The Washington times., 1926-03-15

q comparison OF our natlonaI
I think that good way to con-
slider our expenditures for National
! defense is In the nature Of National
life insurance. We are paying out
{ this money to guard against the
/ ffgurative death or injury or our
/ country. At present we are giving
all our business to an old estab-
lished company Of long standing
| the Army and Navy without
| making any inquiries as TO
whether they are solvent or pank.
rupt. or providing for up to date
We are careful to check up and
| Investigate the life insurance COM
pany into which we pay our per-
sonal annuities; but do we as g.
people check up our National life
| insurance company. as carried on
by the Army and Navy? It is GER
| tain that when the truth is known
Iabout how little real international
protection the Army and Navy OF.
fer us, we shall begin to realize
the precarious condition Of the at
fairs OF the Company that they
are in truth facing bankruptcy.
Upkeep Comparatively Small
The Federal budget for tho fiscal
T. Il
Ii925. 10 June so, 1925, provides
that out OF each dollar to BE spent
| by the National Government, about
J Cd cents shall be used for military
purposes is, 81 per cent of all
THE money we spend for running
the Government is devoted to milf
Itary functions. The estimated ex-
penditure FOR this year is given at
about $1,10O, 900 900. Of which sum
about six hundred million will he
kpafd out for military pensions, dis
ability and death allowances, and
| (3overnYnent insurance. The re-
| naming five hundred million repre-
Isents the current appropriation for
National defense, OF which about
! $685., 900, 900 is to. be extended by
| the War Department and about
$685.. OOO, 900 by the Navy Depart
ment.
This great annual expense is sup
posed to provide for our security
TT viii be noticed that there is no
specific appropriation for aviation
this is mixed up with the apprOpria-
/ tons for other purposes. The over
head or fixed charges required by
i the Army and Navy for their main
tenance IL tremendous and ties up
la great deal of the money allotted
Ifo aviation. For example, the
United States Regular Army must
maintain an organization Tor feed.
ling. clothing and housing $4,000
men. The air force, on the other
hand, has comparatively. few peOpls
to provide for, and operating as It
does from air ports along airways.
NEEDS no such organization to feed
hundreds OF thousands of men,
mules and horses every night
Month . Year Enough
This Is especially true in time Of
peace, when great proportion Of
air force personnel would. under
proper organization, be engaged N
commercial flying and other asso'
ciated pursuits, such as working IN
automotive factories, and various
| inda,gtrieE. Men IN the air force
need only to be called to the colors
/ for q month or six weeks each year.
10 keen their hand In as air me-
chanice. The rest OF the time the
| C5overnn1ent is at no expense 20
maintain them. You will notice the
| difference between this situation
and that existing In the regular
army. where the men have TO De
kent constantly on duty to be useo
an national police force.
At present. ont Of money allotted
10 IL for aviation purposes, the air
service must carry q yearly over
head OF about SIG, 10000 under the
i army organization. II the Air Sery-
lice were detached from the Army,
Il this overhead could be very materi'
aIly reduced. certainly more than
two-tEirds, because no such organl-
zation OF quartermasters, engineers
cavalry and other auxiliaries Is ne
cessary for an air force. rev
purchasing officers near big city
could buy easily all the UNIFORMS
food. fuel and oil, arrange for ho1D'
ing faculties and for everything con-
nected with the comparatively small
numbers Of men required in avi-
alton.
40 Officers at Washington
Forty officers on duty at Air
Service headquarters In Washing
ton would be sufficient to handle
the work at that point, provided all
1.-THE red tape and unnecessary activi-
ties now In effect could be aDol'
Iished. The army keeps 1000 Off
lcers on duty in Washington, or
one out of IL in the whole army. a
TOTALLY uunSC6SSaTy HuuAbGAs
The Navy, for its part, must
Ioperate under a tremendous over
head also, as their docks and yards
are very costly projects. Many OF
Them are now entirely useless.
There is an aircraft factory at
philadelphia maintained by the
Navy, which should by all means
Ibe done away with because Govern
rnent construction of aircraft Is
very uneconomical - it raises the
Icost, cuts down production and
Icompetition among civilian builders
and thus slows up development.
All airpIanes should be built by
lcIvilian concerns.
Too Much Army and Navy
An interesting set OF statistics
is given below. These figures show
the amount of money put into the
Army and Navy air service during
the period, 1920-1924:
OVERWHELMINGLY >. $1o4 900, 600
1922 -. $4,000, 200
1923 - 80. $4,000, 900
1924 -. $4,000, 900
| Making total for these
five years OF. ......... $433 .000, 200
The above, taken with the amount
expended since 1924, makes the
total amount over $500. 600, 900. To-
day. after the expenditure OF this
vast sum, which is approximately
I l.