The Washington times., 1926-02-25
CONTINUED from First Page.)

/ It was evident that the Army and
Navy, particularly the latter, would
begin whitewash proceedings tc
cover up the real culpability foI
these accidents. If we allowed this
Ito go on and our own lives were
snuffed out-which might happen
any day--the people might never
know the real truth of what had
occurred and our country would
march to its next armed contest
with sure destruction staring 1t In
| the face.
The Army and Navy bureau
cracies must be brought to account
/ and this was the time to do 1t
Having confidence that / would tel
them the truth, demanded that
I.speak. 1t was a public matter and
III considered it my duty to tell what
III knew, although 1t meant sure
disciplinary action and probably 8
Icourt-martiaI by the Army authOri
tiles. All of these things were wei
understood by me. In fact,
showed the paper had prepared
lon the subject to our military judge
advocate before / issued it, and ne
told me that would certainly oe
| tried for it.
The statement was issued at San
Antonio, Tex, and took off in my
airpiane to fish for tarpon in the
Gulf Of Mexico, about 40 miles
away.
Reaction Was Amusing
It was amusing to see what hap
pened in washington, They
started to do all sorts of things and
then stopped them the next moment.
Under such circumstances. when
anyone is attempting TO hide the
truth about matters, the worst
thing is always done. The War
and Navy departments issued all
manner OF announcements aimed u
delude the people, but which fooled
nobody. kilograms were exchanged
with the commanding general in
my department, and he sent replies
back in q most secret manner.
They knew they had been shot sit,
ting and their only chance was to
shoot me.
Gradually their plans were formed
On September %, seventeen days
after L had issued the statement,
was ordered to Washington, osten.
sihly to appear before the Presi.
dents aircraft board. had pro-
posed that q board Of disintsrested
American citizens be gotten to.
gether to look into the aviation
matter entirely on its merits.
What happened was that q group
Of men, formerly in the service
for the most part, graduates OF the
Government academies, and others
&c lRn e6 n.
istrations OF the War and Navy de-
partments, were put on this body.
They were a rather hard-boiled COM
mittee, and only one verdict could
be expected of thena1ust as near
a general whitewash Tor the whole
thing as they could possibly bring
and stiIr~get away with II before
the people.
Hand-P Picked Witnesses
The witnesses before the commit.
tee were for the most part hand
picked, and many OF them were
coached as to what to say before
they appeared. On a good many of
the witnesses they did not figure
correctly, particularly those from
the Army, who expressed their
views forcibly and directly as to
what the actual facts were. One in
particular, General Patrick, in gpite
of all his surroundings, came straight
out with the truth as he saw II.
This created CONSERVATION in the
board, and their first finding was
written up so as to attack General
Patrick's testimony in particular.
One thinly disguised object of the
IN he. NrTfA
nesses before it contradict each
the facts had brought out were
not in keeping with actual en-
ditions, and were published merely
from selfish motives. This the
committee was entirely unable to
do.
Air Board Attempts Whitewashing
AS far as my own testimony was
concerned, it was intended by the
War Department that each word
l gave was to be taken down by
stenographers of the general staff
Ia member of which was in con-
slant attendance-with a view to
using this against me in any trial
that the War Department might
be able to bring afterward.
A set of questions had been. pre-
pared for one Of the members of
the committee to ask me, in an
attempt to confuse and discredit
my testimony. This person, who
swings onto the tail of the political
comets, whenever their radiance is
able to light up his parasitic ideas
by reflected illumination, seeing that
he would come off second best in
an exchange Of this kind, for
tunately was taken with a cold
and absented himself on the day
that I was examined before the
committee.
Proceedings Cooked Up
The cooking up of the whole pro-
ceedings. and the resultant find
ings, was so transparent an at
tempt that no one, not even the
most credulous, who knew the
actual conditions, could be deceived
fora moment. All of this was TAX
ing place under a constant bar
rage from the bureau controlled
newspapers that the committee was
representative body in whom the
trust of the American people could
safely be reposed.
Apparently the idea was to fore
stall an investigation and a bring
ing out of the truth before Congress
when it convened. The purpose
and aim of the Morrow Aircraft
Board, therefore, was to whitewash
the powers that be in their treat
ment Of aviation and prevent any
action on this matter by Congress.
That it was an utter failure was
due to the good sense Of the Amer