The Washington times., 1925-02-17
MITCHELL ASKS
AIR. DEFENSE
(Continued from First Pace

Continued from First Fage.l
and submarines. The only attack
they fear Is from the air, ana 8
charged with taking precautions
same thing In America :
BAD weather Is less disastrous
to operations from the air than on
the sea, Mitchell said.
The only thing that holds us
back ii landing in q heavy fog"
he declared. But even then we
can operate when 4 battleship
can II.
Essaying the role .of prophet.
TheDdore Roosevelt, former Assist
ant Secretary 81 the Navy, told
the House Aircraft Investigating
Committee today that snO battle
will ever be fought out alone IN
the air," and advocated keeping
aviation an auxiliary service Z
Roosevelt opposed q unified air
service, such as Brigadier General
William Mitchell proposes, say.
ing, 1t would be q very great
mistake
Not 4 Developed Science.
Our greatest trouble with avia-
ton is that we treat 1t as de-
yelCped science" said Roosevelt.
To my mind 1T would be & very
great mistake from the point Of
view Of defense to take the air
services from the army and navy
and unite them under one branch.
Separating the yervices from the
army and navy would damage Their
efficiency and be very expensive.
II can't imagine any battle being
fought out alone In the air. Avia-
ton is an auxiliary branch and
should be kept so.
Two Functions.
Aviation performs two prime
functions; first, observation, and
second, harrassing. Observation and
harrassing are different In the army
than in the navy. Therefore, each
the army and the navy needs sep.
arate air forces, different personnel,
men who understand the peculiar
and separate problems Of the army
and the navy.
Roosevelt Gives View.
"Granting that aviation Ii an
auxiliary arm and that the great
battles will be fought with air
RtAuCS do 6upRActuCaLAl u4lILb our
filters should be trained with the
branch with which they are to
fight, the army or the navy" said
Roosevelt.
Unification Of the air force in
Great Britain is no reason why
America should follow that exam
pie. Roosevelt declared, because
conditions in the two countries are
vastly different and we can draw
no parallel"
The argument that greater econ.
omy could be practiced by uniting
the air force was asgailed by Roose-
welt.
Secs No Economy.
while some money might be
saved in purchasing supplies,
think it would be far more expen-
sive IL the efficiency Of our air.
planes were lessened," he said.
Roosevelt held the bombing tests
not to, prove the greater worth Of
airplanes over 'battleships.
"It must be remembered that the
battleships were stationary, they
were obsolete, and they had no
guns to fire at u.s." Roosevelt said.
mo airplane now known could
cruise to any American city and
destroy it," added Roosevelt. "The
planes would have to De brought
over on airplane carriers. There.
fore, keep the navy and the planes
couldn't be brought over. THIS ap-
plies to San Francisco, New York,
Boston or any American city, But
let the navy 60 down so that TN
enemy could establish g. base. and
our cities would be open to air.
plane attack. The army and Lavy
must pave the way for airplanss.
Defends BattIeshipS
Roosevelt said when his father,
Theodore Roosevelt, was Assistant
Secretary of the Navy, critics said
the battleship would be obsolete be-
cause of the development of the
Whitehead torpedo, and later, how
1t was said the infantry would be of
no value because of machine guns.
But the battleship is still vitality
important, and on the infantry de-
ponds the success Of land BATTLE"