Evening star., 1934-03-12
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

1t remains to be seen whether
President Roosevelt's resolute action
in the Army airmal business has been
taken in time to rob the Republicans
of political ammunition. Undoubted-
ly they were prepared to carry the
"legalized murder issue to the coun-
try and make the most of it. in this
years congressional campaign. All
the recent fireworks in House and
Senate pointed in that direction. The
view is commonly encountered among
politicians that F. D. R. Stubbed his
toe for the first time-and on mat
ter that could be dramatized and
made the basis Of sentimental appeal
to the people. Developments on
Capitol Hill this week should dis
close whether the Republicans are
disposed to exploit the affair or re-
gard the incident as closed with the
Presidents explanation that he in
trusted the airmail to the Army on
the definite assurance" that it had
the men and the equipment required
for the job. Congressional debate on
the pending legislation to restore air
mail operations to private carriers
will show how the political wind is
blowing and whether or not "Roose-
welt luck" has at length been seriously
dented.
There is no whimpering from the
Army about the tragic toll the car
riage of the mails has taken. The All
Corps looks upon fatalities Ccasual-
ties of service") as being all in the
days work. Except for the extraor-
dinarily rough weather into which
the Army aviators had to plunge, the
corps is confident different story
would have been told. In the regular
line of duty. the military flyers are
always courting danger. Air Corps
authorities do not consider that the
number of service accidents has been
excessive" They put forward no
alibis for recent events. but woulo
probably admit that if they had had
time to perfect equipment and train
pilots for postal requirements, the
corps could and would have given q
more satisfactory account OF itself.
+ X X X
Foreign countries are paying IN
creasing attention to military aviation
in the United States. A present Vlsl-
tor to the Army Air Training Center
at San Antonio, embracing Kelly ana
Randolph Fields, is Lieut.. Gen. Fried
rich Won Boetticher, military attache
of the German embassy in Washing
ton, who, in the course of one OF MS
periodical trips of inspection through
out the country. recently arrived IN
Texas at the wheel of his own car.
Soon four representatives of the TURK
ish army, two air officers and two as
sistants will reach San Antonio to
become guests of the United States
Army for a training period. Their
tour Of duty will begin as soon as tney
have mastered a little more EngllSh.
X X \ +
President Roosevelt told group OF
Great Lakes mayors, who called at the
White House to say they favor the
St. Lawrence waterway. to spread the
gospel in the Senate. The Senate
votes on the treaty this week.
The corps of foreign army repre-
sentatives accredited to Washington
grows apace. Col. Chow has just
taken up his duties as military at
tache of China. He is a graduate OF
the Army Staff School at Fort
Leavenworth Two military attaches
of the Soviet Union will shortly pre-
sent their credentials at the War
Department.
X II X
In the Washington diplomatic corps
there's an unmistakable double for
President Roosevelt. He is the Dam
ish Minister to the United States,
Otto Wadst0, who has been here