Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-28
AMERICA DEFENSELESS In AIR
BY W. JEFFERSON DAVIS.
Part Two.

time it has grown to mans estate.
1t can no longer be farmed out as
an orphan in the asylum of the Army
and Navy Departments, which have
throttled it's development and have
sought to render it auxiliary to older
| forms of warfare.
The opponents of the airplane now
ask that it be given it's proper place
as an element of national defense, and
! that for this purpose there be created
Department of Public Defense, I'M
der the direction of a cabinet officer,
responsible to the President for the
defense of the country, with undersec-
retaries responsible alike for the Army,
Navy and the air.
The American public is not primar-
lily interested in an ArmyNavy SQUAD
BILE, but when a high ranking officer
of the Army Air Service saw fit to
publish a scathing denunciation of the
NaVy's inefficency, and pointed out
garing defects in the present system
of subordinate control of the air. he
presented a problem in which we. as
American citizens, are vitality inter
ested.
Air Preparedness Lacking.
What are the facts? Today Ameri-
ca, the birthplace of the airplane-
America, whose genius has contributed
more largely to the development of
aeronautics than any other country
America, who by reason of her
initiative, her inventive genius and
her unlimited resources, has been able
to hang up nearly all the world records
for individual performances in the air
should be in the vanguard of avia-
| ton. Yet, so far as air preparedness
| is concerned, we find America sitting
at side table, with France the great
world leader in aeronautics, Japan
second and rapidly forging ahead to
| take first place as an air power in the
world.
| The important question is. rather,
are we defenseless in the air today?
Is it true that on a peace time foot
ing, when the new Army and Navy
five-year building programs were
adopted, we faced peace time deficit of
practically 700 planes, and many
thousands Of planes in case of war
emergency?
Have we learned nothing from the
expenditure of over six hundred mill
lion dollars in the last war; in which
we had only a few hundred planes at
the front with which to combat Ger
man air raiders who were proceeding
bombing and directing machine gun
fire against our men, who could pre-
sent no defense to them?
What have we received for the five
hundred million dollars which has been
spent on our air forces since cessation
of war activities? Why is it that if
war were declared tomorrow we would
have from 10 to Is Army pilots cap
able of performing combat work, and
practically 10 planes available for
their use, with probably 80 naval avia-
ators who are capable of landing and
taking off plane from the deck of a
battleship.
The fact remains that today the
Army and Navy administrations are
facing an inquiry by the people of this
country into the status of our air
preparation.
Future Wars FOreseen.
Universal peace is an ideal toward
which nations must strive. 1t is an
ultimate goal, but history tells us that
wars have succeeded each other as
new generations have come into be-
ing, and If we approach the future
guided by our reason and from lessons
learned in the past, we know that the