Evening star., 1934-03-03
AIRLINE SYSTEM
RACKET CHARGED
BY CHAMBERL|N
Transatlantic Flyer Offers
Farley Aid in Reorgan.
izing Business.
DERN SCOUTS RUMORS
OF PLANE SABOTAGE
Officers Deny Army Ships Tam.
pered With-Committee to Quiz
Secretary of War.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Clarence D. Chamberlin, interna-
tionally known aviator, today pledged
cooperation with Postmaster Gen
eral Farley in what he called efforts
10 change the Nations air transport
tation system from an organized oc-
topus racket to business"
His telegram, made public by Farley.
SAID commercial air lines were sue
ceeding in building up a public belief
that the contract cancellations were
bad policy.
Commenting on the fact that the
Army is on the job, Chamberlin said.
II Army pilots don't know how to
ny at night between two fixed air
fields on charted courses they had
better learn. Their biggest Job in
war will be to fly at night rom tenn
porary landing fields to moving ships
or unfamiliar cities, deposit romas
there and return to base"
Chamberlin and Charles A. Levine
OF New York, made a transatlantic
flight, several weeks after the Lind
bergh flight, in their now famous
monoplane. the Columbia, landing in
Germany.
Denies Probe.
Rumors Of sabotage of Army planes
flying the mail, meanwhile, were lot
being taken seriously by Secretary
Dern- He called them absurd" and
denied reports of an investigation
being made.
Secretary Dern said in a statement:
No investigation of alleged sabo-
tage OF Army airplaneS has been or
dered by me. nor have 1 been asked
by the President to make such an
investigation.
Some rumors of sabotage have
reached Gen. Foulois, and though
they appeared fantastic to all of US,
they have been followed up by Gen.
Foulois. So far nothing has been
developed that would appear to sub
stantiate the rumors''
Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois Is
the chief Of Army Air Service.
Secretary Dern did not say what he
had heard, but unofficial reports told
of punctured gas tanks. watered gas
oline and plane controls that had
peen tampered with.
Army Air Corps officers all over the
country denied knowledge of any evi-
dence of sabotage on airplanes used
in the airman service in their areas.
The rumors, however, persisted.
Maj. Clarence Tinker. in charge of
operations on the Oakland to Salt
Lake City line, said all planes on his
route are closely guarded.
Other denials came from Capt. L. A.
Walthall. at Salt Lake City, Chicago
airmail headquarters; Floyd Bennett
Field, headquarters for the Eastern air
mail. zone, including Washington.
Lieut.. Hoyt L. Prindle, Engineer
officer at the Army Airmail Head
quarters at Newark Airport, New York
terminal, from which planes fly to
Washington and the South, to the
West and to New England.
Dern to Be Called.
simultaneously came disclosure that
the Secretary had been given his
choice of an invitation or a subpoena
to tell Congress in person what his
views on aviation are. The call for
Dern to testify came from aroused
members of the House Military Com
mittee as it mapped with the aid of
the Justice Department the irvesti-
cation ordered yesterday by the House
into War Department expenditures of
national defense money.
Members were stirred by letter
from Dern stating that airplanes
would be Of only ''momentary spectacu-
lar advantage" in war. The War De-
partment and the committee are open
ly at odds.
Chairman Rogers of the subcom-
mittee studying aviation. told news
paper men: We're going to have
the Secretary down here to testify"
Committee members Immediately
charged that the letter Dern wrote to
Chairman McSwain of the full COM
mittee reflected the policy of the
Army General Staff, which, they as
serted, is not in favor OF aviation
expansion.
McSwain said Dern ignored a
standing invitation" to tell the ccm-
mittee why he objects to proposed
legislation, which would give military
aviation 1000 new planes and a sep
arate budget. The committee was
newly vested today with power to sub
poena and compel the attendance OF
any witness.
Five Prober Groups.
McSwain plans to assign the House
ordered investigation to five subcom-
mittees.
Rogers group. he said, would con-
tinue with aviation while others would
be created to handle motorization and
mechanization. ordnance, disposition
Of surplus property and the Port
Continued on Page 2, Column g.
ES MEDAL VOTED