Arizona republican., 1918-05-18
Inc Aircraft Boards Output


 We do not know what will of the aircraft board investigation whether anything than the gross incompetence of the members of will be discovered It is already established without investigation that some extremely tall lying in dulged in by the board behalf of it; that insaney wild predictions were made by those high in authority to the work of the board; in short that a great national scandal the chief output of this ex- pensive organization; that about the only thing of importance created by it a hole to the amount of ss4OoOoOO in the national treasury which there constructed annex a wing, a deficit amounting to about $16O,OOo,OO0.
 The governments press agents, however have to a large extent been automatically muzzled by the developments; they have been filled if not with a contrite spirit. at least, with shame shame us- ually induces silence. If this silence consequence of the collapse of the board continues through the war, all of that sSoO,Ooo,oOO will not have been squandered in vain
 We have before us the complete report of the investigating committee of the Aeronautical Society of America whose inquiry gave publicity to the de- plorable conditions within the board.
 Though it is in mild language contains no accu- sations of criminality, insinuations but plain statements of facts and reasonable conclusions it is a damning document
 That should so have fallen down in aircraft building the report finds the more remarkable be- cause "in numberless other lines American engineers have led the world by their ingenuity bodness of engineering achievements. The best machine shop men, the best makers of automatic machinery, the biggest makers of automobile engines America. Further for three years, while the world fine, America at peace had time to prepare itsef'
 Many of the training ships, in the opinion of the board should never have been built Under the head of accidents in the training fields due to defects of machinery the report says: "The only reason why such things is either defective construction of the machine defective system of inspection and maintenance of machines between flights. Every case of ignition of a tank a training machine in the present state of engineering, shows a crime on some bodys part and every young man who loses his life from this has been murdered. It is an un- pleasant thing to say, but that is what amounts to-"
 The committee found in its investigation the best spirit reless effort absolute lack and the highest devotion "on the lower rungs of the service" and the report adds Tt was only when the investigation touched the tops of the service that lack of system, lack of knowledge of the subject and absolute absence of all coordination of effort and worse became apparent"
 In conclusion the report states:
 The Investigating committee desires to report most respectfully that it has found situation fraugh with the gravest danger.
 It has found throughout the planning of the aeronauucal program an entirely American spirit of boastfuness, willingness to tell things as they are not lack of system, fear of tacking big subject really big way.
 In a country which built the Panama canal the tremendous transcontinental system the greatest subway system in the world which found new for the transmission of electrical energy where a fifty hundred million dollars undertaking in private life finds barely on the inside pages of a newspaper the execution of the aeronautical program handled in the way of a wildcat stock selling campaign.
 It is useless to say that this kind of overadver- tising (to the mild official for t) had noth- ing to do with the actual exercise of the program. is human experience that the who is willing to tell an untruth about this work only very seldom is capable of doing the highest grade of work The men by whose work the world moves ahead only in the rarest instances willing to tell fully what they are doing and never demean themselves to claim what they have not done.
 Real achievement does not need fake advertising and where there is fake advertising usually idle to look for great achievement.