Republican farmer., 1919-08-15
General M. M. Patrick De. nies That Machines
 Were Burned.
SOME SALVAGED
 FOR ECONOMY
Only When Expense Ex- ceeded Value Was This
 Done.

serviceable and valuable airplane5 have been wantonly destroyed by the American Expeditionary Force is made In a statement by Col. M. M. Patrick. Y. s. Engineers and late MaJor-General and Chief of Air Ser vice, A. F.. F.
 Statements that a million dollars worth" of such planes were destroy ed have been made before the sub committee Investigating war expendi- lures overseas, of which Represen- tative Royal C. Johnson. Republican, of South Dakota is chairman.
 Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who came to public attention by his inves- tisation of aircraft production in America which resulted in the fnves- tigation by Judge Hughes, filed sew eral photographs of parts of planes purported to have been burned. Con trary to the opinion of experts in the army air service, Mir. Borslum made the unqualified statement to the com mittee that 1t was possible to tel! from the photographs whether a plane or its parts were actually ser viceablc and safe for flyers.
 Denying that a single part of plane from which the Government could derive a penny a value either by sale or use had been destroyed. General Patrick prepared and filed with Representative Flood, a member of the Johnson committee, state ment in which he said:
 "when hostilities ceased. ther were in possession of the American Ar Service planes of varying types and all stages of repair. from new and unused planes to those which were complete wrecks. The question ot their disposition was given careful study.
 ''I at once gave orders to return to the United States all Liberty en- zines which were serviccable.
 About the disposition of the re- nnfnder I appointed Boards of Survey. each composed of officers of ability. who were conscientious and careful. Their orders were to inspect every plane in our possession and 10 recommend to me what should be done with each one"
 General Patrlcks' statement then shows that the plane and material fell into four classes: Those which had been crashed, most of them In training service or in battle, and were beyond repair; those used at the training schools and which werA worn out from fair wear and tear; others which had deteriorated ill storage. planes being very delicate and deteriorating very rapidly. and others which were useable. but prac- ticalIy obsolete and which would have been discarded very soon even if the war had gone on, for moro modern machines.
 "After having examined each of these planes, General Patrick's statement continues. the Boards of Survey arranged them in classes and recommended "the Boards of Survey arranged them in classes and recom- mended. in general, that they be ot- fered for sale, and if unsaleable, that they be salvaged, by 'salvaged' is meant the taking off of all the valu able parts. such as motors, tires, in- strumcnts and the like. which can be used to repair other planes, O. which have a money value.
 "I approved the recommendations of these boards, I inquired of the French Government and was told that they would not purchase any of this material c There was no market for this material. It was. therefore, salvaged as outlined above. Some of the wooden fragments were sold and the remainder. which could not be used by us nor sold. was de- stroyed.
 ..I do not know of my own knowl. edge that single useable plane was destroyed . but I am well satis- fed that no plane was destroyed which could be disposed of in France, or which would have brought as much money in the United States as if would cost to get 1t here.
 ..The matter of shipping any of this material to the United States was SpIiv considered. had estimates made of the cost of storage. of pack ing and of transportation and I am quite convinced in the cases of all the planes which were salvaged, that this would have been decidedly un- economical.
 .sThe saIvaging of this material was part of the inevitable waste of war. but the American Air Service In Franco did everything possible to re- ducc this waste to the minimum. It ia apparent that it was necessary to decide whether it would pay to ship material to the United States, and after careful study and in the ex- ercise of the best judgment, 1t was decided that this would be further waste of Government money.
 Attention may be called to the fact that the packing of a single DH-4 pIene in the United States for ship rnent to France cost In round num- bers about s2so. Estimates made in France showed that 1t would cost there not less than about $500 to mack up A plane without the engine. that prior to packing it there would be a considerable expense while the planes were in storage. in order to keep them in condition, that there would be to the cost of rail transpor- tation and the cost of ocean trans portat,cn to the United States, with further freight charges and charges for handling after the packages ar rived he.e. Some of the cases which contained the planes which were act ually shipped to the United States oc- cupy a space of not less than 1 900 cubic feet. The size of this task and its costiiness can be judged from these facts.''