Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-27

for the Army and Navy. There ere
lot of people who think that a
showing Of economy at election time
is the chief end Of good politics. Yet
it is so thoroughly established that
we must have some sort of an
Army and Navy, and that that Army
and Navy must be provided with
some sert of funds, that the only
argument is the amount to be spent.
And given certain amount Of
funds. it seems the American sense
of thrift would certainly prompt the
appropria ton of those funds for the
most effective defense weapon.
And that is exactly what we are
not doing. While other nations have
taken a lesson Of the World War to
heart, and are pushing forward
along every air lane toward a wider
and wider expansion of their air
forces. the United States has sadly
siumped, and gives signs Of continu.
ing to slump, in this most modern
commercial and military field.
There are today in Europe more
than 10000 miles Of mail and passen.
ger traffic lines in successful opera
ton. while in America, the richest
of all countries the world has ever
known, and one Of the widest-fiung
nations of the earth, there are, in
Guiding the Government New York
San Francisco air mail line, just 5000
miles Of contract air mail and com.
mercial air lines in operation.
What Other Nations Do.
The nations Of Europe and a most
active and alert little nation in the
Pacific are developing their aircraft
on the theory that every commercial
~ ar
potential military unit. Many Of the
European countries are even still Civ.
ing subsidies, and France and Eng
land notably substituting their COM
mercial lines. Since the armistice
France has trained more than 10000
pilots, as many as America trained
during the whole war. France is
teaching aviation in all of her lead
ing universities, giving courses on
aviation in her public schools and
establishing scores Of schools to train
civilian flyers. This aside from her
very active and efficient military and
naval use Of aircraft.
That America in her program of
defense should so persist in neglecting
this most terrific, vet inexpensive new
device, seems entirely unworthy of
our national intelligence. No doubt
this neglect is partly due to the an.
tagonism Of vested naval authorities.
whose offices and training tend to
prompt them to overemphasize the
relative Importance of battleship to
plane. But all unbiased observers.
those who have no official or financial
interest in the controversy at all.
have been thoroughly convinced by
such experiments as those carried out
under Gen. Mitchell and Gen. Pat
rick that the airplane can success
fully and speedily destroy the great
est naval craft afloat, and that so
far no method has been devised
whereby the naval vessels can sue
cessfully combat the airplanes. The
anti-aircraft guns. both land and sea,
have proved practically useless. The
airplane can fly almost at will over
a battle fleet and drop bombs with
deadly precision.
What Gen. Patrick Says.
Gen. Patrick, a practical flyer and
Army officer of the finest standing,
said in an investigation in Congress:
$50 tell YOU" said Gen. Patrick.
there is no adequate defense against
an air attack except an air force of
your own. That does not mean that
the air force does away with armies
and navies. It means it modifies their
tactics, so far as armies are concern
ed. and it modifies the construction