Evening star., 1934-05-10
.F0UL0|S ANSWERS
Z. CONGRESS CRITICS
Denies Charge of II|egaIity
in Purchase of Army
Combat Planes.

Denying there was any illegality in
the purchase of Army combat air
planes under negotiated contracts"
Maj. Gen. Benjamin D. Foulois. chief
Of the Army Air Corps. today struck
back at his congressional critics In a
strongly worded formal statement, in
which he insisted he acted "in the
best interests of the Government"
Gen. Foulois denounced charges
that the Air Corps had acted illegally
in purchasing fighting planes without
competitive bidding as erroneous and
wholly unfair to me and the other
officers Of the Air Corps who par
ticipated in this transaction"
While Gen. FoulOis was not present
In person when his statement was
made public, officers close to him de-
MED vigorously reports that the vet
eran chief Of the Air Corps was plan
ming to resign under fire. He intends,
it was said. to remain at the helm
OF the military flying service until re-
lieved or until his appointment ex-
pires more than a year from now.
Cites Report to House.
my attention has been called to
press reports under dates of May Z
and 8. purporting to be extracts from
a report submitted by Subcommittee
OF the Military Affairs Committee of
the House of Representatives, together
with comments thereon by William
H. Rogers OF New Hampshire, the
chairman of this subcommittee, Gen.
Foulois said in his statement.
According to these press reports
the chief OF the Air Corps and the
responsible officers of his Office
charged with procurement matters
violated certain provisions of law in
advertising for bids for airplanes pro-
posed for procurement with funds.
in the amount of $7,500,000, made
available by the Public Works Ad-
ministration. The newspaper reports
state that the entire blame rests upon
the Air Corps officers involved, myself
in particular.
Since I have been specifically
charged with the responsibility for
such irregularities, I think it only
fair that the public should know the
following facts in connection with
this matter. namely:
Followed Old Procedure.
First, that / recommend for pro-
curement airplanes Of the best known
models in existence. same to be pro-
cured by direct negotiations with the
manufacturers, thus following exact
ly the same procedure that has been
followed by myself and my predeces-
sors over a period of years and which
has always been approved by higher
authority. Such action by me was
believed to be In the best interests
of the Government
Second, when the Assistant Secre-
tary of War, Mr.. Harry H. Woodring,
decided upon a change in the method
of procurement whereby procurement
would be by competition instead of
by direct negotiation. all Air Corps
personnel concerned were completely
loyal and co-operated in every respect
to carry out the directions of Mr..
Woodring. and a statement to this
effect has been made by Mr.. Wood
ring.
Third, prior to the issuance Of
circular proposals for bids, the pro-
visions of such proposals to which
the subcommittee has presumably
taken exception as being a violation
of law were first approved by repre-
sentative of the judge advocate gen.
eral of the Army, who was called in to
assist in preparing them by the office
of the Assistant Secretary of War.
The implication of the press re-
ports of the subcommittee findings is
that the Air Corps officers drew up
these circular proposals in manner
known by them to be illegal. This
is erroneous and wholly unfair to me
and the other officers of the Air
Corps who participated in this trans
action"
Martin Bomber Cited.
Gen Foulois and other officers of
the Air Corps have taken the position
that since the best combat airplanes