The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-04-04
In Letter to Wilson Warns
of Consequences of Stop
ping Enlistment
URGES DEPARTMENT
OF AERONAUTICS
Sees Halt in Training and Airplane
Production Caused by the Lack Of
Funds-Our Lack of Equipment May
Cause Allied ReverseS.

Cause AlueQ heVeISeS.
NEW YORK, April Alan r. Hawley,
president of the Aero Club of America,
sent letter to President Wilson yester-
day, in which he urged that the aircraft
program be extended to meet present
conditions, and in which he advocated the
creation of a department OF aeronautlcs
to remedy the situation. Mr.. Hawley's
letter was inspired by the fact that the
signal corps is refusing further enlist
ments for the air service, through lack
of training fields and equipment. So he
sat down and discussed in his letter the
mistakes of the aircraft board, what the
board should have done and what should
be done now
! The refusal of the signal corps to
take on more men amazed Mr.. Hawley
less than 1000 aviators are under train
! ing and that it will take $4,000 aviators
when he and his colleagues realized that
to keep 5000 aviators on the fighting
front continuously for one year. Lack
of trained aviators TO supply the neces-
sary requirements would mean defeat for
the cause of the allies" he wrote.
This rejection is but another indica-
tion, said Mr.. Hawley, of the aircraft
program slowing down through lack of
funds, also reflected in advices from fac
tories which have completed orders that
they have no additional orders to look
forward to.
| This lack of money-for that in reality
was the motif OF Mr.. Hawley's written
protests "a mournful condition which
threatens the cause of the allies more
seriously than anything else For, to
achieve and maintain supremacy in the
air, Mr. Hawley added the allies must
be able to count on not less than 25,OOC
American ayiators, so as to insure 5000
at the front day and night, month after
month.
The condition today is analogous K
1.-THE condition which existed last Octo
Der, continued Mr.. Hawley. "A larg,
number of training camps had been estab
lished at cost OF S390,000,000. Order:
for aeroplanes and motors had beer
placed and the funds had been PRACTICAL,
exhausted. Thereupon the work of de
veloping additional sources of supplies
for aircraft and motors PRACTICAL,
stopped, notwithstanding the fact tina
the Italian reverses and the Russian col
lapse demanded imperatively that TIL
program be tripled in size"
At the time the Aero club urged al
additional appropriation of $2,00000O,
600 for extending the aircraft program
and whatever confusion and mistake
have cropped up are due 10 the failure 0
the nation to follow this urge" Tha
| is the substance of Mr. Hawley's protes,
The authorities tried to make 1000
4 aeroplancs do the work of 10000" re
marked the Aero club president. "Th
original program did not take into con
sideration that it takes two aeroplane
;, to give an aviator required training, no
u did it take into consideration the 10
per cent requirements per month IN plane
: and motors to keep ayiators equipped 70
fighting"
Mr.. Hawley said the authorities ais
had overlooked the fact that to kee
! 1000 aviators at the front would redur
" 900 men to be trained and the build
ing OF 10000 training planes. SO 9TH
il number of aeroplanes under constructio
a today is not sufficient to give prelim
/ nary and advanced training to the nun
$ Der of aviators the United States mus
: supply within the next twelve months
Lack of funds caused changes in stant
> ing orders instead of new orders bein
ID given when requests came from Franc
n for machines. There was no none,
ir though. and the original program had
wait while the requests from France wei
s being filled.
y Repetition of these mistakes, he warn
~ will surely result unless the present pr,
III gram is changed, and may result
II. allied reverses and public condemnatio
: of your administration. not only fro
the American public but also from Il
d allies"
t 1T is tragic to us, Mr.. President,
know that while aeropanes and avi