Evening star., 1934-06-19
.DERN CONSIDERS
F0UL0|S CUSTER
Officials Silent as Threat of
Congressional Refusal
Is. Seen.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The threat Of congressional re-
prisal unless the War Department
cleans house" In the Air Corps By
removing Maj. Gen. BENJAMIN D.
Foulots, air chief, as recommended by
a House committee, hung over Sscre-
tary of War Dern today.
Pending careful study of the COM
mittee's caustic criticism of Foulois
and of plane procurement policies Of
the Army, Secretary Dern and other
Army officials remained silent.
The committee members agreed un-
less Foulois were removed, Air Corps
legislation would come to standstill.
Their attitude was expressed this way
by Representative Goss, Republican,
Of Connecticut, one Of the eight mill
tary affairs subcommittee members
who signed the report:
The officials downtown must re-
member that they are working for us,
we aren't working for them"
Bills Pigeonholed.
The committee pigeonholed several
Air Corps bills this session and
blocked Senate confirmation Of the
nomination Of Lieut.. Col. Jacob e.
Fickel, Foulois' assistant, to be q
brigadier general.
The committee took official cog
nizance Of statement issued by Fou-
lois to newspapers, in which he ex-
pressed regret that the committees
hearings had been secret Chair
man Rogers, Democrat, of New
Hampshire, was authorized by the
committee to say this on the House
floor In answer:
I'VE did not want to besrnirch any
one. Maj. Gen. Foulois had friends
on the committee. We decided to get
to the bottom Of the proposition be-
fore we did anything, but in addition
to that, Maj. Gen. Foulois himself
came before our committee and
asked that the hearings be kept exec
utive and secret. Yet he complains
because they were"
Denies Charges.
In his statement, Foulois said he
had no intention of resigning, ASSERT
ed the charges against him were un-
fair and unjust, and declared he was
willing to meet his accusers before
any court.
Tne House committees report rec
commended Foulois be removed because
OF alleged dishonesty" gross mis-
conduct" 'incompetency" and mis-
management" in connection with the
Army's purchase of planes by neeo-
tlated contract instead of by COM
petitive bidding.
Foulois was 19 years old when he
enlisted as private in the United
states Army for the Spanish-Ameri-
can War, 36 years ago. He was 80
years old when Orville Wright. in
ventor OF a new-fangled machine that
new through the air, took him. in
1903, on the first cross-country flight
ever made In this country. Young
Foulois liked it, learned to fly. with
Wright as his instructor, and has
been flying ever since.
Only Flying Officer.
After his flight with Wright, Foul
lois was ordered to San Antonio, Tex,
In charge Of the first airplane owned
and used by the United States Army.
He had less than one hours instruc-
ton in its operation when he was
instructed to proceed to Texas and
teach himself how to fly.
From January. 1910, until March,
1911, ne was the only flying oficer
In the United States Army. During
those IA months of operating the FIRST
crude airplane he encountered con-
slant risks to life through repeated
smash-ups
During this period he designed and
successfully used the first set Of wheels
used on a Wright airplane. He also
designed and put into use at least
20 mechanical improvements on this
first airplane, which were incorporated
in later models.