Republican farmer., 1919-08-22
INVESTIGATION BY REPUBLICANS
 GAINED LITTLE
Select Committees Probe Uncovered Nothing New
 in Wars Conduct.
AIR PROGRAM AIDED
 ALLIES TO WIN FIGHT
Journey To Northwest Criti- cized As Useless Waste
 of Money.

The Republican Houses se1ao- committee of 15 inquiring iuso how America won the war has now been at work more than month. and has failed to convince the American pub lie that Germany did not surrender.
 One phase of the conduct of the war, aviation. is now being inquired | into for the fourteenth time, accord- ing to the statement of a witness ap. | bearing before one of the sub-com- mittees, and thus far the inquiry has failed to bring to public attention anything that wasn't already mat 1 fer of general information
 | However, the inquiry has served to | remind the public of the following l facts among others:
 That if it had not been for the supplies. material and assistance fur nished by America, the Allies would have had little no air service dur ing the last several months of the 1 war, and Germany would have had | complete mastery of the air.
 That the development of the Lib | erty motor solved the airplane engine problem for all the associated coun- tries at war. The Liberty was the only motor |, attain quantity produc- tion and savAI very serious situa- ton at a very critical period of the 1 war.
 That at the signing of the armistice there was a larger number of Amer ican air pilots in the military ser vice than ia the service of any or the Allies.
 That although military aviation was a wholly new science in America, at the signing of the armistice the United States had produced nearly twelve thousand airplanes and more than thirty thousand motors. Tn ad- dition, 5,071 planes, practically all of them fighting or pursuit and bomb l ing planes. and 6,754 engines were purchased from the Allies, in return for which raw material was furnish ed the Allies which alone made it pos
 sible for them to equip their own , armies with airplanes
 That the air service wing of the army was built up from pra cticaiIy , nothing at the beginning of the war until. at the signing of the armistica. it's personnel numbered more than ) 100000 officers and men.
 II That quantity production of both airplanes and engines had reached
 such development at the armistica i that it would have been possible to
 equip the eighty fighting divisions
 General Pershing planned to have on
 the front by July, 1919, with the 35S
 air squadrons of twenty planes each t regarded as needed to maintain ab-
 solute supremacy in the air.
 That in the opinion of high officers . in the army, aviation as well as com
 manders of battle divisions, America's : achievements in the aviation during q o11cf1 11Iaa f1oo4 I.,I
 to be overcome are considered, were
 nothing short of marvellous. The aviation sub committee, of
 which Representative Frear of Wis consin, Republican, is chairman, has = adjourned its Washington hearings and has gone to the Pacific north west where hearings will be held to
 inquire into spruce production.
 One the eve of the subcommittee
 departure, a statement attributed 10 . Representative Frear was issued from
 the publicity office of the Repub-
 lican National Committee attempt
 ing to justify the expedition to the
 northwest, which involved the travel
 of several persons several thousand } miles, with consequent heavy cost to the taxpayers.
 During the Washington sittings . Representative Frear summoned the Chairman, Homer s. Cummings, of the Democratic National Committee before the committee 10 take him to l task because the Democratic publicity
 bureau had referred 10 his committee as a "smelling" committee and had ! characterized it's trip to the northwest as a "junket" MT. Cummings very frankly told the committee that he regarded the trip as unnecessary and a needless waste of time and money; in fact that the whole program, based on the partisan plan of conducting in- vestigations. was wrong, although as chairman of the Democratic National Committee he welcomed this and all other investigations the Republicans | might make into the conduct of the war.
 In the statement issued by the Re- publican National Committee at } tempting to justify the journey to the Pacific coast MT. Frear was quoted | as using such incorporate language as dishonest" treason" and also "great," in referring to charges he said had been made to the com mittee against Democrats. Although copies of the purported interview with Mir. Frear was mailed out from the Washington publicity office of the , Republican National Committee, Mir
 
 issued a second statement in far milder language. attempting chiefly to reply to Chairman Cummings statement that the trip was un- , necessary expenditure of time and public money. and at a time when members of Congress should be in } Washington devoting their attention to the high cost of living and other necessary legislation.
 Discussing the work of the avia- , ton subcommittee prior to leaving for the northwest. Representative Lea, of California, Democratic mem E ber. said he felt that it would be inappropriate for him to express an opinion at this time as to the merit a of charges presented 10 the commit tee Nevertheless. in reply to a ques- . ton about the old charge that large part of the s640 100000 set aside by Congress in its first large appropriation for aviation had been wasted. Mir. Lea said that examination
 of undisputed facts show this charge \ to be . gross exaEgeration-