Evening star., 1925-02-14
BIG ISSUE HIDDEN
IN AIRCRAFT ROW
Mitchell Forces Vital Ques-
ton of Unified Defense
Into Open.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Back OF the controversy raised by
Brig. Gen. William Mitchell, with re-
spect to the value OF airplanes as
against battleships, is the larger
problem OF aviation, which has had a
difficult struggle to get attention dur
ing the past five years.
Gen. Mitchell may not have chosen
the most tactful way to force the is
sue. but the friends of aviation think
he has succeeded in one respect-he
has managed to drive the debate into
the open and out Of the realm of red
tape and service prejudices.
From the beginning Gen. Mitchell
has antagonized Army and Navy
bureaucrats by insisting that the air
service be separate institution in
dependent of either His thought
was that in no other wav would air.
craft receive proper attention. The
tendency, however, has been the re-
verse. for President Coolidge has
been urged to put the Army and
Navy into a single department of ma
tional defense. He has been inclined
to recognize the merit of the argu-
ment that economies cou'd be effect
ed by such an arrangement, but has
felt. on the other hand, that the ira
ditions Of the two services required
separation. Under the circumstances
he ola not I2NOT lte CISdtlOu VI dh-
other defense unit, with separate pur-
cha sing departments and personnel
officers.
Combination II Seen.
He came to the conclusion that CEN
tralization was desirable and one out
come of the discussion ultimately may
be the combination of certain bureaus
of the War and Navy Departments.
fhnnoh this c tied with the whole
question of reorganiza ton of the gov
ernment which is dragging along and
may not be acted upon for another
year.
General Mitchell has been the most
active influence in favor of aviation
that the Army has developed. He has
the sympathy of all the commercial
concerns interested in air craft, and
he has built up a following In Con-
gress. 1t is an unusual situation in
many respects for he risks the hostil-
ity of his superior officers by con-
tradicting them in the open.
The War Department, however. is
amenable to Congress because 1t must
be. Appropriation must come from
Congress, and it so happens that Gen.
Mitchell has acquired in recent years
a number of friends on the congress
siona1 committees. Were 1t otherwise
he mi ght today be detailed away from
Washington. where he could be
silenced. His method of campaigning 6
for the thing in which he is inter
ested is not popular with Army and
Navy officials. who insist that an
opinion of a subordinate can only be
rendered to his superior officer, and
IL the latter disagrees with it that's
the end Of it. Thus Is opikion in the
Army squelched. as rule. by the use
of military discipline. Oficers who
have violated the rule have usually
been punished.
May Retire In March.
Congress will not countenance pun
ishment for Cen. Mitchell, but the
War Department can do many things
to silence an officer. After the fourth
of March Gen. Mitchell will probably
have to lead a quiet life, so far as
agitating the aviation problem. 1t
may be that he intends to retire any
how, for there have been reports that
he might become a candidate for Con-
gress from Wisconsin.
IN both the Senate and the House
there is a disposition to keep the con-
troversy going, SO that the members
and the country may be enlightened.
If battleships are out of date and air.
plane attack is much more powerful
than mas been supposed, congress
wants to know 1t. The trouble is the
defenders of the battleship fear 1T
will be abandoned some day, and they
are Insisting that 1t should not be
made secondary institution. The
advocates Of the airplane as a first
line of defense concede the usefulness
of the battleship. The difficulty Is
that in service rivalries the airplane
and the battleship are considered as
alternatives instead of as supple :
ments to each other. This is one of
the principal arguments made by the
people who contend for a single de-
partment Of national defense-that all
weapons of warfare would then be
considered on their merits and COM
bination attack and defense would
become paramount.
Copyright. 1921