Evening star., 1940-11-02

third-term candidate made .
speech to Congress In which he
pictured the possible bombing Of
our great Middle Western cities.
and called for program Of $4,000
military and naval airplanes,
plus capacity to produce that
number each year.
This was the first real indica-
ton that the third-term candi-
date gave of his interest in air.
planes and airplane production.
Behind 1t lay history of neglect
and abuse. Let's run back over
that history. 1t helps to explain
the perilous position in which we
now find ourselves.
In 1888, when the New Deal
first took office, the United States
was the acknowledged leader of
the world in aviation. When the
third-term candidate first took
office, we had Assistant Secre-
taries of air In the War and Navy
Departments. These Offices be-
came vacant. Mr.. Roosevelt
never filled them and they are
vacant to this very day. And
listen to the reason he gave. 1t
was said to be for purposes of
economy.
Saved a Few Thousand
And Spent $50 ,000, 900.
That was the third-term can
didate's shining tribute to gov
ernmental economy. He saved a
few thousand dollars a year at
the expense of our aviation. But
since that time he has spent
more than $4,000, 100000. These
few thousand saved in relation to
100000 100000 spent looks like a
cinder in path to the moon.
But that wasn't all. Less than
a year after he had first taken
Office the third-term candidate
gave tremendous setback to the
development Of our civil aviation
by canceling arbitrarily and
without warning, all domestic
airmail contracts. Every one re-
members that tragic episode.
Without instruments, without
preparation. and without the spe-
cialized training required, the
Army was ordered to fly the mail.
1t obeyed orders. And IL young
Army aviators crashed to their
deaths before an aroused public
opinion compelled the New Deal
to beat hasty retreat from this
disastrous political raid upon
our aviation companies.
The only excuse that was ever
given was that the Cancelled con-
tracts had been signed under a
Republican administration. The
New Deal never brought into
court any charges against the
companies or their officials.
The contracts were ultimately
restored to the same companies
which had previously held them.
In the meantime our aviation in
dustry had been given a black
eye by a smearing investigation
conducted by Senator Hugo
Black. who was later elevated to
the Supreme Court, for no rea-
son understandable to anybody.
In Boston on Wednesday night.
the third-term candidate relat-
ed with pride the efforts at rapid
expansion that are being made
by our private airplane manu-
facturers.
But I should like to ask him
this: -. asa.
Mr.. third-term candidate, what
have you ever done to encourage
the expansion of our private air.
plane factories?
The recent expansion in our
airplane production has been due
almost entirely to orders placed
by commercial airlines and for
eign governments. Much of the
expansion of our airplane indus
try is due to the orders of the
British government. Until the
last few months, our major air
craft factories were starved for
orders, as far as this admins
tration was concerned.
Option for Bombers Allowed
To Expire in March, 1910.
The third-term candidate spoke
to us about the hum of activity
in airplane manufacturing plants,