Maj. Gen. spuier. chief signal officer;
Col Deeds OF the Signal Corps and
Howard e. Coffin. chairman Of the air
craft board, before it for tomorrow
afternoon.
as to aircraft production and shipment
to France, put out by the public infor-
nation committee yesterday afternoon,
caused the Senate military affairs COM
mittee to demand the instant suppress
sion of the statement. The statement
was contained in captions, sent out for
publication with photographs of air
planes under construction for the Army.
| the release date being March 80.
The senators were astounded at the
alleged information contained in the
captions, which they considered from
their own investigation into the avia-
tion situation in this country to be abb
soIutely incorrect. Among the phrases
contained in the captions were the fol-
lowing:
Ever Increasing Air Fleet in
France; Hundreds Have Already
Been Shipped to France and Thousan nds
VIII Soon Foi!cw."
Only One Plane Sent
It was Senator wadsworth Of New
York who called attention OF the com
mittee to the statement. Lieut. Col. E.
Lester Jones Of the supply division of
the Signal Corps was on the stand at
the time. Senator Wadsworth asked
him how many airpianes had been
shipped to France. He admitted only
one plane had been shipped to France
or to an Atlantic port for shipment
across the ocean.
These are not afrpIsnss. but plain
air then" suggested Senator Thomas
Of Colorado.
This. is an instance Of the propa-
ganda OF sorns government officials TO
deliberately deceive the American peo-
pie as to the real situation" said Sen
ato- Wadsworth. @It must stop
Coming From Factory.
Chairman Chamberlain at once or
dred representative of the committee
summoned. Lawrence RubeI of Chi
cago. director Of the committees divi-
sion OF pictures, appeared shortly aft
.erward and testified that the pictures
on which the captions were based were
obtained from Col. Deeds Of the Signal
Corps.
He added that Col. Deeds gave no in
formation regarding shipment of air
planes to France, but did advise that
the airplanes were coming through the
factories SO fast that they had to he
stored in warehouses.
Based on Secretary's Statement.
He said the captions were written bv
Morris Strunslky of New York. an en-
ploye Of the information committee. who
told him they were based on ''the state
naent Of Secretary Baker" RubeI conced-
ed that the captions were 'tfamboyant'.
and said they would not have been sent
out had they been submitted to him.
Morris Strunsky, employed in the
picture department Of the committee,
said he wrote the captions on four pic
lures sent out for use on March 80, but
which have since been withdrawn from
publication, but declared be based his
for part of the captions on
statements by Secretary Baker. Strun-
sky said that perhaps he permitted
enthusiasm to dominate the facts, al
lead the public.
Lieut. John C. Burkhart, censor for
the Signal Corps. denied any knowledge