Evening star., 1934-02-13
REBUKE
is TALK OF CAPITAL
Opinion Varies as to Whether
Flyer Helped or Hurt Cause
He Espoused.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

1t isn't every day that the White
House reprimands a Nations hero
the same being Charles A. Lindbergh
so the principal topic Of conversa-
ton in Washington is whether the
famous flyer deserved the rebuke and
whether the cause he espoused has
been helped or hurt by the protest he
made,
The President himself issued no
comment about Col. Lindbergh's tele-
gram dissenting from the arbitrary
way in which airmail contracts were
abrogated, but on behalf of the White
House the statement was made that
all the points made by Americas ace
flyer didn't merit consideration by the
President because the message wasn't
properly handled.
This answer is often given when
the White House desires to avoid
making an answer. AS a matetr Of
fact, the airmail companies were not
S1NCA NOuIlCOdo NAlC11 OH
of them had their contracts annulled
the innocent and the guilty being
Jumped into one cancellation. And
if Col. Lindbergh had not made pub
lie his telegram it would have reposed
in the White House files and he could
still have been subjected to criticism
for making it public later.
Position of White House.
Sometimes the White House takes
the position that open letters and
kilograms will not be answered, but
it usually depends on who sends the
open letter or telegram. Thus not long
ago, when the head Of the N. R. A. in
a Western State telegraphed his res
ignation and gave it to the press, the
administration here answered quickly
enough and tried to persuade him not
to resign.
There is no official courtesy about
such matters. Any American citizen
has under the Constitution the right
of petition. There's nothing in the
Constitution which says the petition
cannot be given to the press either
in advance or after it has been sent
to the Government. The present ad-
ministration, following precedent set
by its predecessors, has indicated that
it does not like open letters or tele-
grams.
OF course, there is no reason why
the President should make any public
comment on statement or telegram
or letter issued by anybody. But the
Lindbergh message was such a point
ed criticism of the treatment of the
airmail companies and their stock
holders and employees that, figuratively
speaking, the administration WINGED
under the blow and contented itself
by transferring the responsibility from
the White House to the Post Office
Department.
Now, as matter Of fact, the situ-
alton isn't as bad as it looks to Col
Lindbergh and maybe his protest will
have the effect of compelling consid-
Grafton and courtesy for those ag-
grieved. But the colonel ought to
know by now that ever since the in
fCSlISdLAlS 1tN6I mere ana
government by = headline began to
wreck regulations by innuendo and
otherwise, the chance of the innocent
has been more or less reduced.
Fraud Existence Shown.
The fact is the airmail situation
showed there existed fraud and COL
lusion. The President probably be-
came disguised with the whole buSi-
ness and told the Postmaster General
TO chuck all the mail contracts out of
the window. Now that this has been
done, the question arises as to what
the Government is going to do next.
The Army Air Service does not have
the experience Immediately to carry
on air mail flying So the Post Office
Department will have to make 60-day
contracts with some of the private
companies now carrying the mails.
The injustice involved is that many
of the companies are in no position
to stand a permanent cancellation Of
their contracts and may lose their
valued personnel in the interim period
while the Government is trying to
figure out what to do.
1t is not clear yet that all the COM
panies will be stopped from bidding
for new contracts to replace those
Just Cancelled. The measure to the
aviation companies is so phrased that
1t does not specify which contracts
are being Cancelled as q result of the
discovery Of collusion and fraud and
which ones are being annulled under
the general powers of the Post Office
Department. This means, therefore,
that each company which can prove
that 1t was not guilty of fraud in
acquiring contracts will be eligible to
bid. AS for the power to cancel, there
is a general provision giving the Post
master General such authority.
Government Business Uncertain.
People who invest money in COM
panies which have Government con-
tracts may not know how arbitrary
the Government can be when it suits
its purpose, and there have been
plenty of apprehensions expressed on
this point before, but the cancellation
of the airmail contracts ought to open
the eyes of all business men and those
who finance their transactions that
doing business with the Government
is never the sure thing that 1t appears
on the surface.
Redress can always be gotten on
Just causes in the Court of Claims, but
this sometimes takes years to adjudi-
cate. The aviation companies had no
alternative. They could not have
been developed without Government
aid That's why the companies inno-
cent Of wrongdoing are protesting.
And in the end they will not suffer,
hecaIlse the chances are n1Ihlic criti-