The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-11-01

which covers lS2 printed pages, Attorney General Gregory, Tn his letter to Presi- dent Wilson. says:
 By far the greater portion is devoted to remarkable, accurate statement of substantially all the transactions had since the beginning of the war in the course of the development of the air craft programme.
 He adds that since he is in accord with the report he does not consider 1t necessary to present a somewhat full report which has heretofore been pre- pared by the department of justice" MT. Gregory also explained:
 T do not consider it gernane to this investigation to enter into criticism of the programme or of mistakes in policy or in the exercise of Judgment.
 Another portion of the, attorney gen. erals letter says:
 Agreeing substantially as I do, with the statement of facts made by Judge Hughes. l am of the opinion that it can not fairly be charged that a managing officer of any contracting corporation has desired or attempted to delay pro- duction or been actuated by d.sloyal motives"
 FLAYS FORD
 Mir. Hughes in his report referred to the retention by Henry Ford of Carl Emde as chief of his drafting depart mentb despite charges of pro-German utterances against Emde After hearing complaints against Emde, Mir. Ford s reasons for keeping Emde were set forth in minutes of the proceedings saying:
 He (Mr. Ford) felt that it was a time Of sacritice-that in the next few years every man would he called upon to make some sort of sacrifice and that possibly Mir. Ende, German born. was making his sacrifice now, when making draw ings for the Liberty motor to be used ultimately against Germany"
 Mir. Hughes added that this indicated ''laxity at the Ford plant with respect to those of German sympathies which was not at all compatible with the in- terests of the government"
 Among the principal charges which Mir Hughes report declared substanti- ated in part were that there was delay in getting model planes from the allies, and in preparing specifications for their reproductions: that planes were fre- 1uently changed both on airplane types and on the Liberty motor; that some manufacturers well qualified for produce ion failed to receive contracts, while others poorly prepared were given or lers; that many plants engaged in air plane manufacture lacked knowledge and experience, and that in pushing for speed in production confusion and waste oc- cured in plants. As for actual results the report states. that up to october II 9S75 airplanes were built, of which 51S7 were for elementary training, 2137 for advanced training and 2350 were for ob servation and bombing service. In the same time 24.672 engines had been fin- shed, of which 96S9 were Liberty motors.
 Each type of airplane and the causes of delay in it's production. is discussed separately in the report
 PRAISES LIBERTY MOTOR
 MT. Hughes comment on the Liberty motor included the following:
 "1t now appears to be conclusively established that the Liberty engine Is a great success for observation and bomb ing planes and for this purpose it has found high favor with the allies. It is too heavy for the lighter pursuit planes"
 As for the early delay in the Liberty motor production programme, the re- port says:
 There was no reason why the develop ment of the Liberty motor should have stood in the way of the production of other motors, such as the Hispano- Suiza for use in single scatter pursuit planes. But so far as the heavier ob- servation and bombing planes are con cerned, the weight of opinion Is that it would have taken about as long to put any other high power motor into successful quantity production in this country, according to our methods of manufacture as it has taken to develop the Liberty motor.
 Making due allowances for the inev- table course of experimentation, the Lib erty motor could not have been in large production much earlier than it was"
 OUTPUT FAR BEHIND
 The output of Liberty motors is far behind the original schedules, says the report, as is shown by the preliminary estimates that 4725 would be delivered last May and 4425 in June, as compared with actual deliveries of 545 In May and 104S in June. During this month alone, however, 4000 12-cylnder engines were produced, it was officially announced to- night
 Of the 96Ss Liberty motors produced up to October Il. 6s95 were for the army and 2194 were for the navy.
 Criticizng the apparent lack of method In selecting airplane contractors and dls- trlbuting work, the report said;
 There have been numerous complaints from individuals and corporations who sought contracts unsuccesSfully. The ex- tent to which activities were centered dt i'dytou, tue pToutdDle contract promptly given to Colonel Deeds former business associates (referring to the Dayton Wright company, and the pref erence of a small group of manufactur- CTS In the allotment of the large con tracts created a feeling of distrust which finds frequent expression In the record of this inquiry.
 PRINCIPLE NOT DEFINED
 'lt does not appear that in the award of these contracts there was adherence to any clearly defined principle. While offers or requests of some manufactur- CTS went unheeded because of alleged lack of proper facilities or of assured financial ability in other cases contracts were made with parties equally destl- tute of adequate sources.
 Specifically, mention Is made of the AIax,I