The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1918-04-23
Building the Air Fleet.

Thousands and perhaps millions Of Americans firm
y convinced that the most effective service which the
United States can perform in this is the creation and
operation of an aerial army They see reasons why it will
be difficult for the United States to apply its full strength
in other fields of war; although intelligent American
doubts that this nation collect forces sufficient with
its allies to defeat the enemy either land But
since the allies have armies of immense size and fleets
treble the size of the enemy seems to many Americans
that after supplying the necessary number of troops and
supplies for the allies it should be the duty of the United
States to aim for overwhelming superiority in the air.
The air program Of the United States has not been
handed properly. Too many boards and commissions
have succeeded in squandering invaluable time. The de-
sgners and builders Of the Liberty motor have been
peatedly stopped by official order to tinker with sup
posed improvements, and production large scale has
only recently been uninterrupted AS for types of planes
the conflicting boards and commissions have adopted and
rejected type after type aided in their INDIGESTION by the
keetn rivalry Of foreign manufacturers anxious to sell
certain types at great profit
Thorough investigation of the situation by small COM
mittee charged with the duty of ascertanng just what
allied the aircraft program and recommending remedy
has resulted in report to the President which is be-
ieved to point the way ommediate action. Il is no
secret that the committee recommends the complete d.
vorcement of production and operation simple matter
in statement but not SO simple in fact. The manufac
ure of motors and planes, in the opinion of the
mittee should not be under the direction of boards
commissions the signal corps but should be directed by
citizen thoroughly acquainted with the industrial fa
ces of the United States and capable of utilizing them
to the utmost extent.
The committee evidently believes that airpIanes like
ships should be built by authority and operated by
another and that the operating authority should not inter-
fere with the questions of production Just as Mr..
Schwab has been drafted to produce ships the aircraft
committee will recommend that another strong shall
be drafted to produce arpanes The producer in each
will produce what the government needs Of course
and therefore the types Of ships planes may be altered
according to the opinion Of the experts But these alter
atoms must not be made from hour to hour by hating
the wheels of factories while experts quarrel heoret
ical improvements Established types must be produced
if they not the very latest wrinkle, and
types must be introduced in such not to inter
fere seriously with the output Of workable types.
The United States account Of its great automobile
factories and its abundance of materials well
account of the alert and daring quality of its avator
should go to the front rank of nations in the contest for
supremacy in the air. Ten thousand avators daily and
hourly shooting and bombing the enemy will be enlisted
trained and fully equipped by the United States within
few months at the hating rate at which the pro-
gram has gone forward Men Of the calber Of Charles
M Schwab Henry Ford, with unhampered authority,
could easily double the aviation feet and enable the
United States to lombard and utterly destroy the Ger
man armies and fleets.
This all-important branch Of American power is
under consideration of the President He has shown by
his solution of the shpbuildng problem that he intends
to utilize the master minds of the industrial world With
out doubt he will call his assistance as builder of the
air fleet, American in whom the whole country will
have confdence--Wa Washington Post