San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-09

question involving military jurisdic-
tion.
Discipline is difficult thing to de-
fine. Some people call it the unhesitat-
ing obedience of junior to a superior
officer. IL, however, conditions that
obtain are not properly estimated by
superior officers and if superior Of
ficers are not that in fact but only in
name. then the discipline ceases, be-
cause the people that are forced under
them. recognizing that they are incom-
petent for their positions, fail to have
the trust and loyalty in them which
should be the case in any undertaking.
PUBLIC MUST KNOW
In time of war, conditions have to
be met squarely, willy-nilly, but in
time Of peace. questions of great mo-
ment to the country must and will be
investigated by all the people of the
country on their merits, otherwise we
would not have representative govern
ment. To obscure the issue in this
case, which is the fact that our aero.
nautics is in a disgraceful condition
and our whole national defense is little
better. is merely TO dslude the public.
II is the old sea lawyers game of ''in-
dulging in special pleading TO obscurS
the main ISSUE" or as our friends,
the diplomats, would say, Of "enlarg
ing the field of discussion so rs To-
hide the questions brought up" Whai
I have said about the conditions Of OuI
national defense hurts the bureaucrats
{ in Washington-it ought to hurt them
because il is true. When our men
crash in sirplanes and are killed, ii
does not hurt Ihem-it is all over
with.
BACKS EVERY WORD
I also note with amusement the
question Of whether my statements are
authentic or not. Whenever ] make o
statement. it is authentic. / am al
ways willing to back every part of it |
am perfectly willing TO indulge in |
any constructive discussion for thcl
betterment of our aerOnautics and our
national defense with any agent of any |
department Of government, or any
citizen of the United States but to dis. /
cuss any question of characterization
or subordination at this time involving
The larger questions and not involving
service with the troops that ] am now
with here at San Antonio, which is an
honor and pleasure, is entirely beside
the point. If the department does not
like the statement made, let them
take any disciplinary action they sc"
fit. according TO their judgment. court
martial or no court-martial. There will
be no investigation, no pleas. no de-
Tense on my part covering n question
of that kind. The investigation that IL
needed is Of the War and Navy DE
partments and their conduct in th
disgraceful administration Of aviation
This. however. is unnecessary. as the
sworn evidence sDTcaG on the pages Of
the hearings before Congress in tho
last session is sufficient to show this
WILL BETTER DEFENSE
Let every American know absolute
~ and entirely that we are going
10 better our National Defense. that
we are on the warpath and that We
are going to stay there until these
conditions are remedied. The barking
of the little dogs that follow the main
pack should not delude any clear
thinking person as TO the object OF
our chase. so while our bureaucratS
and non-flyers indulge in mental gym
nastics in Washington in an attempt
to evade the truth by whitewashing
boards. slibis and suggestions for fix
ing the blame for disasters on the
dead commanders, when they know
that they themselves were responsible,
arc not worth the time taken away
from teaching our people what our
national defense should be and telling
them the truth about it.
i want 10 say a word about Secre-
tary Weeks, whose name has been
brought into this discussion and who
has been a very sick man. / have the
kindliest personal feelings toward
him. While we have differed on
questions Of policy. l will never for
get the part he played in the airplane-
hattleship tests in 1921, when We
showed the world that aircraft dom
jthte and that they could sink or de-
Hoy any battleship that had been
de or could be made. In that year,