The Coconino sun., 1920-10-22

' l,- 98S for aviation and airplanes. This was the result.
 (a) Up to the time of the signing of the armistice not single fight ing plane manufactured in the United States had been put into action on the American front. (b) We obtained for use at the front 213 DeHaviland, observation planes, all of which were lily de- signed and constructed and ex- tremely dangerous, and 527 sec ond-hand foreign planes, which we either bought or borrowed from our allies.
 (c) We expended $5O,000,000 on a spruce-production program, build ing elaborate railroads, camps and facilities, and then were fore ed to buy 92.6 per cent of our spruce lumber from private inde- pendent spruce lumbermen. (d) We spent approximately $10,- 00,000 on spruce railroads that never hauled log of lumber. (e) We spent $200OO,O0O for 4,69S Curtiss motors, 1,616 Curtiss- type aeroplanes, and LIDO Stand ard UNI aeroplanes, which we purchased from the Curtiss Aero plane & Motor corporation, then sold them back to this company for $2,720,000. The war depart ment refused to sell these ma chimes to aviators for less than S3,500 each, and provided in the contract by which they were sold to the Curtiss company that the Curtiss company should have the first opportunity to buy any oth- CT aeroplanes which the war de- paitment might thereafter de- clare surplus.
 (f) We spent s6,0O0,000 on Bristol planes and $17,50O,000 on Stand ard-J planes, and got not sin gle machine that could be used for any purpose.
 Our Ordnance PrOgram-The ord nance department spent $3,991 ,4S9,- 570.48 from the beginning of the war until June 1, 1919, more than it cost to finance the civil war. A large part of this fund was spent in a program fo manufacturing artillery and am munition. Our result was in most di- rections negligible. The following it:
 (a) We had 5 contracts for 37 nm. shells, on which we expended $9,- 134,582. Not one of these shells ever reached our firing line. (b) We had 6S9 contracts for 75 nm. shells, on which we expended S301 ,941 ,459. Of these shells we fired 5000.
 (c) We had 142 contracts for 3-inch shells on which we expended $44,- 841,844. None of these shells reached the firing line.
 (d) We had 439 contracts for AT shells, on which we expended s41,716,051. Of these shells 14,- GOO were fired by our forces. (e) We had 305 contracts for 6-inch shells, on which we expended $24,189,075. None of these ever reached the firing line.
 (f) We had 617 contracts for 155 nm. shells, on which we expend- ed $264 ,955,387. None of these ever reached the firing line. (g) We had 301 contracts for 8-inch shells, on which we expended $51 ,371 POT. None of these ever reached the firing line.
 (h) We had 152 contracts for 240 nm. shells, on which we expend- ed S24,136,S67. None of these ever reached the firing line. () We had 239 contracts for 9.2 shells, on which we expended $54,3S9,377. None of these ever reached the firing line.
 G) We had n contracts for 12-inch shells, on which we expended $9,- 507,87S. None of these ever reached the firing line.
 (k) We had 6 contracts for 14-inch shells, on which we spent $1 ,266,- AT. None of these ever reached the firing line.
 CD We let Ill contracts, to the amount of $478,S28,345, for the construction of artillery of all calibres, guns, howitzers, gun carriages, limbers, and recuper- ators. Of this immense program of expenditures there reached our troops and were actually used in combat thirty-nine 75 nm. anti-aircraft mount trucks, forty eight 4.7-inch gun carriages of the same model, twenty-four g. inch howitzers. and twenty-four 8-inch gun carriages. The details are shown in table furnished by the war department and attach ed hereto, pp. 246-247.
 To sum up, we furnished our troops for use six thousand 75 nm. shells, fourteen thousand AZ shells, forty-eight AT guns and twentyfour 8-inch howitzers. Construction of Camps and Canton ments-We expended $1,200,0000, ,000 for the construction of camps and cantonments largely by the cost-plus system, system adopted by the war department. By this system costs were increased, labor demoralized, the completion of the camps was delayed, soldiers called to the colors were sub- jected to conditions that induced dis ease and death, and from 40 to 60 per cent of the money was wasted. Twenty-two million dollars was spent for fees to favored contractors on camps and cantonments, most of which would have been saved had this