The sun., 1919-07-19
Army to Have No Aviation
Service Worthy Of Name
After Sept. 80.
BLAME PUT ON CONGRESS
Cutting of Appropriation to
$25, 100000 Criticised as
False Economy.

| Senators agreed among themselves
after careful survey that 1t was the fault
Of Congress. or rather Of the House of
Representatives, In that appropriations
had been reduced 20 a ridiculous point.
There will be after September / only
232 officers in the Army Aviation Serv-
| ice, and almost all these will be admins
trative. Senator wadsworth (New
| York;. Chairman OF the Committee on
| Military Affairs, said perhaps It would
| be possible ito get ten or a dozen men
able to fly" not more.
Senator Thomas (Col) preached the
subject, calling attention 20 a newspaper
statement that airship stations in the
Philippines. the Hawaiian Islands and
Panama were to be abandoned. and ex-
pressing his keen concern about 1t. He
attributed It to the fact that the appro-
priation had been reduced to S25, 900, 900,
Hand added that $50 far as being of use
| for maintaining an adequate service
| that amount might as well have been
! sunk to the bottom Of the ocean" The
| Senate Military Committee asked twice
as much and the Senate appropriated
$40. 100000. The House would not con-
sent. and s25,o0o.ooo was the compro-
! mise reached.
| Dangerous situat ton Feared.
Il believe in economy" he said, but
| this is false economy. This country
| originated the aircraft and now is hope
lessly handicapped for want of these ia
| cilities In case of war. IL information
which we receive is correct, 20 the eff
feet that the policy of watchful waiting
on the Mexican border is about TO end.
serious troubles may follow there at any
! time and a dangerous situation result
/ want II understood at least that II is
not the Senate that is to blame for such
state of affairs"
Senator Fall On. NJ sent TO the desk
and had read a letter frcm Gov. y. C.
LarraZolo. pointing out the dangers
| which are confronted on the Mexican
| border in the present exigency. The
letter follows:
SANTA F'E, July Ill have this day
! received a letter from Hon. w. i.
Hobby, Governor of Texas. as follows
Knowing the Mexican situation as
| do and believing that some action by the
| United States Government with respect
| to conditions in Mexico and along the
| border will be necessary In the near
future. I view with alarm the action OF
the War Department In demobilizing and
discharging all officers of the National
Army which will practically wipe out
the air service. To my mind It IL I'M
peratiye that Congress make some pro-
| vision for a continuation In service or a
| reasonable number Of the National Army
officers until a permanent military policy
has been established. as It would be i'm
| possible 10 get these trained ofncers
upon whom the Government has spent
millions of dollars, especially In the
aviation branch, back into service after
being discharged. Please wire your
senators and Representatives to aid in
this matter
Il agree with Gov. Hobby that the
| policy OF discharging the officers OF the
National Army now on duty principally
along the Mexican frontier is rather an
4 improvldent one and that at least until
| matters in Mexico assume permanently
peaceful and orderly condition sufti-
| eieut number Of such trained officers and
soldiers should be kept on duty along
the border and this, as you can readily
| understand, as a necessary protection to
| our people and interests.
| 81 therefore suggest to you the ad-
1 yisability of comforting with the War
Department and Of calling the attention
of the Secretary Of War to this matter
and to request that sufhcient force COM
manded by competent and trained ON
GERS be maintained along the Mexican
border until such time as their further
presence there Is shown to be unnec-
essary."
Il ReBpOnstDtIty flaceu.
i ct have not seen the War Depart
ment" Senator Fall explained, because
III have been assured that CONGRESSES
failure to provide the necessary funds
is responsible for this condition of which
these two Governors of border States
complain"
Senator Smith (AriZ) added he had
been to the War Department on the same
matter. He had been told that every
lprecaution would be taken to guard the
border. II confess" he added, that the
letters I receive from the people on the
border show they are by no means
satisfied with conditions and / know
they are sincere and understand con-
ditions. At some later day ] may have
something to say of what l know about
conditions in Mexico and the necessity
10 safeguard the lives and property both
Of Americans on the border and Of
other Americans who are within the
Republic OF Mexico by the invitation OF
its Government"
IF the troops We have on the bor-
der were ordered 70 end tho raids there"
declared Mr.. Fall. they would be able
to do II, even though there were not one
tenth as many as there are. We have a
border 400 miles long. but there are
troops enough to protect It II only they
were dilOWo0 10 but IHey are
under orders that they must avoid any
conflict with whatever Mexican authority
Imay claim at a given time to be domt-
nant in any particular part Of Mexico
Their faces are thus turned to the north,
not to the south. They are attempting
TO prevent smuggling from this coun-
try into Mexico, but make no effort to
prevent smuggling from Mexico into this
country.
ut Is not generally known In this
country, but II is true that at least
twelve times in the last fve or six
months American troops have crossed
the border pursuing bandits. and several
times they have found that the dead
bandits they killed wore the Carranza
uniform"
Senator Wadsworth Explains.
dicament of the aviation service I'VE
may as we'll face the facts" he said.
The appropriation for this service was
severely cut. giving only 325.000.000. 1t
leaves the aviation establishment a mere
she'll BY September 80 all emergency
officers win have to be discharged in all
branches. but II Is most serious in avia-
ton, because It Is impossible to replace
men who can fly once they are out.
After that date there will be only 2S2
officers in the air service. all admins
trative; no fiiers. Not over ten or
twelve men could be found who could
fly. We will have practically no flying
service and 5000 machines In various
degrees of dlsrepair will be held In stor-