The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-11-29
HANDS TIED
IN War, He
AYERS

Continued from First Page.)
= an extremely important part
Of Army work.
0, Malors. General Hunter Lig-
gott. Robert 4. Billiard, Joseph
d. DicIxman, Charles p. Sum.
ynerNV, John II. Hines, James
q. Hartford, and James w. Nc
Andrew deceased should be
promoted to DO Ieutenants.
general.
Principles Unchanged.
sArmies must still fight our
battles, and. to win, must ovhr.
come the opposing forces" General
Pershing aserts. 1.-THE infantry still
and the role Of the other arms is
70 help it reach the enemy. All must
work in cooperation to that. end.
The idea that the principles Of war
fare have changed and that armed
. con es;s will be settled in any other
way have nothing substantial in war
experience to warrant serious con-
Sideration.
las an important auxiliary arm,
the air service should be available
for Independent use in mass, or
otherwise. wherever necessary. Our
air service should be developed to
every reasonable extent, both as to
personnel and material; and II 10
essentially. necessary that aircraft
production be established and main
tanned on such a basis as TO be
easily expanded III time Of emerg-
ency."
Train Ali. Pilots.
General Pershing also RECOMMENDS
that larger proportion Of non
commissioned officers be trained al
cir pilots and that national guard
and reserve officers should be en-
couraged to take training In avia.
ton,
On the question Of the use Of
aircraft in the world war, General
Persling minces no words.
Explaining his assertion that,
while it is most important arm
OF the service, main dependence
must stin be placed on the infantry.
he writes:
s6OO,OOO,OOO Spent.
"Our experience In the world war
- to airplane production and the
training of personnel should be con.
tinuously borne in mind. Early in
1917. 1t will be recalled, an appro-
priat.on of $685. 600 was hastily
made with what seemed to be an ef-
Tort to overcome previous inexcus-
able neglect to make provision even
Tor experimental investigation, to
NY nothing of preparation for the
manufacture Of airplanes,
The voice Of criticism for pre-
vious iraction was apparently
etiiied. FOR the time being, by the
loudly heralded purpose to send
eO,OOO airplanes to the western
front without delay-7a declaration
that later brought MANY an EN-.
barrassing moment to those Of us
abroad who knew how baseless and
boastful such claims were.
600 Planes Sent to Front.
at is a matter OF record that
even the type Of plane 10 be put
INTO production was not decided
upon until several months after we
entered the war. and that no AYneri.
can plane was flown In battle until
August. 1918. and only come 600
planes had been sent to the front
before the armistice."
The Air Service. General Perish.
ing reports, has an important
junction to perform in securing in.
formation through observation and
IN directing artillery fire; but a
great deal OF training is necessary
N order to secure the proper CO.
operation.
improvements in anti.aircraft
artillery seem to be keeping pace
with aircraft Improvement, in Gem
eFal Pershing's opinion, and he
does not foresee that airplanes can
take the place of seacoast or bat
tleship protection.
Damage Negligible.
Damage done by aircraft, either
by the Allies or the enemy, was
almost Negligible, Geperal Pershing
reports, and until much greater
deadliness can be assured It can.
not be said we are In a position to
abandon past experience in war.
fare. General Pershing also decries
the effectiveness Of poison gas
The use Of gas. he reports, although
horrible enough, was not, after the
first attack, so destructive on either
side as generally believed, and the
development of gas masks greatly
reduced the number Of casualties.
Moreover" General Pershing
reports. II am notNready to con-
cede that such inhuman destruc.
ton of hon.combatants--thr the
wholesale wiping out Of populations
by gas--would be undertaken by
any civilized nation, even though
POSSIBLE"
Must Keep up Army
On general questions of national
defense, General Pershing asserts
the United States must make no
further reductions IN the Army;
but, on the other hand, must re-
store decreases made since 1921.
"We are down to rock-botton."
General Pershing reports, land no
further cuts can be made withou.
endangerihg the whole scheme. Eff.
flcency and economy cannot be
achieved Under such fluctuation In
strength. Economic plans are fruit
less without stabilization in the
base factors Of numbers and or
ganisation." M
More Ammunition.
On the question Of ammunition.
and other war supplies, General
Pershing reports
ut goes without saying that
arms and ammunition are vital to
our armies, but never vet In my
time has any forethought been
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